Close to Grossglockner Again
Grossglockner (3,798 m / 12,460 ft), the tallest mountain in Austria, as seen from the Grossglockner ski resort - February.
Claudia skis with a backdrop of Grossglockner. In September 2022 we hiked up that narrow shadowed valley in the middle of the photo during an 8-day trek through Hohe Tauern National Park.
The Adler Lodge at the top of the Grossglockner ski resort has massive floor to ceiling windows with a spectacular panoramic view of the mountains of East Tyrol.
This morning we took an easy bus connection from St. Jakob im Defereggental to Matrei in Osttirol to try out a different ski area in this region - the Grossglockner Ski Resort. (For our winter in Austria we each bought a Snow Tirol Card, which is basically a season pass to over 90 ski areas in Tyrol! So we can go to pretty much any ski area we want in Tyrol, which is quite nice!)
Since most of the storms so far this winter have hit the Alps from the west or north, East Tyrol has been a bit too far from the action, and it's painfully apparent around here. The town of Matrei sits in a valley that is bone dry right now, and the long gondola ride only reached snowline when it was about half way up the mountain. With a warm Tauern wind, it felt like spring skiing in February with slushy snow and all.
In any case, it was fun to check out another new (to us) ski area, especially because it is situated right across the valley from Grossglockner, the tallest mountain in Austria and the mountain we hiked past during our 8-day hut trek through the Hohe Tauern in September, 2022 with Claudia's dad. From the ski pistes we could see directly towards the same valleys and passes that we hiked through two Septembers ago! I didn't expect to be here again so soon, albeit in different circumstances!