Wurzeralm, AT: 02/05/19

I had a slightly more ambitious itinerary for Day 3, starting with a 25-minute drive through the nearby city of Liezen including a mountain road that was buried from the huge storms in early January.




With absolutely no road signs indicating its existence, I arrived at Wurzeralm (VOORTZAH AHLM), a comparatively smaller ski area that I'd seen in a gorgeous Alpinforum trip report a year earlier. Arriving at the base area at 9:30, I could see that the school break was resulting in a fair amount of business: the parking lots were already more than 2/3 full ("besetzt"):




As I walked to the funicular that takes you to midmountain, It was clear that an inversion was in effect. Temps at the bottom in the shade were a chilly 6F; however, the summit was already claiming high 20s. They really should consider replacing this huge visual with the ghastly 1970s logo, which doesn't suit this low-key local's mountain with zero onsite lodging:



The gondola that was replaced in 1978:



Riding up in the funicular:



I saw dozens of people skinning up the entire day, including this gentleman who looked to be in his 70s:



While there's a modest number of marked trails, many are long, the offpiste areas are decent-sized, and the T2B lift-served is a legitimate 3,800 verts with two distinct ways to the base. The blue valley run on the looker's left was especially fun.



Arriving at midmountain and connecting to the upper lifts, which serve 1,700 vertical feet:









Coming down from the top. The groomed trails were like velvet and the offpiste was absolutely perfect bootcuff-deep.









Cutting into shaded areas:





There were beautiful gladed sectors with lightly tracked low-angle pow to play in. I was by myself, so no in-action shots.









Around noon, I stopped for a quick beer in the sun:



Wurzeralm definitely counts as a little ski area that rocks, both visually and for turns. With some local guidance, I could've easily spent the afternoon clucking around the offpiste; however, I wanted to hit a nearby partner ski area (included in the day pass) that afternoon, so I'll cover that in a separate report.

Spectacular!!!
No apple strudel?

JasonWx wrote

No apple strudel?

No strudel or lunch!

My god it’s beautiful there.

Looks really sweet!! That first shot looks similar to mountain pass driving in the PNW.

You need to do us a solid and set up a NYSB tour to these amazing areas.

x10003q wrote

You need to do us a solid and set up a NYSB tour to these amazing areas.

+1

Absolutely beautiful reports James!
Enjoying your pics from these places I've never heard of. Thanks

Thanks CK!