SkiWelt Wilder Kaiser – Brixental

SkiWelt Wilder Kaiser
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With the Witches on the slope above Söll. With a flowing black skirt, a pointed hat and red smoke trailing behind her, she whizzes down the slope. Cheering children follow her. In summer, the Hexenwasser is extremely popular as a natural, alpine play area, but in winter it has its own appeal as a destination for families. This winter there is a new Raven Rally - a treasure hunt across the SkiWelt Söll with a subsequent reward in the raven's nest. The search is for the ravens that have flown out, and a witch's treasure awaits. The search is doable for everyone, because the slopes are definitely family-friendly. The effort that goes into preparing them every night is astonishing. The dimension of slopes and ski routes in this densely woven network is enormous. And there is even more to do, because with the KitzSkiWelt Tour you can start in Going, for example, and travel through the entire Kitzbühel Alps to arrive in Hollersbach, in the Salzburg Pinzgau. In previous years, there was a lot of activity in expanding the dense lift network. Most recently, the old Salvista cable car was replaced by a 10-person gondola. Instead of going to Kraftalm, as before, the route now runs to Kleine Salve, making it 650 meters longer. New pistes have been added since then. Getting on and off at Kraftalm is still possible at the middle station. The region is not high up, but thanks to the snow cannons, you can get by just fine almost every year.

As "insanely big" The Ski World Wilder Kaiser - Brixental likes to call itself "the best ski area in the world". And rightly so, because nowhere else is there such a dense network of lifts and 20 valley runs. However, you won't believe it - instead of an increase, there are now fewer pistes. The starting point Kelchsau with the Hofstatt double chairlift has been discontinued and will not be replaced.

Grasberger are the ones that primarily serve as pistes here, the namesake Wilder Kaiser merely forms the majestic backdrop. There is little to criticize about the huge network of pistes. It is wide, well maintained, the only drawback is perhaps that it lacks a real challenge for top skiers. The valley towns from Going, famous for the Stanglwirt, through Ellmau, Scheffau and Söll to Itter are characterized by hotels and agriculture in equal measure.
The valley floors, especially Ellmau and Söll, are generally well-maintained with cross-country ski runs. This is not always the case for all of the pistes, as the highest accessible peak, the Hohe Salve, only reaches 1,829 metres. In warm winters, the south-facing slopes above Brixen im Thale sometimes turn green prematurely. But from there you can also swing to the north and west slopes - or to Westendorf. The most popular "starting point" is Scheffau, especially for day visitors, as evidenced by the huge parking lots. The most central point of the ski world, the Brandstadl, can be reached in just a few minutes. And it is great fun to zoom back down into the valley, for example via Route 63, except during the morning rush hour. The second "main approach path" is the direct route from Söll to the Hohe Salve, but the summit can also be reached quickly from Hopfgarten, where the longest valley run awaits. It is just as difficult to highlight individual runs as it is to highlight individual ones of the 70 ski and mountain huts, which are mostly rustic and almost always run by local families. The picture has recently changed as far as the sporting challenges that were once lacking: Söll has the "Black Pipe", a freeride route from the Hohe Salve that is up to 80 percent steep, the even steeper Alpseite No. 112 (Westendorf) and there is also the "Red Viper", a ski and boarder cross line with time measurement and videos.