Like Val Thorens, but in Austria: how close can you get?
The Ski Snug teamUpdated 12 October 20264 min read
You love Val Thorens, and this winter you want to try Austria. At 2,300 metres Val Thorens is the highest village of the 55 resorts we cover, with lifts to 3,230 metres and a season from late November to early May. It is also bigger and kinder than its height suggests, with 211 kilometres of piste measured around the village, almost two thirds of it green or blue, and a party at the bottom of it.
The honest headline: no Austrian village we cover is anywhere near that high. The highest is Obertauern, at 1,740 metres, 560 below Val Thorens, and Sölden and Ischgl sit more than 900 metres lower. What Austria can match is the snow up the mountain, the long season and the nights out. Sölden matches the most of it.
| Resort | Village | Highest lift | Ski area, measured around the village | Piste steeper than one in four | Season |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Your benchmarkVal Thorens | 2,300 m | 3,230 m | 211 km (the Three Valleys is quoted at 600 km) | 25% | Late November to early May |
| Sölden | 1,368 m | 3,340 m | 135 km | 30% | Late November to May |
| Ischgl | 1,377 m | 2,872 m | 152 km | 34% | Late November to May |
| Obertauern | 1,740 m | 2,313 m | 74 km | 29% | Late November to May |
There is a second gap. Austria's big, easy skiing is down low: the one resort we cover there that measures bigger than Val Thorens and less steep is the SkiWelt, with the lowest village and the lowest top lift of any resort we cover.
Sölden: the closest on snow
- VillageVillage
- 1,368 m 932 m lower
- Highest liftTop lift
- 3,340 m 110 m higher
Sölden: 135 km of piste we measure. 77 km blue and easier 57%40 km red 29%19 km black 14%
Sölden comes nearest to Val Thorens's real promise, that the snow will be there. Its lifts reach 3,340 metres, the highest of any Austrian resort we cover and 110 above Val Thorens's top. It has two glaciers, its season runs from late November into May, and it is sporty and lively by our read, with nightlife on its list.
What changes is underfoot. Thirty percent of Sölden's piste is steeper than one in four, against 25, and only 26 percent is gentler than 15 percent, against 37. The reds feel familiar, averaging 23.7 percent against 23.5, but there is less easy ground: 77 kilometres of blue and easier, against 134 of green and blue around Val Thorens. And the village is 932 metres lower, so the certainty lives on the glaciers rather than outside your door.
Ischgl: the closest on size and nights
- VillageVillage
- 1,377 m 923 m lower
- Highest liftTop lift
- 2,872 m 358 m lower
Ischgl: 152 km of piste we measure. 43 km blue and easier 28%83 km red 54%27 km black 18%
Plus 11 km of marked off piste itinerary, kept out of the piste total.
Our matching puts Ischgl closest to Val Thorens of all the Austrian resorts we cover, and it is the bigger of the two lively picks. We measure 152 kilometres of piste around the village, almost three quarters of Val Thorens's 211. The season runs from late November into May, our read on it is high energy and snowy, and the nights are what it is famous for.
The mountain is a different shape, though. More than half of Ischgl's piste is red, and there are only 43 kilometres of blue and easier. Those reds and blues are kind on average gradient, 20.7 and 15.8 percent, both gentler than Val Thorens's. But with so much red, 34 percent of the piste is steeper than one in four, the most of the three picks. A Val Thorens cruiser will spend more of the week on red than on blue. The lifts also stop at 2,872 metres, 358 short of your top.
Obertauern: the closest on village height
- VillageVillage
- 1,740 m 560 m lower
- Highest liftTop lift
- 2,313 m 917 m lower
Obertauern: 74 km of piste we measure. 41 km blue and easier 56%29 km red 39%4 km black 5%
If what you love is waking up high with snow outside the window, Obertauern is as near as Austria gets. Its village is at 1,740 metres, the highest of the 13 Austrian resorts we cover, the season runs from late November into May, and our read on it is high and snowy. It is ski in ski out, and the skiing makes a neat loop.
On the measurements its mix is also the closest of the three to yours: 36 percent of the piste is gentler than 15 percent, against 37 at Val Thorens, and 29 percent is steeper than one in four, against 25. The catch is scale. We measure 74 kilometres of piste, about a third of Val Thorens's, and the lifts top out at 2,313 metres, 917 below yours. It is snowy rather than buzzy: a week for the snow, not the size.
What Val Thorens sells, before the size or the nights, is snow you do not have to think about, and Sölden comes closest: the highest lifts we cover in Austria, two glaciers and a season that also runs from late November into May, with a lively village at the bottom. Go knowing the village is low, the area smaller and the easy runs fewer. If the nights matter more than the snow, Ischgl.