Hochkönig – Maria Alm, Mühlbach, Dienten

Hochkönig – Maria Alm, Mühlbach, Dienten
On the Royal Tour

The angular of the mountain massif quickly captivates you emotionally. The almost three-thousand-meter peak, which is popular with high-altitude mountaineers and is shrouded in myth, is primarily a point of orientation for skiers. Only ski tourers use it for winter sports. Holidaymakers look up in awe and prefer to start down much gentler slopes into the ski area. Coming from Maria Alm, the Natrun or Aberg ski areas are ideal.

The "King's Tour" shows us the way. It is marked in two ways. On the one hand, it is signposted with yellow and orange arrows, and on the other hand, it is a ski-technical circuit of 35 kilometers of slopes that can be skied down without repeating a single lift. The map is available at all ticket offices. We begin our tour in Maria Alm. To do this, we leave Hinterreit – a training area particularly popular with racers from many countries – to the right and start directly in Maria Alm. To avoid exhausting yourself before the big tour, our equipment waits in one of the numerous ski depots. This winter, the latest one for 1,400 people was opened at the valley station of the 10-seater Natrun cable car. With the Natrun ascent, we are already in the middle of the king's tour. We glide along in a relaxed manner, then we head up to the Aberg-Langeck summit in two stages. Below us, the intermediate slopes are already well used, but we are not returning here until the afternoon. We have our sights set on the Hintermoos ski centre, which we can reach via easier or more challenging slopes, depending on our level of commitment.

Das Gabühel is the next highlight of the tour. The wonderful rocking takes place on mostly smooth, finely groomed slopes over Dienten, Wastlhöhe and Dachegg. If your feet are already a little heavy after a long day of skiing, there are always magnificent huts to tempt you - such as the Zapferalm. But for the crowning glory of the King's Tour, you definitely have to reach Mühlbach. With the "black" east run as the final endurance test. Depending on your fitness and the time of day, you can make your way back on skis or by ski bus. Hinterthal is completely ignored on the King's Tour, but no one should let that stop them from taking the Hochmais run - a real treat - as a treat. Off-piste variants and the Schönanger Funslope are also a treat in this area. But of course the Hochkönig region is not just a tip for those who collect kilometers.

enjoyment is definitely a topic here too. There are also "culinary royal tours" that combine skiing and dining in a unique way. The tours go from ski hut to ski hut and from course to course. The different themes - love of home, summit enjoyment and love of alpine pastures - mean that there is a tour to suit every taste and every starting point. But there is no need for culinary stress. You can even spread the individual courses over several days. Anyone who is not necessarily drawn to the slopes will also find something to their liking in the Hochkönig region: the range of activities on offer ranges from cross-country skiing, ski touring and winter hiking to tobogganing, ice skating and horse-drawn carriage rides.