Planneralm, AT: 02/06/19

If you want to know how I landed on this under-the-radar region for a visit, it's because of this TR of Planneralm from New Year's Eve 2013. Titled "Volltreffer" (meaning jackpot or bullseye), this guy clearly had a good day there and something about the simplicity of the setting really hit my sweet spot: basically, an Austrian version of Plattekill. For the next several years, I kept thinking that it would be fun to go on a road trip to a bunch of low-elevation ski areas in this region, with Planneralm as the main attraction.

From where I was staying in the village of Aigen, it was less than a half-hour drive through the village of Donnersbach ("Thunder Creek") to Planneralm on the left or Riesneralm on the right, which I was planning to hit the following day.



It always helps to tout a superlative and Planneralm claims to be the highest lift-served ski area in the region of Steiermark with its summit at 2,200 meters/7,200 feet. Because of its favorable location, they're able to get away without snowmaking: 100% natural snow, which is advertised in a poster at the base:



Basically a 1.5-mile-wide bowl with three lifts and a vertical drop of 2,000 feet:



The offpiste had stiffened up a bit since the last snowfall so I stayed on the groomers doing high-speed laps most of the day. The natural snow felt fantastic, especially where it had been warmed up by the sun.











Skier's left had purdy trees on the lower half:









The pride of the ski area is the 1973 Gläserboden t-bar:



... which culminates in a convincingly steep stretch at the top:









Traversing across the ridge:



Looking out over the BC backside of the ski area -- you can see a set of tracks down the middle:



Around 2 pm, I stopped for a late lunch at this cute hut:



Vegetarian spätzle with a side salad, a Weihanstephaner beer, and the obligatory apple strudel: 17 euros/$19. An excellent deal and my most expensive meal of the entire week.



An outstanding day: Planneralm absolutely lived up to expectations.

This looks like a really cool place. Outstanding as always

Dude! That place looks sick! There looks to be lots of options for some creative free riding no doubt.

Again, thanks James!

crazy , that's  their Mole hill..

JasonWx wrote

crazy, that's their molehill.

Correct. The entire region I visited was their version of the Catskills or Poconos.

the place has similar stats to Alta..a side from the snow of course..

I'm going to show Mrs. Cooper your pictures in the effort to convince her to go next year.  Thank you.

Jamesdeluxe wrote

JasonWx wrote

crazy, that's their molehill.

Correct. The entire region I visited was their version of the Catskills or Poconos.

I wish our version of the Poconos looked like this... I would visit my in-laws a lot more often if it did.  

Looks like a really sweet spot.    Thanks again for taking the time to share these James!!

As always, thanks everyone for the feedback.

I only wish that the NYSB Nabble interface allowed the photos to be much bigger -- they look like tiny polaroids and don't convey the scope of the landscapes, even using my cheapskate point-and-click camera. Absolutely not a complaint directed at Harv: one should never argue with free (i.e. all of us taking advantage of the hundreds of hours he spends maintaining/improving the website and paying the costs).