Hochkönig delivers powder aplenty

14th March 2010, by Editor Watts

Editor Gill enjoys "the secret valley" in Hochkönig

Sunday saw us skiing the whole length of the 150km little-known Hochkönig area (aka High King Mountain). And in magic powder snow that started falling on Saturday afternoon and stopped only after lunch on Sunday.

With guides Carl and Sandra from Elevation Holidays (www.elevationholidays.com), who run the Haus Salzburg hotel in Hinterthal, we headed for Muhlbach at the far end of the ski area and reached by a mixture of red, great cruisey blue and gentle black runs. The pistes were excellent and covered in a few inches of fresh powder.

On the way back to Maria Alm at the other end of the ski area, Carl took us down the “secret valley”, a fabulous off-piste run through the trees that was thigh deep in fresh powder - as editor Gill discovered (see photo). Tree skiing like this is normal in North America but very unusual in the Alps - and we were lucky enough to hit it on a perfect day; it was as good as many heli-skiing runs I’ve been on.

After lunch in a rustic mountain hut at half the price of French mountain lunches, we explored the pistes of Maria Alm in temperatures that had plummeted several degrees - but a couple of seriously steep black runs warmed us up. All told, a fabulous day in a ski area that deserves much more attention from keen British skiers.

• watts
• gill
• hochkonig
• tour
• maria alm

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