New Lift at Patscherkofel

Winter sports enthusiasts are enjoying the new gondola at Patscherkofel, and as expected, some miss the old school cable car that has been replaced.

Patscherkofel is a local favorite for many reasons. The mountain is a great place for beginners and families to develop skills, but as expected from a place that hosted three Olympic events, there’s also a few advanced slopes for the fast and furious. If you’re feeling exceptionally “sendy”, you can prime deliver it on the mailbox, downflats, wallrides, pipes and more in the snow park. Nightskiing isn’t open yet, when it does open, it is another option to enjoy the mountain three times a week. Beyond skiing and snowboarding, it’s also a great destination for snowshoeing.

Patscherkofel History:

The first cable car began operating on April 14th, 1928. At that time, it was Innsbruck’s first ski area and the longest cable car in all of Austria. The mountain has played a huge role in Innsbruck’s Olympic history, most notably, Franz “The Kaiser” Klammer’s gold medal run in the 1976 Winter Olympic Games.
Relive Franz Klammer’s run here:

New Monocable Ropeway:

The new gondolas are comfortable and get you up the mountain quickly without the wait. The lift stations remind me of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault in the North Pole. The project is yet to be competed, and some areas are yet to be open for the season due to a lack of snow.

View of Nordkette from Patscherkofel

More Than Slopes:

Patscherkofel is popular for more than it’s slopes and Olympic History, the mountain also plays host to other events. Snow Rugby Tournaments are accompanied by DJs, games and mulled wine. The Ö3 PistenBully Tour will also take place here. This is basically with music being played from a snow groomer.  I’ve also attended the Bobsleigh World Championship here.

My Experience:

This was the first and only time I got to ride this season and it was an absolute blast. My dive buddy from Utila, new Innsbruck resident and Innsbruck blogger joined me for a few runs. It was great being able to shred with my friend who we’ve inspired to make the move to Innsbruck for the season. It’s become obvious that he’s in love with Innsbruck because every few days he’s trying to figure out how to keep extending his stay in Innsbruck. Keep your eyes peeled on the Innsbruck blog for posts from Arno. Snowboarding was the focal point of our trip to Patscherkofel, but we also enjoyed just chilling and sipping on ginger, honey, tumeric tea out of our SIGG thermos from the  Innsbruck Toursim store.

Enjoying tea and the view of Nordkette from Patscherkofel