Turracher Höhe

Turracher Höhe is a small resort in the Nockberge mountains on the border between two Austrian provinces, Carinthia and Styria. Thanks to its high altitude (1,763 m), the pistes here have excellent conditions from the end of October until May. Any shortage of natural snow is made up with machine-made snow (more than 90% of the pistes have snowmaking). The pistes of Turracher Höhe lie at altitudes from 1,400 to 2,205 m, on the eastern and western sides of the village, and offer skiers and snowboarders 38 km of pistes of varying difficulty (13 km blue, 22 km red and 3 km black). The resort has 14 lifts, including the new heated 6-seater Kornockbahn chairlift, which takes you to the summit of the Kornock (2,205 m). From here wide pistes lead down with a superb view of the Nockberge National Park and nearby Bad Kleinkirchheim. The way down is red piste no. 1, which branches into runs numbered 2, 3 and 4. Runs 10 and 11 are so-called ski routes, ungroomed runs for freeriders, which can only be skied after heavy snowfall. The western part of the resort also has the gentle blue pistes 7, 8 and 13, near which there are wooden huts where you can try local specialities or warm up with Glühwein (mulled red wine with cloves and cinnamon). Most of the pistes are on the eastern side of the resort. This is where you will find the long red piste no. 20, which has FIS homologation and where top alpine racers usually train before the World Cup races in Bad Kleinkirchheim. Freeriders can try the Adrenalin Skiroute, numbered 34, which runs under the Turrachbahn lift and turns into black piste no. 35 in its final section. If you tire of skiing on and off the pistes, you can swap your skis for a toboggan. On Tuesdays and Thursdays from 20:00 to 21:30 a floodlit toboggan run more than a kilometre long is open under the Sonnenbahn lift, taking you down towards the Turracher See lake. When temperatures drop below zero, the lake turns into a huge natural ice rink where you can go skating or even ride in a taxi. Skiers who want to get from the eastern to the western part of the resort, to the Panoramabahn lift (or back), can use free transport across the ice.