Schlick 2000: the resort beneath the ‘Dolomites of Tyrol’
There is a moment on the second section of the Kreuzjochbahn gondola when the forest ends and a rock wall rises behind it, the last thing you would expect in this part of Tyrol. Limestone towers, gullies and spires look a little like a frame from the Dolomites moved a hundred kilometres north. This is the Kalkkögel, and the resort at its foot is called Schlick 2000, the largest ski area in the outer Stubai valley. I went there with the Ski plus City Pass Stubai Innsbruck, and it is one of those cases where the statistics say far less than the view.
Because the statistics are modest. About 25 km of pistes, a handful of cableways and lifts, and terrain stretching from roughly 1,000 to 2,240 m above sea level. In Tyrol, where within an hour's drive of Innsbruck you can choose between more than a dozen much larger areas, Schlick 2000 looks unremarkable. Except that it has two things no amount of money can build: the scenery, and a location about half an hour's drive from the Tyrolean capital.
The Kalkkögel, or why Schlick 2000 looks different from the rest of the valley
The Kalkkögel is a small limestone and dolomite massif between the Stubaital and Axamer Lizum. It is sometimes called the ‘Dolomites of North Tyrol’, and the comparison is fair as far as form goes, though of course not in scale.
The real Dolomites cover thousands of square kilometres. The Kalkkögel is much smaller, but one look at it from the Schlick 2000 pistes is enough to see where the comparison comes from. Jagged walls, sharp ridges and rock spires look as if someone had arranged them for a photograph. The highest summit of the group is the Schlicker Seespitze, at 2,804 m. The massif is built mainly of Triassic Main Dolomite, the same rock that characterises the Dolomites proper.
The fragility of these formations is more than a geological curiosity. On 6 May 2011 about 1,000 cubic metres of rock broke away from the north face of the neighbouring Riepenwand, and a few weeks later there was another rockfall. An installation for triggering avalanches remotely and protecting the ski terrain below was later fitted near the summit.
Because the statistics are modest. About 25 km of pistes, a handful of cableways and lifts, and terrain stretching from roughly 1,000 to 2,240 m above sea level. In Tyrol, where within an hour's drive of Innsbruck you can choose between more than a dozen much larger areas, Schlick 2000 looks unremarkable. Except that it has two things no amount of money can build: the scenery, and a location about half an hour's drive from the Tyrolean capital.
The Kalkkögel, or why Schlick 2000 looks different from the rest of the valley
The Kalkkögel is a small limestone and dolomite massif between the Stubaital and Axamer Lizum. It is sometimes called the ‘Dolomites of North Tyrol’, and the comparison is fair as far as form goes, though of course not in scale.
The real Dolomites cover thousands of square kilometres. The Kalkkögel is much smaller, but one look at it from the Schlick 2000 pistes is enough to see where the comparison comes from. Jagged walls, sharp ridges and rock spires look as if someone had arranged them for a photograph. The highest summit of the group is the Schlicker Seespitze, at 2,804 m. The massif is built mainly of Triassic Main Dolomite, the same rock that characterises the Dolomites proper.
The fragility of these formations is more than a geological curiosity. On 6 May 2011 about 1,000 cubic metres of rock broke away from the north face of the neighbouring Riepenwand, and a few weeks later there was another rockfall. An installation for triggering avalanches remotely and protecting the ski terrain below was later fitted near the summit.
Beyond the Schlicker Seespitze lies the Riepenwand, and further on the most recognisable peak of the whole group, the Große Ochsenwand, at about 2,700 m. The Schlicker Klettersteig, one of the classic via ferratas of the area, climbs its walls. Next to it rises the lower Kleine Ochsenwand. The northern part of the group includes the Steingrubenkogel, Hochtennspitze, Malgrubenspitze, Marchreisenspitze and Ampferstein, among others. Further still is the Saile, also known as the Nockspitze.
The history of the first ascents in the Kalkkögel is closely tied to Carl Gsaller, a mountaineer born in Innsbruck in 1851. Between 1879 and 1883 he made many first ascents and traverses in the group. The Gsallersteig still bears his name today. Standing on the Kreuzjoch looking at these walls, it is easy to forget that most of the story of their exploration began back in the nineteenth century.
From a single chairlift to a ten-seater gondola
The history of Schlick 2000 shows well how small Tyrolean ski resorts developed.
In 1959, 190 residents of Fulpmes, Telfes and Innsbruck signed the founding deed of the company Berglift Froneben AG. The shareholders included local craftsmen, farmers, restaurant owners, post office workers, doctors, housewives, as well as the municipalities and a local commons association. One share cost a thousand schillings. A simple conversion gives just under €73, but a comparison that ignores the purchasing power of the time says little. In those circumstances it was a serious investment for many residents. The money raised paid for a single chairlift from Fulpmes to Froneben. Today the gondola's middle station stands on that spot.
The Tschaffinislift followed in 1960, the Galtalmlift a year later, a lift at the Schlickeralm opened in 1966, and a single chairlift to the Sennjoch in 1969. A double chairlift to the Kreuzjoch arrived in 1973, and four years later a panoramic restaurant at its top station. The six-seater gondola was built later in two stages: the upper section in 1993 and the lower one in 1995.
Recent years have brought several more investments.
In the 2013/14 season the two Zirmach T-bars were replaced by a six-seater chairlift with bubble covers and heated seats. In 2017 the resort bought a used four-seater chairlift from Patscherkofel and installed it as the Panoramabahn Kreuzjoch.
The biggest change of recent years, however, was the Galtbergbahn, opened in 2023. A ten-seater gondola, the first lift of its kind in the Stubaital. New pistes were built with it on the sunnier side of the resort. In 2006 a valley run was also created, allowing a return on machine-made snow practically all the way to Fulpmes. The resort's own material now gives its length as about 3 km.
A year later Schlick 2000 became the first resort in Tyrol to introduce the Skiline system, which recorded the kilometres skied and the total vertical. Today such systems are standard; back then they were new.
The mining past of Fulpmes
The valley itself also has an industrial history. From the fourteenth to the sixteenth century ore was mined around Schlick, mainly iron, and historical sources also mention gold. The first record of a forge on the Schlickerbach dates from the fourteenth century.
When mining lost its importance, Fulpmes specialised in metalworking and smithing. The tradition survives to this day, not least in the Stubai brand, familiar to anyone who has dealt with climbing gear, crampons or ice axes.
Can you really see Innsbruck from Schlick 2000?
Yes, but not from everywhere and not in the way you can from the Nordkette. The spot in question is called StubaiBlick. It is a viewing platform at about 2,160 m, reached by an easy path from the Kreuzjoch top station. In good visibility the panorama takes in the Stubai Alps, the Kalkkögel, the Karwendel, the Tux Alps and more distant ranges towards the Wilder Kaiser. The Innsbruck area is visible too. The platform has three cantilevered walkways, each pointing towards a different part of the panorama. One shows the Schlicker Mandln, the second the Serles, and the third opens the view towards Innsbruck and the Saile.
Each of these places has a local tale attached, told on information boards. The best known concerns the Serles, a distinctive three-part mountain visible both from the Brenner motorway and from Innsbruck. According to legend it is King Serles and his sons, turned to stone as punishment for their cruelty. The mountain is sometimes called the Hochaltar Tirols, the ‘high altar of Tyrol’. Its three-part summit can indeed look like an altar with two wings.
To be fair, though, from Schlick 2000 you see Innsbruck from a long way off and over the ridges. If you want the city literally at your feet, go up the Nordkette or the Patscherkofel. Both of these areas are also covered by the Ski plus City Pass. Schlick 2000 gives you something else: a cross-section of a good part of Tyrol with the Kalkkögel in the foreground.
How to get to Schlick 2000 from Innsbruck without a car
This is one of the resort's strongest points and one of the reasons I regard it as a very good day trip from a base in Innsbruck.
VVT regional buses run to the Stubaital, including route 590. In the winter season there are also ski bus connections to Schlick 2000. Whether you travel free depends on the type of pass you hold and where you start your journey. In previous seasons, Ski plus City Pass holders using some connections from Innsbruck needed an extra voucher, issued at partner hotels and tourist information offices, among other places. So before you go, it is best to check the current VVT timetable and the rules for that season.
The more spectacular option is the Stubaitalbahn, designated STB. The line is over 18 km long with metre-gauge track. It opened in 1904. After modernisation and a change of power system in the 1980s, its trains also began using Innsbruck's city tram network. As a result you can board practically in the city centre and ride all the way to Fulpmes. The journey takes about an hour. On the way the line climbs above the valley, crossing viaducts near Mutters and Kreith and passing preserved station buildings from the early twentieth century. Local ski buses run from Fulpmes station to the Schlick 2000 valley station.
The Ski plus City Pass covers a network of selected ski buses, while the Stubaitalbahn is charged at the VVT public transport fare. Check the current conditions before you travel, because transport rules can change between seasons.
By car: where you pay and where you can avoid tolls
This is where it is easy to go wrong. The A13 Brenner motorway has its own section toll. The standard motorway vignette does not apply on it.
In 2026 the full A13 journey costs €12.50 each way, while the trip from Innsbruck to the Stubaital costs less. For the Innsbruck to Stubaital section the rate is €4.
On the A12 Inntal Autobahn things are different. If you are coming from Germany or Kufstein and use the A12, you need a valid vignette. If, on the other hand, you want to join the A13 without using the vignette section of the A12, the practical entry point is Innsbruck Süd.
You can also reach the Stubaital without using the A13. From Innsbruck the B182 Brennerstraße leads towards Schönberg, and then the B183 Stubaitalstraße to Fulpmes.
This route is slower but lets you avoid the A13 toll. In normal traffic the time difference is not huge, but at busy periods the local road can get badly congested.
Since the start of 2025 several additional traffic lights metering the flow have been operating on the B182, intended to stop transit traffic from bypassing a jammed motorway.
Bear in mind too that the Brenner corridor sees temporary restrictions due to roadworks, demonstrations or heavy traffic. So before you set off, check the announcements from ASFINAG and the Tyrolean authorities.
The pistes at Schlick 2000: who the resort is really for
Schlick 2000 offers about 25 km of pistes plus marked ski routes. The longest run goes from the Sennjoch area via the Schlickeralm and the middle station all the way down to the valley. Altogether that gives about 6 km of skiing and more than 1,200 m of vertical drop. Since the Galtberg area was developed, the black Galtberghang stands out among the hardest sections. It is only about 300 m long, but its maximum gradient reaches 55%.
The resort has a very different character from what the numbers alone might suggest, though. The lower slopes are gentle, the terrain is easy to read, and at the Froneben middle station there is BIG Ron’s Kinderland with magic carpets and attractions for young children. Children under a certain age can ski free on selected pass types when accompanied by a paying parent, but the exact birth years depend on the type of ski pass and the season.
For me Schlick 2000 is above all a resort for families and for skiers who want a relaxed day on the slopes rather than constantly chasing kilometres and vertical.
Off-piste skiing is a category of its own. Below the Kalkkögel walls there are steep gullies, rock steps and terrain that in the right conditions can appeal to experienced freeriders. I would not treat it as easy ‘off-piste next to the run’, though. This is terrain that demands avalanche knowledge, the right equipment and the ability to judge conditions. Part of the main terrain below the Kalkkögel has a cooler aspect, while the new Galtberg sector lies on the sunnier side of the resort.
Huts, toboggans and cross-country skis
Schlick 2000 has one more feature that shapes the atmosphere of the place: a large number of mountain restaurants and huts. On a relatively small area there are several popular spots, including the Schlickeralm, Fronebenalm, Galtalm and Sennjochhütte. If a ski day for you is not just about counting kilometres but also a chance for a long lunch or a coffee on a terrace, the choice here is genuinely wide.
The Schlick 2000 area also has a toboggan run heading down towards the valley and a cross-country trail near the Schlickeralm. Fulpmes has a long tradition of endurance sport as well. For more than three decades it hosted the famous Schlickeralmlauf, one of the best-known mountain races in the region. In 2024 the event was replaced by the Kalkkögeltrail Stubai, whose routes partly follow the historic course of the old race.
Brückenschlag, the link that was never built
That leaves the question of why Schlick 2000 is still a relatively small, standalone resort when Axamer Lizum is so close to the Kreuzjoch as the crow flies. The main reason is the Ruhegebiet Kalkkögel, a protected area established in 1983. Tyrolean nature conservation law severely limits the building of new cableways in such zones.
From the start of the previous decade the cableway industry and some tourism organisations pushed the Brückenschlag project. It envisaged a 3S lift running from the Kreuzjoch across the Kalkkögel area towards Axamer Lizum.
In 2015, however, legal analyses revealed serious obstacles. The project conflicted both with Tyrolean nature conservation law and with Austria's obligations under the Alpine Convention. The Tyrolean state government then declared the scheme unfeasible. The idea of a link from the Neustift side had in fact come up before. One version was rejected as early as the 1980s on the grounds of the risk of lasting damage to the landscape. In 2017 the subject returned in a modified form as a gondola project from the Neustift area towards the Sennjoch, but that too has not so far led to a link being built.
For now, then, Schlick 2000 remains a standalone, relatively small resort, and no lift crosses the protected Kalkkögel massif to connect it with Axamer Lizum. For a skier this need not be a drawback. The walls you look at from the Schlick 2000 lifts are still practically free of ski infrastructure.
When to go and for how many days
Schlick 2000 usually runs from the end of November to the first half of April, though the exact dates naturally depend on the season and snow conditions. I would not plan more than one full day for Schlick 2000 alone. Two days make sense mainly if you are skiing with small children, like a gentle pace or want to combine skiing with long breaks in the huts. This is not an area where most experienced skiers will want to spend a whole week. And that is exactly why it works best as part of the Ski plus City Pass Stubai Innsbruck.
The pass covers more than a dozen ski areas around Innsbruck and in the Stubaital, as well as many city attractions, selected swimming pools and the ski transport network. In the 2026/27 season a two-day Ski plus City Pass costs €162, a three-day one €223 and a six-day one €386. On certain pass types the youngest children can use it free of charge when accompanied by a paying parent. With this model Schlick 2000 no longer competes with big resorts on the number of pistes. It becomes one of several very different ski days during a stay in Innsbruck.
As for timing, I would aim mainly for March, when the days are longer and, with good snow, you can still use the resort's full vertical. The first half of April can also be very good, but on the sunnier Galtberg slopes in particular a lot depends on how that particular winter has gone. If you want to avoid the crowds, choose weekdays. Schlick 2000 is a natural destination for people from Innsbruck and the surrounding area, so attendance can rise noticeably at weekends.
Verdict
Schlick 2000 will not win any ranking for kilometres of pistes. It wins on something else: its closeness to Innsbruck, the option of getting there by public transport, the atmosphere of a small Tyrolean resort and, above all, the Kalkkögel panorama, which at times pushes the pistes themselves into the background.
If you are planning a few days in Innsbruck with the Ski plus City Pass, I would put Schlick 2000 into the plan as one of the quieter days. Ideally with a long break in one of the mountain huts and a short walk out to the StubaiBlick platform.
If you are looking for a big ski area for the whole trip, you will choose differently. Within the Stubaital itself the Stubai Glacier offers more, and further afield in Tyrol you will find resorts with many times more kilometres of pistes.
But if you ski with children, value peace and quiet, or simply want to stop counting kilometres for a day and ski beneath one of the most remarkable rock walls around Innsbruck, Schlick 2000 makes a great deal of sense.