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Overview of Zell am See / Kaprun
The Austrian resort of Zell am See combines water and mountain activities for year-round skiing and fun.
Combined, this area offers 130 kilometers (81 miles) of trails and 54 lift systems. Zell am See's trails are largely located on the Schmittenhoehe mountain behind the town.
Situated in the province of Salzburg, close to the Tyrol and surrounded by many other famous resorts, Zell am See offers a vast variety of facilities set in the beautiful surroundings of lakes and glacier mountains. Here snow is guaranteed and ski lifts reach over 3000m high, which makes it the perfect resort for DECEMBER and APRIL SKIING!
Zell am See and Kaprun are about 10 minutes apart by bus, and one ski pass covers both resorts and bus transfers. The top lift-served elevation at Zell am See is 2,005 meters (6,578 feet), reached by cable car to the top of the Schmittenhoehe. Kaprun offers skiing up to 3,030 meters (9,938 feet) by way of the Gletscher cable car up the Kitzsteinhorn. At the top of this lift there is a restaurant offering spectacular views of the Grossglockner, Austrias highest peak.
For the snowboarders, the resort represents one of the best places to have fun. Two parks and two half-pipes offer great on and off-trail facilities with ideal possibilities for the boarders. The fun park at Schmittenhoehe contains one of the two Austrian boarder-cross courses and therefore also hosts the annual openings of the Snowboard Boarder-cross World Cup.
Intermediates will enjoy Zell am See's skiing the most with more than 50 kilometers (32 miles) of red and blue runs to speed down, including an 8-kilometer (5-mile) trail, the Schutt, descending the full 1,200-meter (3,900-foot) vertical back down to the resort. Advanced skiers have several long semi-steep blacks descending through the forest back down to the resort to enjoy. Several of the advanced runs are regularly covered with moguls and the area has excellent off-trail powder when it snows.
When it doesn't snow there is always the Kaprun's glacier skiing on the Kitzsteinhorn Glacier. The area is accessed by a ski bus, which runs every 20 minutes in high season, and once an hour during other periods. In the summer it's possible to ski in the morning and then hit a beach party in the afternoon for a swim, although you will be in a lake and not the sea.
Zell, which sits on a mini-peninsula into Lake Zell, is much livelier. Vacationers in this charming town can enjoy the charm of a car-free center, a wide range of shops and restaurants and a variety of options for those 'off-slope' days.
There is a fascinating and fairly priced program of sportive, cultural, and just simply entertaining offerings throughout the year which include skiing, snowboarding, cross country (about 200 kilometers of trails), snow hiking, snowshoeing, tobogganing (on slides, truck tires, and boats), ice sailing, ice skating, hockey, sleigh rides, llama hikes, ballooning, paragliding, ice climbing, swimming in- and outdoors, concerts, festivals, theater, musicals, exhibitions and, of course, the regular apres-ski activities found in restaurants, bars, pubs, and nightclubs.
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