Kitzbühel - Legendary resort...

Hello to all Canada!

We are in Kitzbühel today for our first day in this mythical resort for our Canadians who distinguished themselves in the famous Streif over the years, including James Crawford (1^st) and Cameron Alexander (3^rd)in January.

It was just incredible to see Crawford climb to the top step of the podium in the most demanding downhill on the circuit after Ken Read, Steve Podborski and Todd Brooker. He is now part of the Canadian elite forever.

Kitzbühel is a small village in Austria about 90 minutes from Munich, full of history and tradition. You can see this beautiful Tyrolean architecture in which the chic contemporary boutiques have been harmoniously integrated. It is beautiful, chic, quiet and very pleasant.

We arrived the day before at our superb hotel, the Henri Country House located right across from the train station 🚂. This hotel has just opened in December 2024 after beautiful renovations and it offers a warm and inviting Belle époque decor. We feel right at home. The staff takes care of us perfectly and after skiing, at the end of each afternoon we are expected for a friendly 5 to 7 with buffet and drinks. The breakfasts, also included with the room, are just as tasty.

The hotel offers modern and renovated rooms while having kept a traditional mountain decor of the most peaceful. We can also take full advantage of the wellness center, the spa, where we find a steam sauna, a Finnish sauna, a massage therapy center and a very beautiful and large heated indoor swimming pool.

We skied our first day under a radiant sun even if at the beginning the valley was filled with a rather opaque cloud. But the weather forecast announced the sun, so we brought our mirrored glasses and it was the right choice. Arrived at the top of the A1 climb, everything was as expected with an immaculate blue sky.

The trip to the resort is child’s play. Leaving the hotel we took the train 100 meters from the door, for a station towards Hahnenkamm which is at the foot of the A1 lift and the Streif , right in the center of the village. Note also that the ski pass includes train and bus passages to get to the different accesses. So it’s very easy and no need to take the car out which stays warm in the garage.

Kitzbühel, Kitzski as many like to say, is out of dimension. It’s 58 lifts spread over 8 different mountains with dozens of slopes extending over 233 kilometers. It’s incredible! And the terrain is really interesting. Blue runs would often be black runs in Quebec. The runs are long, wide and steep. Spending a few days here will certainly allow us to raise our skiing level a few notches. But don’t worry, it’s nothing too intimidating, it’s just very interesting to ski and there are never any lengths.

For our first day in this vast area where there are dozens of mountain restaurants and state-of-the-art facilities, we took a big exploratory tour to get an overall idea of the place.

Everything is quite structured and it’s welcome so as not to get lost. Each mountain is assigned a letter, from A to H, and the ski lifts on each mountain are then numbered, from 1 to x, to create a logical and easy-to-understand alphanumeric codification.

So we set off from the base of the A1 in the centre of the village with the aim of making it to the other end of the area and the valley, to the base of the G9. And we succeeded!

In fact it took us all day to get to the G9 and back with only a short lunch break at the base of the G5 around noon. Quite a journey, but what an experience.

Throughout our expedition, the views are more striking than the last, the slopes are vast and the efficiency of the ski lifts never ceases to impress us. It is the beginning of the school holidays in Austria and even if it is a little busier than what we have had since the beginning of our stay, the wait for the chairs is always minimal and never exceeds a few minutes.

The snow conditions were similar to what we find at home between two storms in cold weather. Light powder on a firm base, and tomorrow we will try to be there very early to take advantage of the freshly worked slopes. The weather forecast promises us sunshine all week and since there was a good snowfall last week, we should be able to ski on beautiful recycled surfaces this week.

The scenery is fantastic and there is definitely more vegetation than in the French Alps or in St. Moritz where there are large expanses of completely white. Here, the slopes are more separated by fir trees🌲, which is more pleasant in gray weather or foggy days. We like it.

Also note that they also have their » peak to peak » gondola in Kitzbühel. The Fly 3S is a rolling gondola on cables that goes from sector D to sector F, transporting you peacefully through the valley. It is a must if you want to go to the end of the area, and the journey in itself is more than impressive.

The week starts in a magical way and follow us for the rest of our stay which will allow us to make even more beautiful discoveries.

Happy skiing in the East!

Helene Racine and Philippe Laporte

Reporters – Ski Media

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