Area: | Reit im Winkl / Steinplatte |
Base: | 1150m |
Summit: | 1850m |
Skiable vertical: | 700m |
Lifts: | 10 (2 draglifts) |
Total lift vert: | 2800m |
Slope orientation: | north facing |
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The name of this resort is often given as "Reit im Winkl", but that's somewhat deceptive. The base station is actually at Winklmoos-Alm, which is between Reit im Winkl and Ruhpolding. And you can potter around on the lower lifts at Winklmoosalm if you want, but the real action is over the border in Austria, up to the summit of the Steinplatte.
When you do get up to the Steinplatte area, you'll find a good set of modern chairlifts (some of the seats are even heated!) and a good number of open runs, plenty to keep you occupied for a full day.
For a zoomable, scrollable map of the area, see this online map using Openstreetmap or Opencyclemap.
You can reach the car park at Seegatterl either from Reit im Winkl or from Ruhpolding. There are regular buses serving the route, but this costs extra. Once you get to Seegatterl, you can buy your lift ticket and then get the bus up the steep and winding road to Winklmoosalm where the lifts start. From the Austrian side you can drive to Waidring and get the gondola up from there.
A day pass currently costs an eye-opening EUR 39 if you include the Steinplatte, which is considerably more expensive than the other German resorts reviewed here. If you just get the Winklmoosalm ticket it's only EUR 21 but then you only get the flatter, heavier, lower runs (basically just one very flat chair and two drags).
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showing some of the runs and lifts |
There's a good number of lifts here, almost all chairlifts, and a large number of wide reds and blues to keep you occupied. Actually the lower blues in Winklmoosalm should be greens, and on a snowboard should be avoided (as much as possible) as they're too flat. Most of the higher runs are wide and open, with potential for off-piste inbetween the runs. It's fairly unusual here in that the network of runs is very dense, giving lots of combinations for getting around.
Predictably the best snow is higher up, but all these slopes are north-facing and especially this year have all received large amounts of snow. The red runs from the top (numbers 7 and 9) are very good value. The runs down to Stallen Alm and Schwarzlofer Alm offer a bit of variety as they plunge down a different side of the mountain.
Highlights of this first visit were red number 9 from the Steinplatte and the off-piste between the reds down to Schwarzlofer Alm.
There is no jump park here, unfortunately. There are signs for a "fun park" alongside the bottom chairlift but it's pathetic - two half-hearted mounds on a slope that's far too flat and heavy.
There are only two drag lifts here, and they're both T-bars down in the Winklmoosalm area. They're both pretty friendly with the current conditions, and not too steep. However, if you can't do drag lifts, you're fairly stuck, as you need the Scheiblberg T-bar in order to get up to the Steinplatte area. In that case you'd be limited to the first chairlift which is too flat.
Talking of flat spots, the blues on the Winklmoosalm side are all pretty shallow, so although they'd be good for learner skiers, they're not so good for learner boarders. And unfortunately they're unavoidable if you want to get back to the bus stop at Winklmoosalm. The only other flat bit of note is the blue running along the bottom of the Schwarzlofer Alm, but that's very avoidable.
With a cross-border resort, it's important to get to the right place at the end of the day when the lifts close! And here that means getting back round Möser Alm to the bottom chairlift run. On the map it looks like the blue number 12 links round, but there's an uphill stretch - if you want to avoid that then you need to take the Mösern chairlift in order to get round to the German side. Then you've got the long flat run through the trees and then the long very flat run alongside the bottom chairlift to get back to Winklmoosalm.
Also note that to get the bus back from Winklmoosalm down to Seegatterl, you need to walk uphill from the base of the chairlift up to the bus stop. It might only be around 25 m vertical difference but it's up soggy snow and it feels like more at the end of the day. The signposting is confusing here too.
16 March 2009 - Lots and lots of snow, but quite warm so it's getting heavy lower down in the afternoon. Absolutely no queues anywhere, quite mysterious! Must be due to the foggy weather.
Information about the town and the Winklmoos area is at reitimwinkl.de, and more information about the Austrian side and the Steinplatte at steinplatte.co.at.
There's a good piste plan as pdf available from the Steinplatte site, currently under "Ski resort" and "Panoramic winter map". And the current prices are down at the bottom of that page too.