The Tirol’s Winter Keeps Swinging in Austria
INNSBRUCK, Austria, January — Despite a lack of snow in all European winter sports centers, the Tirol – number 1 winter sports region in the Alps – still provides good to very good conditions for skiing and boarding fans from Austria and abroad. The 5 Tyrolean glaciers feature white pistes and sunshine galore and the leading Tyrolean winter sports centers attract skiers with excellently groomed runs.
This winter clearly shows the value of the enormous investments made by Tyrolean skiing areas in state-of-the-art snow-making installations. Even if some skiers can’t believe it, thousands of winter sports fans are at present enjoying magnificent winter days, emphasizes Josef Margreiter, director of the Tirol Tourist Board. A current survey by the Tirol Tourist Board shows that the leading Tyrolean winter sports regions at present have the majority of their runs open. There might be some restrictions on runs down to the valley or exposed south-facing slopes. More than 60% of the total skiing area can be artificially snowed, a top European figure, enabling good skiing conditions even this January. In view of the exceptional weather at present the Tirol still stands out as a very high-quality winter sports destination.
Ski tours and off-piste runs are greatly restricted or closed on account of the considerable danger of avalanches in a few areas of the Tirol. This will not affect the majority of skiers, however. A current survey shows that some 90% of all winter sports fans in the Tirol prefer groomed pistes. The booking situation is very good in the big Tyrolean winter sports centers – particularly for the strong winter holiday months of February and March up to Easter. As in past years, there are still some vacancies for January, but information from the regions shows that there are only few cancellations due to the weather.
January 12, 2007
Posted in: Austria