Kitzsteinhorn Kaprun

Husband said, there is no other day than this day that we must need a good weather to do what he had planned for us to do on top of a cool mountain.

Sounds very serious. But he is right, we would have need to cancel the trip for that day if raining, even though the rain was small. Thus, the happiness when we saw the blue sky on the next day is a double intense.

The cool mountain adventure costs €22.70 for adults, children go half-price. We were given a smart card ticket after paying €68.1

Kitzsteinhorn is located in Kaprun Village. The history of the Kaprun village has always been closely linked with its surrounding mountains. The development of the first glacier ski area in Austria at the Kitzsteinhorn was the biggest pioneering effort undertaken by the rural community in the county of Salzburg.

The fascination of the eternal ice (365 days snow guaranteed) towering 3000 m above the world make the Kitzsteinhorn the coolest mountain in Salzburg in Summer.

We were about to board on 3 state-of-the-art cable ways to go up to over 3000 m above sea level.

This is the modern generation of cable cars, looks quite similar to the cable cars in Ngong Peng 360, HK.

Yo, let's go.


Heading to 1st station.

10 minutes later, we get off the cable car and walked out the Langwied Station (1976 m). There is a hiking trail somewhere around this station. However, hiking was not our highlight for that day, so we didn't go for that.

We then hopped in the cable car and headed to our 2nd stop.

Within a few minutes time, we were surrounded by snow mountains. It's a strange feeling to undergo a drastic change in the environment, and also, a sudden drop in the temperature.

Another 10 minutes later, we stopped by the 2nd station, Alpincenter (2452 m). As usual, we walked around to see what's this place can offer us.

The Kitzsteinhorn is an irresistible destination for those loving the rugged romanticism of the mountains and wishing to swoosh across crystal clear powder snow at over 3000 metres above sea level, while enjoying astounding views of the virtually endless peaks.

In 1999, the company had invested in a snow making system of the latest technical generation. This means even the middle-alpine range from the Alpincenter to the Langwiedboden has snow 100 % guaranteed. The snow making machines right to the edge of the glacier provide first-class pistes.

Husband pointed to the places we were about to go, and gave me a brief introduction on the spot.

Naturally, when the boys saw the snow, they couldn'd wait to play on it.

Besides the ski arena, there is nothing too special about this 2nd stop, except this restaurant. Also, the playground that next to it.

The place was wet and slippery everywhere. We got to walk with caution.

Looking down from the edge, we saw 2 totally different worlds.

It was pretty cold up here. But husband had no long pant to wear for that day. This was because he had washed his one-and-the-only-one long pant in the washing machine on the night before, and the dryer had betrayed him. It was still so wet in that morning, so he got to wear a short pant instead. Poor him, not just that he felt cold up there, but his lower part of the legs got sun burn afterwards.

The construction site, as well as all those cables, has spoilt the natural view. We felt this place is less attractive, especially after driving through the astonishing Grossglockner High Alpine Road on the day before.

After we have bought 2 pairs of gloves (for husband and William) from a nearby customer center, we boarded on the 3rd cable car and headed straight to the top.

A tragedy, known as the Kaprun disaster, was a fire that occurred in an ascending railway car in the tunnel of the Gletscherbahn 2 railway on 11 November, 2000.

The disaster had claimed the lives of 155 people, leaving 12 survivors from the burning car. The victims were skiers on their way to the Kitzsteinhorn Glacier. The 12 survivors of the disaster were the passengers who travelled downhill past the fire at the rear of the train, escaping the upward-rising fumes and smoke.

The Gletscherbahn 2 funicular was never re-opened after the disaster and was replaced by another gondola lift, a 24-person Gletscherjet 1 funitel (which we were taken). The stations were abandoned and the tunnel sealed, and it remains unused today.

In autumn 2003, the Kitzsteinhorn Glacier Lift Company had received the ISO Certificate 9001 for all areas of business. It is the first cable car lift operator in Austria to receive this award.

After another 15 minutes, we reached the 3rd station, also the last station, Gipfelstation (3029 m).



Panorama terrace at the summit station.

The peak at my back.

Husband pointed at the spot down there (Gletscherplateau, 2900 m) , and he said that is the ICE ARENA the boys would love to go. In fact, our highlight of the day.

In order to get down to the ICE ARENA, we have to take this railway shuttle.

Met those skate boards at the exit.

Just pretending...

Within a few minutes time, we have descended to the plateau. It was freezing cold out there. We have to put everything we got on. Luckily there was no wind, and the sun was shining bright above our head.

Gletscher-Shuttle as back drop.

Under the bright sun, I wonder how the eternal ice develops? When there is a question, there is an answer.

In cool high-altitude regions, snow accumulates in layers over the years. The pressure of this mass of snow as well as the changing melting and freezing processess causes the freshly fallen snow, which is full of air, to turn into porous fine snow and finally into crystalline glacial ice which contains grain of ice ranging in size from a few centimetres to a fist-width thick.

We have never try skiing before. I feel so cool even though I just pretended I can ski here. It would be so cool if we can go skiing every year. Emm...we need to think.

Vincent looked pretty nervous.

But William, he made believe he can fly like this (watch too much TV). Make me laugh everytime I see this picture.

This is the snow "beach" where people was relaxing themselves in the white glacier world. There is an Icebar nearby the "beach" which offering the guests with drinks & snacks as well.

Finally we were here, the cool hightlight of the summit tour is the ICE ARENA on the glacier plateau, an all-round experience for the whole family. That's the place for snow slide. YEAH !!

Looking at what other people did here, we immediately copied. First, we got to choose the 'ride' that we like. To be precise, we exchanged or simply picked whatever was left on the snow.

Then, we took the "magic carpet" to go up.

The magic carpet is a conveyor lift which saves guests the effort of climbing back to the top themselves. How convenient !



The Grossglockness's trip had served us a good warm-up for this. They didn't hesitate for a second to slide down....



There they go...



This one is the easiest to carry...Vincent has no problem with it at all.







This round-and-flat plate is the most difficult to carry...only suitable for small size kids.

To me, even the easiest one, is not too easy. I flipped over several times before I slowly master it.

And of course, I will only put the nice photos here. As for the 'embarrassing' one, we'll kept it for ourself viewing pleasure only, haha...

Husband even 'terrible', there was none of a time, he could slide smooth from the top to the bottom. I think maybe becuase of his bigger size?

Well, it has taken me quite some time to remember what my physics teacher had taught me back in donkey years : in order to keep at the most balance position, one should lower its center of gravity as lower as possible, right?



Now, I get it.




Don't know how long we have been playing here, it's just so fun to stop.



To Vincent, this carriage was his all-time-favorite.

William was more open to all sorts of carriage, compared to all of us.

I really didn't know how long we have been playing here, didn't check my watch either. Some time later, we noticed the blue sky has disappeared. The weather at the snow mountains can change very rapidly.

Anyway, we ignored the changes. As long as it didn't rain, we just continue this fun game, as if this is the last time we are going to play it.

In fact, everybody seemed to ignore the weather changes too. The line going up to the top was still as long as before.

Finally husband could make it a smooth slide after he had lower down his center of gravity in this way.

We think we were good enough when we slipped over less. But we couldn't think that any more when some kid started to slide down with hands free.

Totally like eating a piece of cake for him. I would say this is the game that children can outbeat the adult easily.

After a long time, finally husband and I felt tired, though the boys said they were not. Of course the bosses won. We dragged them away from the arena, and soften their 'unhappiness' by making an alien-look snow man.

Our snow man didn't last a long time. The parts dropped one after the other, faster than we could mend it. After some time, we gave up fixing him.

Husband got some silly suggestions again...



He said we all should free fall ourself to the snow.




His mold.

Follower #1.

Follower #2.


Follower #3. (Due to a very unlady gesture I have made, I think I better keep it for myself only).

We let them played some more time on the snow.

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Although they said they were not tired, but actually they were. They were in fact, more tired than they thought.

Feeling tired and hungry, we descended to the 2nd station and went straight to the restaurant then. We ordered some pizza and pasta, also applestrudle as dessert. Again, the foods were all so very delicious.

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As soon as the boys had finished their portion, they ran to the outside playground. Although husband and I still wanted to rest in the warm restaurant, we just couldn't leave them alone. The imagination that they might have fallen down from the edge (behind this slide) is terrifying.

We went back to our rented apartment at around 5.30 pm. I quite like this apartment because it gave me a feeling of 'my own home'.

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The open kitchen is fully equipped, with a super efficient oven, suit my cooking style. For that night's dinner, I have cooked some spaghetti, fried some cabbage, and baked a salmon steak. We cleaned up the dish very fast, no complaint was heard.

Well, I don't have the habbit to fold the blanket, not at my home, certainly not at this place too.

Also, I like the crystal clear glasses, cups, plates and bowls too.

The balcony outside our apartment.

After we all taken bathe, the time was 8.30 pm by then. I walked to the balcony for some fresh air. The sky was still as bright as if it was 5 pm. If not because we were dead tired, it's not easy to fall asleep fast.