The expression “snow pocket” is used in local speak to describe a place that always gets a plentiful amount of snow, and Maria Alm is definitely one of these lucky places! And should mother nature unexpectedly decide to take a break, then the snowmaking machines conjure up beautifully white pistes in the ski area of Maria Alm-Hinterthal-Hintermoos…

The ski areas here, together with those of Dienten and Mühlbach, make up the Hochkönig ski region, part of the Ski Amadé region. There are a total of 150 km of linked pistes in the Hochkönig region to ski, carve, and board on. The pistes range in altitude from 860 m up to 1900 m, served by 32 lifts of various sorts.

Entry to the pistes is especially easy for Hotel Eder guests: the bottom station of the nearest gondola lift is only a few paces from the hotel, run by the Aberg Hinterthal lift company, who take you to the highest point, and the best view, in the region.

If you pause here, you can wonder at the emperors and kings of the Austrian Alps, the Großglockner, the Großvenediger, and the Hochalmspitze, and in the distance the impressive mountain range of the Dachstein massif forming the edge of your panorama, which stretches round to the Steinernes Meer, the Leoganger Steinberge, and on into Tyrol…

From the top you also get the best view of how beautiful it is at the bottom! And from Aberg you look right into the valley, containing 30 km of cross-country skiing around Maria Alm and further on into Saalfelden: the Schattberg-Loipe, running across flat meadows and ideal for learning the pleasures of Langlauf skiing, the Krallerwinkl-Loipe and the connection to the comprehensive Saalfelden network of tracks is enough for anyone to work up a sweat.

Also visible from the top is the Jufen toboggan run which, like the hiking path too, is lit at night. For a really fun tobogganing adventure, the Hotel Eder provides you with toboggans. If you don’t want to drag the toboggans up, you can hire them from Jufenalm at the top.

The Simmerllift, a draglift at the foot of the mountain, is floodlit twice a week, offering skiing under the stars on the piste next to it.

If you want to enjoy the snowy scenery a bit differently, then take advantage of one of our horse-drawn sleigh rides or take one of our horses out for a winter ride….

It’s not far at all to another icy winter past time: we have a curling pitch in our garden which is the ideal venue for a light hearted competition combined with a good time in the company of friends and in the cosy atmosphere of our hut.