Pistes and lifts
What you can ski here
AlpineSnowboardSki touring
Run counts and piste kilometres are indicative. Green runs only exist in France, Spain, Andorra, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Japan, the United States, Morocco, Algeria, Lesotho, South Africa, Egypt, Canada, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and Chile; Italy, Austria, Switzerland and Germany start at blue. Indicative average snow depth near the top of the resort, in cm.
Get to know the resort
Heiligenblut translates as Holy Blood, and the village has been a pilgrimage stop on the way over the Grossglockner pass since the late Middle Ages. The 1483 church and its Gothic winged altar still dominate the skyline, framed against the highest peak in Austria. The skiing on the Schareck and Gjaidtroghöhe is unusually high for Carinthia, with a top station at 2,912 m and 55 km of mostly red and black piste descending through Mölltal exposure that stays cold and dry into April. The valley run back to the village is a 1,600 m vertical, one of the longest continuous descents in the country. The lift system is genuine quiet-Austria scale, with rarely a queue worth mentioning. Off-snow the village is tiny and authentic, dominated by Gasthof and Bauernhaus rooms rather than hotel chains, and the food leans on Carinthian Käsnudeln, Reindling and game from the Hohe Tauern valleys. It is the choice for skiers who care more about mountain than nightlife.
Good to know
- The terrain is well balanced: 0 green, 15 blue, 20 red and 8 black runs, which suits a mixed group skiing together at different levels.
- The base sits at 1300 m and the top reaches 2912 m, a profile that holds snow well across a normal winter (score 84/100).
- With 55 km of piste on 12 lifts, it is a mid-size area, easy to get to know in a long weekend.
- The lifts typically turn for about 18 weeks a season, planning around late January to late February tends to land the most reliable cover.
