Winter Sports in the Alps: Nordkette. Jewel of the Alps, Tyrol, Austria
As you might have realized by reading the last few blog posts, there are various different kinds of ski resorts in the surroundings of Innsbruck. But there is one particular skiing area, that is closer than any other. And this resort is the topic of today’s blog post: the Nordkette, also called the ‘Jewel of the Alps’.
The Nordkette is surely Tyrol’s most famous mountain range, and on winter days with heavy snowfall, it is also Innsbruck’s alarm clock. You would get woken up by the echo of the avalanche blasting, that you can clearly hear down in the city. Honestly, after a few months in Innsbruck, you won’t even hear that sound anymore, but it’s nice to wake up and hear it, so you don’t even have to check if there has been snowfall during the night or not.
No matter the season, the Nordkette is always a tourist hotspot. A big reason might be that you can get to the top of the mountains within a few minutes. Already getting to the mountain is as easy as it gets. From the city centre, you can either take the car, the bus or the Hungerburgbahn cable car. I do not suggest going by car, as there are only two, rather small, parking areas near the Nordkettenbahn and you have to pay for both of them. You can get your money back for parking when you buy a lift pass, but finding a free parking slot can be really hard, especially on sunny days.
Taking the bus is really easy. You can take the ‘J’ line from the city centre, and simply have to decide: do you want to head to the Nordkette, the northern mountain range, or to the southern one, where the Patscherkofel is located? That’s why the ‘J’ line is also called ‘from peak to peak’. By driving by car or taking the bus, you will get to the Nordkettenbahn in around 15 minutes.
Another great option is taking the Hungerburgbahn, which runs from the Congress, which is located close to the Hofburg and therefore the city centre and also stops on two other places in the city. The peak station of the Hungerburgbahn is located just next to the valley station of the Nordkettenbahn, which brings you up to the best views of the mountain range. This journey will take you less than 10 minutes, and as the stations were designed by world-famous architect Zaha Hadid, they are very appealing as well.
View from the Hungerburgbahn peak station, next to the Nordkettenbahn valley station.
But for now, let’s focus on the winter activities you can enjoy if you head up the mountain with the beautiful Nordkette cable car. On the way up, you already get to enjoy a beautiful view over the city of Innsbruck. The peak station of the Nordkettenbahn is where the Seegrube is located. This is the main restaurant of the skiing area. Just outside of the Seegrube you’ll find lots of sun chairs and an ice bar, the CLOUD 9. Especially during winter, this is where various events take place, or you can relax in between skiing or simply enjoy the sun. It’s especially fun when there are fog and clouds down in the city, and you get to enjoy beautiful weather up there.
But now on to the skiing at Tyrol’s most famous mountain range. Around the Seegrube, there are a few slopes suitable for everyone, including beginners. As you can see in the picture, the skiing area is not really big but offers a variety of activities. There are slopes for beginners, ski routes for experts, there’s a fun park for people that enjoy that kind of activities, and even though there are only 2 different other lifts besides the main cable cars, you won’t get bored easily. On days with good snow conditions, you can even ski down the whole mountain until you get to the parking area around the valley station of the Nordkette cable car. Believe me, that’s a pretty long slope. Also, I can think of only a few ski resorts that can compete with this kind of view.
If you want to have the best view ever, you’ll need to get even higher than the Seegrube, to the peak station of the Hafelekar cable car, and then walk about 30 minutes to the peak. I’d recommend you take hiking boots with you as the ice and snow make the short walk up there pretty hard, and you definitely should not try it with skiing boots! It’s not a hard hike but can get quite slippery. If you are on top and have enjoyed the view on the Inntal valley enough, don’t forget to turn around, as there are beautiful mountain ranges as well. From the Hafelekar down, there are no slopes, just two ski routes that are really difficult and only suitable for expert skiers. They are called the ‘Karrinne’ and the ‘Seilbahnrinne’ and believe me, you shouldn’t try them if you are not a hundred per cent certain you are skilled enough.
Especially last winter, when there was heavy snowfall, the Nordkette had to be closed for several days due to the high amounts of snow near the peaks ( around 10 metres!). If you remember, at the beginning of this blog post, I wrote about the avalanche blasting that is quite common in the resort, and every time they are working on making the area safe, the resort is closed for a few hours. That’s why it’s always important to check the current status of the slopes and the area. Sometimes, due to the avalanche risk, the are is only open for hikers, and you can also check their Facebook page for updates. Safety comes first, so they can only transport skiers to the top if officials say it’s safe to do so.
If you want to stay close to Innsbruck and enjoy the slopes, and do not mind that you don’t have 50 different slopes to choose from, but around 10, the Nordkette is definitely the right choice for you. There’s no ski resort you can get faster to than the Nordkette and honestly – with a view like this, who cares about the number of slopes?
If you are planning on heading to the Nordkette, I recommend you check out the link below to get directed to their official website, where you can obtain all the latest information about snow, weather and the times the cable cars are running. Also, you can have a look at different kinds of combination tickets.
The SNOW CARD TIROL, FREIZEIT TICKET TIROL & INNSBRUCK CARD are valid for this resort.
If you, instead, are not sure about which ski resort to choose for your next adventure, head to the link below to read about many more resorts that all have different kinds of advantages. If you cannot find the resort you are looking for, leave a comment with your suggestion or write me a message, I am constantly working on more blog posts and love to hear suggestions on what places you are interested in.
Little disclaimer: none of these posts are sponsored. Sponsored posts are clearly marked and if you are curious about how I handle that, I suggest you read about that here.