The Ski Amadé region of

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

is a network of 28 ski areas and towns that combined, make up the second largest ski area in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

.largest ski domain is

Dolomiti Superski The Dolomiti Superski is a ski area in Italy. Created in 1974, it is spread over an area of about 3,000 km2 in the North-East of Italy, and includes most of the winter ski slopes of the Dolomites. Comprising 12 ski resorts and a total of 1,2 ...

It is named after the composer

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age ...

who was born in the city of

Salzburg Salzburg is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020 its population was 156,852. The city lies on the Salzach, Salzach River, near the border with Germany and at the foot of the Austrian Alps, Alps moun ...

Background

The resorts are linked by buses. There are 860 km of downhill slopes and 278 modern ski lifts, the highest lift being at the Dachstein Glacier with an altitude of 2,700 m. There are over 700 km of marked cross country

Nordic skiing Nordic skiing encompasses the various types of skiing in which the toe of the ski boot is fixed to the binding in a manner that allows the heel to rise off the ski, unlike alpine skiing, where the boot is attached to the ski from toe to heel. Re ...

tracks.

Five Regions

The resorts are made up of 28 villages across five principal regions that make up the alliance. The five regions are Salzburger Sportwelt, Dachstein Tauern,

Gastein Valley Bad Gastein ( is a spa town in the St. Johann im Pongau District. Picturesquely situated in a high valley of the Hohe Tauern mountain range, it is known for the Gastein waterfall and a variety of grand hotel buildings. Geography Bad Gastein is l ...

, Hochkönig Ski Area, and Grossarl Valley.

Geography

The ski region stretches from the south-east of

to the upper

Styria Styria ( ; ; ; ) is an Austrian Federal states of Austria, state in the southeast of the country. With an area of approximately , Styria is Austria's second largest state, after Lower Austria. It is bordered to the south by Slovenia, and cloc ...

n Ennstal, including the impressive mountain ranges of

Steinernes Meer The Steinernes Meer (literally "Rocky Sea") is a high karst plateau in the Northern Limestone Alps. As one of the nine sub-ranges of the Berchtesgaden Alps the Steinernes Meer belongs partly to Bavaria and partly to Land Salzburg, Salzburg. Loc ...

Hochkönig The Hochkönig is a mountain group containing the highest mountain (Hochkönig) in the Berchtesgaden Alps, Salzburgerland, Austria. The Berchtesgaden Alps form part of the Northern Limestone Alps. Location It lies to the west of the town of Bis ...

Dachstein Hoher Dachstein () is a strongly karstic mountain in central Austria and the second-highest mountain in the Northern Limestone Alps. It is situated at the border of Upper Austria and Styria, and is the highest point in each of those states. Par ...

and Tauernkamm. Being in the

Eastern Alps The Eastern Alps are usually defined as the area east of a line from Lake Constance and the Alpine Rhine valley, up to the Splügen Pass at the Main chain of the Alps, Alpine divide, and down the Liro (Como), Liro River to Lake Como in the south. ...

, thus being colder than the Western Alps the region has a good record of snowfall during the winter months.

Interesting facts

*The resorts of

Schladming Schladming () is a small former mining town in the northwest of the Austrian state of Styria that is now a popular tourist destination. It has become a large winter-sports resort and has held various skiing competitions, including most notably th ...

/Planai, Reiteralm, Flachau and

Zauchensee Zauchensee is a place in the Austrian municipality of Altenmarkt im Pongau, located in the state of Salzburg. Zauchensee is known for its ski resort and as a venue for the Alpine Ski World Cup. Location Zauchensee, named after the lake of the ...

all have runs which are used for the annual

Alpine Skiing World Cup The FIS Alpine Ski World Cup is the top international circuit of alpine skiing competitions, launched in 1966 by a group of ski racing friends and experts which included French journalist Serge Lang (skiing), Serge Lang and the alpine ski team d ...

circuit. *

Hermann Maier Hermann Maier (born 7 December 1972) is an Austrian former World Cup champion alpine ski racer and Olympic gold medalist. Nicknamed the "Herminator", Maier ranks among the greatest alpine ski racers in history, with four overall World Cup tit ...

who has won four overall World Cup titles, two Olympic gold medals, three World Championship titles and 53 races in the Alpine Skiing World Cup circuit is from the Austrian Three Valleys area of Alpendorf, Wagrain and Flachau. With 53 champion races he is only second in place to being defined as the world's greatest skier; in front of him is

Ingemar Stenmark Jan Ingemar Stenmark (; born 18 March 1956) is a Swedish former FIS Alpine Ski World Cup, World Cup Alpine skiing, alpine ski racer. He is regarded as a legendary skier and one of the most prominent Swedish athletes ever, having won several Oly ...

from

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

who has 86 victories. *Scenes from the classic film ''

The Sound of Music ''The Sound of Music'' is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, and a book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. It is based on the 1949 memoir of Maria von Trapp, '' The Story of the Trapp Family Singers''. ...

'' were filmed around the Salzburger Sportwelt region of the alliance. One scene in particular, where

Julie Andrews Dame Julie Andrews (born Julia Elizabeth Wells; 1 October 1935) is an English actress, singer, and author. She has garnered numerous accolades throughout her career spanning over eight decades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Fi ...

is singing as she walks along a grassy verge was filmed near the resort of Alpendorf. *The Gastein Valley resorts of

Bad Gastein Bad Gastein ( is a spa town in the St. Johann im Pongau District. Picturesquely situated in a high valley of the Hohe Tauern mountain range, it is known for the Gastein waterfall and a variety of grand hotel buildings. Geography Bad Gastein i ...

and

Bad Hofgastein Bad Hofgastein () is a market town in the district of St. Johann im Pongau, in the Austrian state of Salzburg. The spa town is located in the Gastein Valley, a large ski resort belonging to the Ski Amadé network. Geography The Gastein valley i ...

are highly renowned for their

thermal baths A spa is a location where mineral-rich spring water (sometimes seawater) is used to give medicinal baths. Spa health treatments are known as balneotherapy. The belief in the curative powers of mineral waters and hot springs goes back to prehis ...

as well as for their extensive

skiing Skiing is the use of skis to glide on snow for basic transport, a recreational activity, or a competitive winter sport. Many types of competitive skiing events are recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and the International S ...

areas, and are supplemented by the mountains of Graukogel and Sportgastein offering more opportunities for intermediate and advanced skiers and freeriders. The ski lifts of the third town in the valley -

Dorfgastein Dorfgastein is a municipality in St. Johann im Pongau District, in the Austrian state of Salzburg. Geography It is located on the northern entrance of the Gastein Valley within the Hohe Tauern mountain range, south of the broader Salzach Valley. ...

- are linked to the Grossarl Valley.

References

External links

* *
Salzburger Sportwelt region
Ski areas in Austria {{Austria-sports-venue-stub