The tallest church spire in Salzburgerland was piercing a snowglobe of flakes as I arrived in Maria Alm, a perfect storybook of a ski resort. Singing townsfolk were teetering atop the whipped-cream drifts that covered roofs, shovelling metre after cubic metre from laden pitches.Â
Come morning, the lift board was speckled with red crosses indicating closed pistes, but the main Natrun gondola was nonetheless up and running to access the pistes. Higher up the mountain, lift operators were blowing, blasting and clearing yet more snow. Perhaps surprisingly in such a small resort, no effort or expense was being spared to ready the slopes, including using helicopters to airbrush snow from trees that were at risk of causing lift cables to collapse â a high-tech approach costing some â¬50,000 euros per day. Â
The inside guide to Salzburg for skiers
Arguably the world’s most beautiful ski hub city, Salzburg features mountain-backed streets, twin cathedrals, gilded bars and cosy restaurants, while the sounds of local boy Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart are never far away.
By Nick Dalton 5 Feb 2021, 17:00 GMT
Salzburg is a city that really comes into its own in winter, barely an hour’s drive from dozens of ski resorts.
Photograph by AWL Images
As the birthplace of Mozart, this stately city on the northern edge of the Austrian Alps is revered year-round, but it comes into its own in winter. Not only is Salzburg barely an hour’s drive from dozens of ski resorts, including Skicircus Saalbach Hinterglemm Leogang Fieberbrunn and much smaller, lesser-known gems like gorgeous Hochkönig, but this is a ski hub city that’s well worth pausing in for a quick serving of stellar sights. Not to be missed is the hilltop Hohensalzburg Fortress and the Mozart’s Birthplace and mozart residence muse
Another Ski Instructor Course in Austria With Britons Attending Sees Outbreak of Covid-19 22nd January 2021
Last modified on January 24th, 2021
The outbreak happened in a group of 172 people on a course in Flachau in the Ski Amade region in Salzburg. Two Britons are among dozens on the course who have tested positive for coronavirus. All instructor courses in Salzburg have now been suspended.
Two British nationals were among those who tested positive.
There is no indication they were the source of the spread.
PCR tests were then carried out on all 172 participants on the course and results are expected shortly from Austrian health body, AGES.