Saalbach ski resort is one of Austria's most popular and liveliest winter-sports holiday destinations, centred around an attractive old Tyrolean village and renowned for full-on apres-ski and rocking nightlife, with an extensive ski area linked with the slopes of neighbouring Hinterglemm and Leogang.
Saalbach ski area
The ski area surrounding Saalbach predominately consists of well-groomed motorway blue and red pistes, a lot of them long and perfect for cruising yet with a high proportion of unrelenting high-end intermediate challenges too. A few of the runs on the lowest flanks of the valley cut through attractively wooded areas, but the majority of the slopes are open and above the tree line and the pistes are nicely inter-spaced with plenty of powderfields in the periods following fresh snowfalls; all sectors are well-served with lively mountain bars and good restaurants.
Saalbach's slopes are linked in a circuit (the 'Ski Circus') with those of nearby Hinterglemm, via the Bernkogel and Reiterkogel peaks above the northern side of the valley and the higher Schattberg peaks on the southern side; the links work well both clockwise and anticlockwise around the circuit, with just a couple of short strolls into lift terminals required at some points.
The clockwise route takes in the most challenging runs, but the anticlockwise route offers the greater mileage thanks to a lovely long solitary blue run round the rear of the Schattberg Ost [East] and all the way down to the satellite valley station of Vorderglemm. From Vorderglemm the two-stage Schonleiten gondola provides uplift to the summit of the Wildenkarkogel, from where this extension of the circuit then sweeps back towards Saalbach; there is however another spur from this sector that links to the slopes of Leogang in the neighbouring valley to the north, offering an enjoyable additional there-&-back excursion away from the busy core ski area.
A high percentage of Saalbach's slopes are covered by snowmaking cannons, but many of the south-facing and lower slopes do still suffer from periods of patchiness and are prone to be slushy in the afternoons. The nearest snowpark is at Hinterglemm, on floodlit slopes next to the village.
Saalbach village