Kirschberg is like Kitzbuhel’s bad-ass grandfather. It’s been around for a long time and it likes to keep things the way they’ve always been. Hey, there’s nothing wrong with a ski hill that doesn’t need to boast seven high-speed quads and a Macdonalds on the hill to attract a fan base.
There’s something highly romantic about Kirschberg. It gets a lot of snow, has lifts that cover a vast amount of terrain and you can meander along from lift to lift and run to run without covering the same run twice. The best thing about this mountain, for powder hounds, is that most of the good stuff is left untouched. Many skiers chose to slowly pick there way down the groomed or maintained trails beneath the lifts, leaving a nice snowy surplus on the sides of the trails for the more adventurous.
Gentle slopes with some nice steep pitches work their way through the trees, into little valleys and then back to the base of a nice comfortable two person chair lift that allows you to shake out those leg cramps before talking another run of pure powder.
A beginner might struggle on a big snow day as grooming occurs but is not too comprehensive.
For expert skiers, this is the best place to go after a huge dump. You will not have to muscle your way off the lift and fight for fresh tracks. And just try and ski the whole mountain in one day. I think it might be possible, but you will have to take a bus back to your car. We skied as far as we could go before lunch and then had to make our way back, without dodling to catch the last lift back to where we started off in the morning.
There were nine of us powder lovers skiing Kirschberg all together, we managed to get a fill of snow that may otherwise take an entire year on a mountain like Whistler.
The restaurants are also top notch. Several little huts allow for either a quick cheese, meat and potato snack, Grosti, or as many Austrians prefer, a long lingering lunch filled with plenty of wine that refuels the wary for an afternoon of more snow playtime.
Kirschberg and Kitzbuhel are like Whistler and Blackcomb. Ski both, they have so much to offer and share the same batch of perfect mountains that get lots of snow and are world famous for a reason. While Kitzbuhel is definitely more modern and flashy, Kirschberg reminds you of what skiing was and always will be on some special mountains that have left a good thing alone. Beautiful scenery and a bit of peace and quiet make for a romantic environment in which to seek and find some of the most profound, literally, powder around.
Plus, you will see some old-school ski fashion out here. Florescent abounds like it’s 1982 and you will see that though the one piece ski suit may have died off in North America, it still reigns supreme on the Austrian grandfathers who like to keep there middle warm and show off their attached-at-the knee turns that would make even an Olympic mogul skier a little bit jealous.
