St Jakob im Defereggental
A distant view of Grossglockner, the highest mountain in Austria at 3,798 m / 12,460 ft tall, as seen from the west from the top of the ski area at St Jakob in Defereggental - February. The Stüdlhütte (where we stayed on a hut trek through the Hohe Tauern in September 2022) is just visible as a tiny rectangle in a distant saddle on the right side of the photo.
This trippy sun aura lasted for hours as thin clouds passed over the mountains above St. Jakob in Defereggental.
Evening in the center of the small village of Sankt Jakob im Defereggental in east Tyrol, Austria.
Yesterday two trains and three buses carried us and all our luggage from Mayrhofen in the Zillertal to Sankt Jakob im Defereggental in East Tyrol. St Jakob seems to be just about as remote of a place as it gets in Austria and the vibe is refreshingly mellow here in this little village. No more omnipresent apre-ski techno pop here, just the gongs of the church bells instead.
This area is not too far from where we trekked with Claudia's father two Septembers ago when we did an 8-day hut-to-hut trek through the Hohe Tauern National Park. In fact, today we caught a view of Grossglockner itself (the tallest peak in Austria), albeit from farther way than last time!
We had a fun day today skiing/riding at the local ski area here. It's not a big area but it's got really nice wide groomers - perhaps the best groomers we've skied in Austria so far. And no lines or crowds at all - no pinball skiing here! Though it hasn't snowed here in quite a while, the pistes were in surprisingly good shape and not too terribly icy.
One reason I wanted to come here when we were planning our trip months ago was because this ski area can be a hidden gem when there's good snow, with lots of fun off-piste potential and not too many people tracking it up. Supposedly it doesn't snow quite as often in this more southern part of Tyrol, but when it does it can seriously dump. Unfortunately the snow gods are not indulging me with any powder this week, and even the backcountry snow conditions seem pretty rough right now. So it goes on a ski trip... it's always a gamble.