Schladming-Dachstein Austria

**Schladming-Dachstein** Ski Trail Map – click to enlarge

Schladming-Dachstein – 4 interconnected mountain ski areas with 5 villages… Gleiming, Pichl, Rohrmoos, Schladming and Haus im Ennstal. All four summits are nearly 2,000 meters (6,500′) with base areas in the 750-meter range, so an impressive big mountain vertical drop of 1250-vertical meters (or 4100’). This makes for really long runs, to the valley below, then riding back up several lifts, for a big mountain skiing experience.

The heart of the resort is Schladming and black trail #1 dropping steeply into the village, home of the World Cup Night Slalom Race. Many of the trails are big wide boulevard trails with decent pitch, well groomed. Families will find a big kiddy land in Rohrmoos, with fun parks, mascots and magic carpets, in the heart of the skiing. Hopsi Land on Planai is another family fun zone.

Free ride skiing is very limited at Schladming’s vast region, without hiring a guide for a mountain adventure. If you are looking for off-piste free riding, you won’t find a better guide than Bergfurher Heli Rettensteiner – he’s an excellent, experienced mountain guide, and makes your guided ski day fun, whether you are climbing into extreme ski terrain, or just exploring snow fields off-piste.

Schladming is famed for hosting the World Cup Men’s Night Skiing Race. Other big events in Schladming are a big December Grand Music Fest – bringing such talents as Sting, Bryan Adams, and a March Alm Kulinarik Wine & Ski event featuring top Austrian chefs.

On mountain dining, Schladming Dachstein has over 90 Mountain Huts all over the vast resort, most with exceptional views. We loved our panoramic ski lunches at Da Sepp and Schnepfn Alm. Da Sepp on the Planai peak is a magnificent (new 2024) panoramic chalet sporting a very fun vibe, and excellent food (try the pulled beef burger with sweet potato). This place rocks with great music all day, and après ski – although its still a long ski down!

Schnepfn Alm in Reiteralm is another magnificent mountain hut. It is challenging to find on trail 4b, located in the luxurious Almwelt Resort. Here you will discover a quieter, sophisticated posh chalet. I dined on the Michelin Chef’s signature dish which was out of this world, so was the local Deer! Seriously – these are ski lunches with a panorama, in a beautiful wood lodge with antler chandeliers, sheep and deer skin. Not only does Schladming take pride in their local creative cuisine, but their Michelin Chef features a unique signature dish at each of 14 mountain huts – Alm Kulinarik. So much better and healthier than a cheeseburger and fries on a cafeteria tray.

For non-skiers, there is plenty to do in Schladming, with 35 kilometers of rodeling – sledding, 300 kilometers of winter wandering which includes riding the ski gondolas then walking snow paths around the high plateau – and stopping at mountain chalets. In the valleys are over 400 kilometers of Nordic trails.

For ski lodging, we liked the quieter ski village of Rohrmoos, but some prefer staying in the downtown of Schladming with more hotel and dining options.

Schladming is in the heart of the Salzburg ski region, so a ski safari can easily be achieved with nearby Obertauern, Tauplitz, Snow Space Salzburg, Zell am See, and Saalbach.

Schladming-Dachstein Ski Stats:
Elevation: 728 m – 2176 m, 7,139′
Vertical: 1076 m, 3,530′
Lifts: 16 (70 with interconnect)
Trails: 45 km of prepared pistes plus 3.5km of routes. (210 km Interconnected)