Kuhtai Opens for the Season

2nd December 2023 | James Cove, Kuhtai.

Last modified on December 5th, 2023

PlanetSKI is in the highest ski town in Austria for its opening this weekend. It has been more like the middle of February than the beginning of December. UPDATED

Kuhtai sits at the top of an alpine pass at 2,020m.

It is a 45-minute drive from Innsbruck and is a firm favourite of PlanetSKI.

It has 47kms of slopes:

Beginner – 9kms
Intermediate – 27kms
Advanced – 8kms
Freetyle – 3kms

It also has a joint lift pass with Hochoetz, a 15-minute bus ride away, that offers a further 41kms of slopes.

“Kuhtai has it all, with guaranteed snow from early December until late April,” said a statement from the resort.

As well as the skiing and snowboarding there’s tobogganing, night-skiing, cross-country skiing and snowshoe hiking.

We’ll be going into more details of the resort and what it offers later in this article, but first the experience of the opening day – it was a total whiteout!

PlanetSKI in Kuhtai. . Image © PlanetSKI

Yet another storm rolled in as we headed up through Tirolean villages.

The Tirol, Austria. Image © PlanetSKI

The worry of having to put snow chains on the cars was never far from my thoughts as the snow fell.

The Tirol, Austria. Image © PlanetSKI

Fortunately, the snow tyres did their job and we made it up without the need to get down on our hands & knees in a blizzard, and try to remember how the wretched things attach.

Kuhtai, The Tirol. Image © PlanetSKI

Once we arrived on the slopes it was a question of whether the glass is half full or half empty.

Kuhtai, The Tirol. Image © PlanetSKI

I prefer green to red.

Kuhtai, The Tirol. Image © PlanetSKI

It was though somewhat ‘challenging’ out on the slopes.

Though in a strange way rather fun.

I know the resort well, so I didn’t need to look at any piste maps and knew which spots would be better protected from the wind.

I find it interesting to get the most out of a day on the mountains, whatever the conditions.

Kuhtai, The Tirol. Image © PlanetSKI

After an hour or two it was time to take shelter.

Kuhtai, The Tirol. Image © PlanetSKI

Out of the mist as we arrived there was a shout of “James! James!”.

I looked around and couldn’t see anyone.

“James, over here!”

One of my old ski mates, Matt Clark, appeared out of the murk after spotting my bright orange jacket.

Lets face it, it is rather hard to miss.

Matt & Your Truly – Kuhtai, The Tirol. Image © PlanetSKI

It’s great just randomly bumping into friends as I meander round the mountains.

The last time we made a few turns together was in nearby Ischgl back in 2017 on a powder day.

Matt in Ischgl, 2017. Image © PlanetSKI

This is Matt not me:

Matt in Ischgl, 2017. Image © PlanetSKI

Matt lives in Innsbruck and we chatted about past fun, current times and promised to make a few turns together (with some après) when I undoubtedly pass through later in the winter.

He then vanished back into the murk.

I headed inside.

Kuhtai, The Tirol. Image © PlanetSKI

Lunch at the Drei Seen Hutte was little short of perfection, and all for under €10.

I am pleased to report that Austria remains extremely good value for money.

As the weather closed in again mid-afternoon with the snow getting heavier, we decided to head down the mountain early to avoid putting on those chains for the drive back down.

We took our time of it.

Kuhtai, The Tirol. Image © PlanetSKI

So, what about Kuhtai?

It is one of 13 ski areas on the Ski/City pass of Innsbruck and all resorts are connected to the capital of the Tirol by public transport.

The resorts offer something different.

There’s Mutteralm, the family mountain in the picturesque village of Mutters, and Innsbruck’s own ski mountain, Nordkette, with incredible views of the city from the slopes.

There’s also Axamer Lizum, offering 40 kilometres of slopes and nine lifts, including the 10-seater gondola Hoadlbahn, which opened last season and takes people directly from the car park to the highest point of the ski area at 2,340m in just six minutes.

Then there’s Austria’s largest glacier ski area, the Stubai Glacier, which is a 45-minute drive from Innsbruck.

It has 26 lifts and 35 easy to demanding slopes at a height of up to 3,210m.

Then there’s Patscherkofel, Glungezer and a few others.

PlanetSKI readers with a long memory will recall PlanetSKI was based in Innsbruck for three and a half months back in the winter of 2018/19.

Kuhtai was the first place we headed to and we returned many times.