Hintersee Travel Guide

When visiting, the Gaißau-Hintersee ski resort, you will most likely come from the north and approach from the Salzburg direction. The best entrance is then from Hintersee which has ample parking spaces, a chair lift up to the moutain's other side, ski rental booth, ticket purchase booth, and a restaurant. The only downside is if you're not an expert skiier you have to head down an intermediate slope to get back down to your car. But worry not, it's not a difficult slope and should probably be labeled blue for beginner in Austria.

We decided to go to Gaißau-Hintersee for our ski trip for two reasons. For one, my brother-in-law who joined us, loves the place because he takes his young daughter there often and also because it was our first ski trip of the season, and we needed an easy mountain to warm up with (especially me!). Gaißau-Hintersee did not fail to deliver and it took me a few hours to get myself back in form. My first 2-3 runs were awful, I was too scared to do anything, but then the old skiier came back and I was back to having some fun. This little excursion on our trip was a warm up to our trip to Jackson Hole, Wyoming in Jan 2004.

Also, the resort can be accessed from both Gaißau and Hintersee. We came from the Hintersee side. The main office for the resort though is in Gaißau. See the website for directions on getting there.

Equipment: Other than your ski clothes, you don't need ski equipment, you can rent it there. Liz and I took our ski boots with us for the sake of comfort. We rented the skis and poles.

Fondest memory: From the summit of the Gaißau-Hintersee ski resort, the views of the surrounding mountians. The view in just about every direction was remarkable and alone, made the ski trip worth while. Fortunately for us, the great weather, excellent powder, and small crowd were just added bonuses to a great day of skiing!