The Silvretta Montafon ski area is located in the

Montafon Montafon ( in local dialect: "''Muntafu''") is a 39 km long valley in the westernmost Austrian federal state of Vorarlberg. It is traversed by the river Ill (Vorarlberg) and extends from the city of Bludenz and the Verwall Alps in the nort ...

valley in

Vorarlberg Vorarlberg ( , ; gsw, label=Vorarlbergisch, Vorarlbearg, , or ) is the westernmost States of Austria, state () of Austria. It has the second-smallest geographical area after Vienna and, although it also has the second-smallest population, it is ...

(

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

). It is one of Austria's ten largest ski areas.

Geography

The Silvretta Montafon ski area is located in the south of Vorarlberg, the westernmost province of Austria, and extends over 17 km and 1,700 meters in altitude from

Schruns Schruns is a municipality in the Montafon valley (altitude 690 meters), in the Bludenz district of the westernmost Austrian state of Vorarlberg. To the west is the famous Zimba mountain, often called the "Vorarlberger Matterhorn," which is very ...

via

Silbertal Silbertal is a municipality in the district of Bludenz in the Austrian state of Vorarlberg Vorarlberg ( , ; gsw, label=Vorarlbergisch, Vorarlbearg, , or ) is the westernmost States of Austria, state () of Austria. It has the second-smallest g ...

and

St. Gallenkirch ST, St, or St. may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Stanza, in poetry * Suicidal Tendencies, an American heavy metal/hardcore punk band * Star Trek, a science-fiction media franchise * Summa Theologica, a compendium of Catholic philosophy ...

Gaschurn Gemeinde Gaschurn-Partenen is a municipality in the district of Bludenz in the westernmost Austrian state of Vorarlberg. The two largest villages are Gaschurn Dorf (population 1083 as of 1.1.2020) and Partenen (population 376 as of 1.1.2020). Geo ...

. It lies in the

Montafon valley Montafon ( in local dialect: "''Muntafu''") is a 39 km long valley in the westernmost Austrian federal state of Vorarlberg. It is traversed by the river Ill (Vorarlberg) and extends from the city of Bludenz and the Verwall Alps in the n ...

, framed by the

Rätikon The Rätikon is a mountain range of the Central Eastern Alps, located at the border between Vorarlberg, Liechtenstein and Graubünden. It is the geological border between the Eastern and Western Alps and stretches from the Montafon as far as t ...

Silvretta The Silvretta Alps are a mountain range of the Central Eastern Alps shared by Tirol, Vorarlberg (both in Austria) and Graubünden (Switzerland). The Austrian states of Tirol and Vorarlberg are connected by a pass road (Silvretta Hochalpenstra ...

and Verwall mountain ranges. The Nova part stretches along the northern flank of the Silvretta Group, the Hochjoch part on a foothill of the Verwall Group, between which the Montafon runs to the south. The valley covers 1/5 of Vorarlberg's area and is larger (562 km²) than

's capital city

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

(415 km²). The Silvretta Montafon ski area originally consisted of the two ski areas ''Silvretta Nova'' (St. Gallenkirch,

) and ''

Hochjoch The Hochjoch (elevation 2,875 m, 9,432 ft) is a mountain pass in the Ötztal Alps on the border between Tyrol, Austria, and South Tyrol it, Provincia Autonoma di Bolzano – Alto Adige lld, Provinzia Autonoma de Balsan/Bulsan – S� ...

'' (

), however these merged in 2008. The region is about 40 minutes by car from

Feldkirch Feldkirch may refer to: Places * Feldkirch, Vorarlberg, a medieval city and capital of an administrative district in Austria ** Feldkirch (district), an administrative division of Vorarlberg, Austria * Feldkirch (Hartheim), a village in the munici ...

in the

Rhine Valley ), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland , source1_coordinates= , source1_elevation = , source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein , source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland , source2_coordinates= , source ...

, south of the district capital

Bludenz Bludenz (; Alemannic: ''Bludaz'') is a town in the westernmost Austrian state of Vorarlberg. It is the administrative seat of the Bludenz District, which encompasses about half of the Vorarlberg's territory. Geography The town is located on the Il ...

Lifts and slopes

The height of the area extends from 700 m to 2,430 m. The ski area offers 141 km of certified pistes over 50% of which are at over 2,000 meters. These 141 km consist of 27 easy pistes (60 km), 24 pistes of medium difficulty (45 km), 8 difficult pistes (8 km) and 28 km free ride routes. Skiers can improve their racing skills on two speed measurement tracks. Additionally, there are 8 km of winter hiking trails. Skigebiet Silvretta Montafon - panoramio

Skigebiet Silvretta Montafon - panoramio

The 35 lifts of the ski area include 10

gondola lifts The gondola (, ; vec, góndoła ) is a traditional, flat-bottomed Venetian rowing boat, well suited to the conditions of the Venetian lagoon. It is typically propelled by a gondolier, who uses a rowing oar, which is not fastened to the hull ...

, 18

chair lifts An elevated passenger ropeway, or chairlift, is a type of aerial lift, which consists of a continuously circulating steel wire rope loop strung between two end terminals and usually over intermediate towers, carrying a series of chairs. They ...

and 5 T-bar lifts,', montafon.at – mit Pistenkart
ski3.intermaps.com

Silvretta Montafon
'' bergfex.at – mit Pistenkarte und Details
Lifte, Pisten und Sport
'' 2 magic carpets, 15 ski school lifts and 7 of them feeder lifts: * the Hochjochbahn (cable car) and Zamangbahn (6-person gondola) in

, * the Valiserabahn (6-seater gondola) and Grasjochbahn (8-seater gondola) in St. Gallenkirch, * the Garfreschabahn (2-seater chairlift) in Gortipohl, * the Versettlabahn (6-person gondola) in

and * the Kapellbahn (2-seater chairlift) in

. The lift capacity in the entire ski area is 65,882 people per hour.

Snowpark Montafon

The Snowpark Montafon is situated at 2,050 m sea level, its surface covers 300,000 m². The fun park includes 40 obstacles and elements such as a boardercross, a funslope, jumps, corners, boxes, rails and wave rides.

Cross-country skiing

The Silvretta Montafon offers 37 classic cross-country ski-runs (72.5 km), 13 skating courses (20.9 km), as well as 7 high cross-country skiing routes (31.3 km).

Sledding

There are two toboggan runs which are floodlit for night-time tobogganing. From St. Gallenkirch, you can take the Garfrescha Bahn to the illuminated toboggan run in the evening. The length of the toboggan ride is about 20 minutes over a length of 5.5 km. Panorama Panorama Bahn

Races in the Silvretta Montafon

FIS Snowboard World Cup

The

SBX World Cup Montafon The SBX World Cup Montafon a snowboard competition that takes place annually in the Montafon in Vorarlberg (Austria) as part of the FIS Snowboard World Cup. The competitions are held at the Hochjoch in Schruns in the Silvretta Montafon ski are ...

is part of the

FIS Snowboard World Cup The FIS Snowboard World Cup is an annual snowboarding competition, arranged by the International Ski Federation (FIS) since 1994. Since its inauguration, different disciplines have been added and removed, along with categories used to group them. ...

since 2012/13. It takes place annually in December. The races are held in the Silvretta Montafon ski area, starting a little below the

summit and finishing near the cable car's mountain station. The difference in altitude between start and finish is around 200 m. The snowboard-cross athletes race down the 985 m long World Cup track at speeds of up to 65 km/h. The descent doesn't take more than 60 seconds. The parallel slalom course however is 280 m long. During the SBX World Cup, visitors can watch the snowboarders and skiers during the day time and enjoy concerts in

in the night time.

Chronology of Snowboard World Cup races in the Montafon valley

* 2021/22: from 9–11 Dec 2021 * 2020/21: Due to policies to fight

Covid-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, all races in the Montafon valley (FIS Ski Cross Weltcup, FIS Snowboard Cross World Cup) had to be postponed to 15 and 16 January 2021, and later be cancelled completely. * 2019/20: snowboard cross (men/ladies) on 13 Dec 2019 * 2018/19: In December 2018, all races of the Montafon World Cup had to be cancelled due to lack of snow. * 2017/18: snowboard cross (men/ladies), team snowboard cross (men/ladies) on 16 Dec 2017 * 2016/17: snowboard cross (men/ladies) on 16 Dec 2016, team snowboard cross (men/ladies) on 18 Dec 2016 * 2015/16: snowboard cross (men/ladies) on 12 Dec 2015, team events (men/ladies) on 13 Dec 2015 * 2014/15: parallel slalom (men/ladies) on 18 Dec 2014, team events (men/ladies) on 19 Dec 2014 * 2013/14: snowboard cross (men/ladies) on 7 Dec 2013, team events (men/ladies) on 8 Dec 2013 * 2012/13: snowboard cross (men/ladies) on 7 Dec 2012, team events (men/ladies) on 8 Dec 2012 Sankt Gallenkirch-Alp Nova-Heimspitz-R Lau 203820-6819

Sankt Gallenkirch-Alp Nova-Heimspitz-R Lau 203820-6819

Open Faces Freeride Contest

The first ''Open Faces Freeride Contest'' took place in 2017. The last contest was held from 24–27 February 2022 in the Silvretta Montafon ski area. The contest was the first 4-star qualifier of the season 2022. The Open Faces venue is the terrain around the "Kleine Heimspitze" at an elevation of about 2,420 m. The length of the freeride slope is 450 m, its vertical drop is 350 m and it has a steepness of up to 60°. At the first 4-star qualifier of the season 2022 in Montafon, the riders competed for 2,500 victory points and prize money. The public could watch the runs of the riders from the mountain restaurant "Nova Stoba".

Photo gallery

File:Vorderkapell im Skigebiet Silvretta Montafon - panoramio.jpg, Vorderkapell in the ski area Silvretta Montafon File:Skigebiet Silvretta Montafon - panoramio (5).jpg, A gondola lift in the Silvretta Montafon File:Valisera2716m.jpg, View from the Nova Stoba hut to the Valisera mountain (2,716 m) of the western silvretta in the Montafon File:NovaStoba01.jpg, The ski hut "Nova Stoba" File:Skigebiet Silvretta Montafon - panoramio (1).jpg, View in the ski area File:Skigebiet Silvretta Montafon - panoramio (3).jpg, View of a slope of the ski area Silvretta Nova 2008 HD

External links

Official website of the ski area

Snow report
(only available in winter)
Official website of the Montafon World Cup

References

{{reflist, 2 Ski areas and resorts in Austria Ski areas in Austria Sport in Vorarlberg Sports venues in Austria Skiing in Austria Vorarlberg