Skiing - From City to High Hills

Vienna is the only European metropolis with its own floodlit ski slope. This season the "High Hills - Hohe Wand Wiese" ski piste will have a new look - and will even be the venue of the Synchro Ski World Cup.

Skier on a slope

In 1967 Hohe Wand Wiese provided the venue for the first parallel slalom event in the history of skiing

New name, new logo, new image

Vienna offers the unique possibility of getting to the ski slopes by public transport from the city centre in just 35 minutes. A number of measures have been taken to ensure that the Hohe Wand Wiese - a well-known winter sports venue in Vienna for over 100 years - will become even more popular with locals and visitors alike. These include a new look image under the name of "High Hills", the modernization of the snowmaking equipment, and an attractive programme for fans of Austrian skiing.

Small, but exquisite ski slope

Hohe Wand Wiese boasts a ski run that is 400 meters long and 80 meters wide. The piste is FIS-approved and licensed as a World Cup slalom slope, so it offers even more ambitious skiers and snowboarders a welcome change from everyday city life. For younger visitors there is a separate children’s world that includes a magic carpet - a conveyer belt that transports you standing up with your skis on. At the "top of the hill" freestylers will find a small park with rails and tubes of varying degrees of difficulty. A modernized snowmaking system guarantees snow from temperatures of –0.5 degree Celsius. The two diesel compressors have been replaced by an electric compressor, saving energy and reducing both emissions and noise levels. Thanks to the floodlights, the lift can stay open till 9 pm, making an evening excursion to the ski slopes worth while. It is not even necessary to have your own equipment: the ski and snowboard hire has been provided with new gear. Even the fun of an alpine hut is not lacking: Vienna’s only ski hut – the "High Hills Stub’n" - gives you that après-ski feeling at the heart of the city.

In order to encourage all children and young adults to take up skiing, this year Hohe Wand Wiese will also offer ski days for schools in cooperation with Vienna Schools Council, the Vienna Transport Authority and the ropeways trade association of the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber.

Ski World Cup atmosphere in Vienna

In 1967 Hohe Wand Wiese provided the venue for the first parallel slalom event in the history of skiing, and the first Parallel Slalom World Cup with floodlights was held here in 1986. Now Vienna will once again experience the excitement of the Ski World Cup. The Synchro Ski World Cup - a team event where synchronization counts for 75 per cent and speed for 25 per cent - will be held at High Hills in early 2012. This mode of skiing is also referred to as "the fine art of skiing". Former Austrian ski champions Thomas Sykora and Stefan Höller will be celebrating their World Cup comeback at this event. The Synchro Ski World Cup will be staged at total of six different venues in Austria, Croatia and Switzerland until March 2012.

A sport with tradition

"When people think of Austria, they automatically think of skiing," explains Martin Dolezal, managing director of Snowsports GmbH, Hohe Wand Wiese Wien. And winter sports are an established tradition even in Vienna. After all, it was here that the "Erste Wiener Ski-Club" was founded in the year 1891. For over a hundred years now, winter sports fans have been hurtling down Hohe Wand Wiese "on two planks". The resort had the first snowmaking installation in Austria and Europe’s first floodlit ski slope. The ski lift opened on 1 March 1966. Today this urban ski area notches up about 60 to 70 skiing days a year with up to a thousand visitors. About 230,000 ski runs are made down the slope each season.

Detailed information

Source: wieninternational.at

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