Kühtai is a winter sports village in the

Stubai Alps The Stubai Alps (, ) is a mountain range in the Central Eastern Alps of Europe. It derives its name from the Stubaital valley to its east and is located southwest of Innsbruck, Austria. Several peaks form the border between Austria and Italy. The ...

on the Kühtai Saddle between the Nedertal valley in the west and the Sellrain valley in the east. It is part of the municipality of Silz, in the district of

Imst Imst (; Southern Bavarian: ''Imscht'') is a town in the Austrian federal state of Tyrol. It lies on the River Inn in western Tyrol, some west of Innsbruck and at an altitude of above sea level. With a current population (2018) of 10,504, Imst ...

, in the Austrian state of Tyrol.

Location and population

The village is located at a height of around 2,020 metres and is one of the highest ski resorts in

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

History

Originally there was a ' here, the ''Chutay'' ("cow alp"). This was first mentioned around 1280 in an

urbarium An urbarium (, English: ''urbarium'', also ''rental'' or ''rent-roll'', , , , ), is a register of fief ownership and includes the rights and benefits that the fief holder has over his serfs and peasants. It is an important economic and legal sourc ...

of the counts of Tyrol. In 1497 the later Emperor Maximilian I was give the right to hunt in the area of the Kühtai. In 1622, Archduke Leopold V had the ''schwaighof'' converted into a hunting lodge and, in 1624, a road was built from Sellrain. Emperor

Franz Joseph I Franz Joseph I or Francis Joseph I ( ; ; 18 August 1830 – 21 November 1916) was Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary, and the ruler of the other states of the Habsburg monarchy from 1848 until his death in 1916. In the early part of his reig ...

bought the hunting lodge back in 1893 and used it as a base for hunting

Alpine marmot The alpine marmot (''Marmota marmota'') is a large ground-dwelling squirrel, from the genus of marmots. It is found in high numbers in mountainous areas of central and southern Europe, at heights between in the Alps, Carpathians, Tatras and N ...

s. The property passed via his granddaughter, Hedwig to the counts of

Stolberg-Stolberg Stolberg-Stolberg was a county of the Holy Roman Empire located in the southern Harz region. Its capital was the town of Stolberg, Saxony-Anhalt, Stolberg, now in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It was ruled by a branch of the House of Stolberg. In 1429 ...

, who turned it into a winter sports hotel. In 2016 it was modernised by its new owners. As early as the 1930s climbers and summer holidaymakers stayed at Kühtai. The hunting lodge was converted in the 19th century into a ''

schloss ''Schloss'' (; pl. ''Schlösser''), formerly written ''Schloß'', is the German term for a building similar to a château, palace, or manor house. Related terms appear in several Germanic languages. In the Scandinavian languages, the cogn ...

'' hotel. The increasing number of skiers in the early 20th century soon reached

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...

and, along with that, the Kühtai. Under the direction of the k.u.k. Works and Farming Ministry (''Arbeits- und Ackerbauministerium'') the place was opened up as a ski resort in 1909. After the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Kühtai grew rapidly into a hotel village and is today a popular hiking and skiing area. In 1976/77 the church was built. In the course of the

2012 Winter Youth Olympics The 2012 Winter Youth Olympic Games (), officially known as the I Winter Youth Olympic Games (YOG), were an international multi-sport event for youths that took place in Innsbruck, Austria, on 13–22 January 2012. They were the inaugural Wint ...

, the village hosted

snowboarding Snowboarding is a recreational and competitive activity that involves descending a snow-covered surface while standing on a snowboard that is almost always attached to a rider's feet. It features in the Winter Olympic Games and Winter Paralym ...

and freestyle competitions. At the end of December 2014, the women's 2014/15 Alpine Ski World Cup took place here for the first time (as a replacement for the cancelled competition in Semmering).

Culture and sights

* Kühtai Church: the ''Expositurkirche Kühtai'' * Kühtai Hunting Lodge (''Jagdschloss Kühtai'') and Kühtai Royal Chapel (''Hofkapelle Kühtai'')

References

External links

Kühtai website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kuhtai Imst District Stubai Alps Ski areas in Austria Venues of the 2012 Winter Youth Olympics