Choose your
kind of day.
Verified route notes for the group, with the snowboard transitions and mountain-safety limits made clear.
These are planning routes, not live instructions. Check the official piste map, open-piste inventory, lift status, weather and visibility on the day. Do not rely on a route if a connecting lift or piste is closed.
Steeper terrain, with options
Group descent: pistes 1 + 4 + 3a to Wasserkar. From there, use the Wasserkar chair and piste 2 (blue, listed at 6.2km), then continue towards the base on pistes 8/9 as the official map and live status permit.
Pistes 3 and 1a are black alternatives for confident members. Piste 7 is steep and is not a default group route.
Useful for a day based near the accommodation and Gaislachkoglbahn.
Long cruising laps
Piste 13 is the clearest documented repeat-run option: blue, listed at 10.8km and served by Silberbrünnl. Piste 15 is also blue (9.9km); pistes 11 and 12 are red and piste 14 is black.
A complete junction-by-junction circuit using piste 15 has not been independently established. Use the live map rather than improvising a loop from piste numbers alone.
A sensible orientation day, and a flexible choice when the group wants marked-piste mileage.
Rettenbach & Tiefenbach
Rettenbach is generally the more challenging side, including the World Cup slope. Tiefenbach is generally wider and flatter, better suited to relaxed cruising and carving.
The two sectors connect via lifts and an approximately 200m ski tunnel. The Schwarze Schneid viewing platform is at 3,340m; allow around 20 minutes each way for the walk from the lift station and leave equipment there.
The marketed 15km Schwarze Schneid descent is an option only when open and appropriate for the group and conditions.
A full mountain day
The official BIG3 challenge links the three viewing platforms and is described as almost 50km with more than 5,200m cumulative vertical difference.
Expect a long, nearly flat piste 30 section, walks and transitions, a steeper section, and the pedestrian tunnel at Gaislachkogl base. It is not a continuous snowboard descent: boards/skis must be removed for the road crossing.
Choose the clearest, calmest suitable day, start early and abandon the circuit if visibility, lift status or group energy deteriorates.
Official BIG3 route ↗Five days on
the mountain.
The order is flexible. Swap glacier and BIG3 days according to visibility, wind, lift operation and the group's energy.
Off-piste: the group decision
The group does not plan to hire a guide and expects to stay mainly on marked pistes, possibly considering short excursions into snow between pistes and lifts.
Being close to a piste or lift does not mean terrain is secured or avalanche-controlled. Unmarked terrain is not managed like a marked piste; marked ski routes also have a different hazard status. Glacier off-piste terrain can include crevasses.
If anyone lacks current avalanche training, suitable equipment or the ability to use it, stay on marked pistes. Do not enter closed terrain or cross barriers.
Before leaving marked pistes
Check the daily avalanche bulletin and local conditions. Appropriate equipment includes a functioning transceiver, shovel and probe, and everyone must know how to use them. Travel with competent partners and make conservative decisions together.
A short lift-side excursion is not automatically a low-risk exception. This guide does not identify safe powder lines or replace local assessment.
Tyrol avalanche bulletin ↗Official piste map & status
Verify every lift/piste connection and its current operating status before setting out.
Official piste map ↗Live lift & piste status ↗
Webcams ↗
Weather at altitude
Do not use village weather as a proxy for glacier conditions. Compare stations at village level, Stabele, Giggijoch, Tiefenbach and Rettenbach, and reassess visibility and wind during the day.
Official weather stations ↗