Winter Activities

Stadl an der Mur is within the Murtal region of Austria, which is a favoured holiday destination among young and old sports enthusiasts and can boast of having produced some of the famous names in the history of Alpine downhill skiing such as Franz Klammer, Renate Gorschl and Michael Walchofer.  The area offers state-of-the-art lifts and is well equipped for all sorts of pleasures in the snow. The picturesque, family-friendly traditional ski villages, boast stunning mountain scenery and excellent Styrian food.  In addition you will find many other winter activities such as ice-skating, toboganning and horse drawn sleigh rides.  Please take time to look at the following websites which give full details of all the many additional activities to do locally and the ski resort facilities in full - www.murtal.at and www. st-georgen.murau.at   You will find brochures in the chalet. Please note that the journey to the chalet and ski areas in winter are on good, cleared, flat roads - no mountain precipices.

Kreischberg

Located close to Stadl  is the resort of Kreischberg - a 7 minute drive/trainride from the Chalet. Here you will find a ski school, snowboarding school, ski & boot hire and locker facilities at the gondola lift station.  This has 29km of varied runs, 72% either easy or intermediate, with guaranteed snow at altitudes between 850 and 2118m.  There are fabulous runs on the 'Rosenkranz', plenty of room for beginners, wide slopes for carvers and more demanding last runs down to the valley.  In addition there is lots of fun to be had in the tubing arena, on the speed run and in the snowboard world championship arena!  Kreischberg offers an abundance of activities for kids, including Fred & Barneys Yabaa-Dabba-Doo-Land, Dinopark, kids' tubing, trampolining, Magic Carpet and much more.  For more information visit http://www.kreischberg.at/

Skiers wishing to try a variety of resorts can purchase a Murtal Ski Pass which is valid at the ski mountains, of Frauenalpe, Grebenzen, Kreischberg, Lachtal, Hohentauern and Prabichl.  You can include the ski area of Turracher Hohe on this Pass for a small additional charge.   For more information visit http://www.skiberge.at/  andwww.murtal.at for full details of what to do in the areas.

Frauenalpe

This is the next closest ski area after Kreischberg, being 10 miles/16km away, situated in the Murau mountains above the city of Murau, host of the Nordic World Championships.  The ski terrain at 1,500-2,000m is easily accessible on a well-maintained road and offer 36 hectares of skiable terrain with 5 drag lifts.  The Frauenalpe ski mountain is known as the 'undeclared love of the upper Mur valley' and families will enjoy the 'Fairytale Meadow'.  Provided the snow is good the undisputed highlight of a great skiing day is the 8km run down to Murau.  A shuttle bus service is available between Murau and the Frauenalpe ski area.  For more information visit http://www.frauenalpe.eu/       

Turracher Hohe

Located 12 miles/19km from Stadl, approximately a 25min car journey.  This is a stunning resort with breathtaking scenery and of fers a particularly varied ski terrain with 38 km of runs for winter sport enthusiasts, with the high altitude (1,400-2,205m)  and snowmaking facilities guaranteeing perfect snow throughtout the season.  This ski resort offers a wide range of other sports including cross country skiing, winter hiking and ice skating.   Ski lifts include three 6-seater chair lifts, one combined lift (8-person gondola, 6-person chair lift), 2 chair lifts, 8 drag lifts, 25 high altitude cross country trails, children's ski school and ski kindergarten, night tobogganing, 2,000m sq ice skating area.   Turracher Hohe is unusual in that the resort is spread over two mountains which are connected by taxi (a skidoo) which transports you across the frozen lake from one mountain to the other - see www.turracherhoehe.at                                                                                      

Katschberg & Obertauern

'Katschberg' is a little further away, approximately a 30 minute drive away with 60km of piste and further away again, approximately a 40 minute drive (45km)  is 'Obertauern' with 120km of piste and has been voted the 2nd most popular resort in Austria 2006/07.  It is one of the most snow sure resorts in Austria and offers good skiing for all abilities.  Keen skiers can buy the Salzburger ski pass which covers 22 ski resorts in the region.