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Innsbruck Region: Innsbruck l Axamer Lizum l Kühtai l Nordkette l Stubaier Glacier
Zillertal Valley: Spieljoch l Hochzillertal-Hochfugen l Zillertal Arena l Mountopolis l Hintertux Glacier
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Hintertux Glacier Austria

Hintertux Glacier Trail Map – Click on Trail Map to Enlarge and View in new browser

Austria’s Zillertal Valley is loaded with great family ski resorts. The Hintertux Glacier is the tallest, most exposed and most high alpine experience of all. Skiing glacier terrain is exceptional promising plenty of skiing and Austrian Alps scenery, great ski trails and snow parks, and touring inside the Hintertux glacier.

Hintertux Glacier is Austria’s only year-round ski resort, open for skiing 365 days a year on the namesake glacier. With an elevation of 3,250 meters, 10,662’, the skiing is high elevation, gets serious natural snow and also wild weather from wind and clouds, to intense sun in the spring and summer.

Hintertuxer Gletscher (in German) is in the Tyrol Alps of Austria, just a 30-minute drive (or free bus) from Mayrhofen and Zillertal Arena, in the nearby Ziller valley, even closer to the charming Austrian towns of Finkenberg, and Tux (hence the name hinter-Tux).

Hintertux is now on Vail Resorts’ EPIC PASS, along with Mayrhofen , Saalbach, Solden, Zell am See, and Kaprun Kitzsteinhorn Austria. Crans Montana and Andermatt-Sedrun-Disentis in Switzerland, plus 5 consecutive days in Switzerland’s Verbier 4 Vallees region with a lodging purchase, and 7-days skiing in Les 3 Vallées in France, and more being added frequently!

Hintertux is the training ground for 57 national ski teams and snowboard competitors since the skiing on the glacier is open for skiing year-round. When skiing off-piste you should have a mountain guide as there are cliffs, crevasses, and ever-changing snow conditions on this high alpine glacier. Skiing on a glacier at such high elevation, you can experience strong wind and white out conditions, particular in the heart of the winter weather, since they are no trees for definition, just poles on each side of the trails. Hintertux has the highest terrain park in Austria as well.

A great lunch spot Spannagelhaus is a beautiful blond wood chalet mid-mountain – the goulashsoupe is excellent, TVs to watch Austrian ski racing, sit by the bar or by the fireplace.

Tuxer Fernerhaus is a beautiful lodge at mid-mountain for lunch. This stunning lodge was rebuilt in 2013 with a beautiful bar, panoramic sit-down restaurant called Wirsthaus, and expansive self-serve café – all of which have fireplaces and gorgeous authentic wood work, even the restrooms are top shelf.

The Hintertux Fiery Glacier Tour is a must – yes go inside the glacier. The Nature Ice Palace (see Boat Ride inside the Hintertux Glacier Video) is a series of cool (0C, 32F) caves under the snowpack, 30-meters below the ski slopes. Roman Erler, who may be your guide if you’re lucky, discovered a crack in the glacier in 2007 that led to this ice cave – Spannagel Cave – which is now open for tours of stalagmites, waterfalls and an underground lake. You actually get in an inflatable boat (in ski boots) surrounded by ice and paddle up and down the Ice Sea, 100 meters of ice canal on this glacial lake beneath the ski slopes. It’s fascinating, to be under the ski slopes, in this ice world – home to the oldest but most stable ice glacier in Europe. Its a cool opportunity, but be warned – climbing ladders in icy caves is for fit, flexible people, and children over 6. Scientists from NASA and seismologists come to Hintertux for research, cold water divers practice swimming here (brr) and you get to tour this glacier, an hour break from skiing.

Hintertux is part of the Snow Card Tirol, which includes Mountoplis Mayrhofner – Penken/Ahorn, Hochziller- Hochfügen-Kaltenbach, Spieljoch Fugen, and Zillertal Arena – a total of 90 Austrian ski areas, several of which are in the Zillertal valley which you could ski on an Austrian ski safari.

You can lodge right at the base of Hintertux’s first gondola, there are several hotels and guesthouses, a few ski shops and après ski bars at this quiet valley’s end. We loved lodging in Tux down the road, at the 4-star Hotel Alpenjuwel near the base of Rastkogelbahn and Mayrhofen’s Mountopolis. Or you can stay further down the road at the larger ski town of Mayrhofen. Your ski pass allows you free bus connections.

Hintertux Glacier Ski Stats:
Elevation: Base: 1500 Meters (4,921′). Summit: 3,250 Meters (10,662’). Vertical: 1,750M or 5,741’
21 lifts, 62 kilometers of prepared ski slopes
Open For Skiing Year Round