Kitzsteinhorn Glaciers are very popular for its ski game activities. Our plan is to visit ‘Top of Salzburg’ as a day trip from our hotel in ‘Zell am see’. We took taxi for our onward trip to the base station of rope car. Actually there is a bus service between these locations for cheaper price. But we had to choose taxi as there were multiple base stations and some of them are expected to be closed some times. The taxi ride costs a bang, but worth every penny. Check out this video i have recorded during the taxi ride here.
The taxi driver took us to a base location in Kaprun, but that seems to got closed for the day. so she took us to the next location which was 7 kms further, where the rope car is functional.
There were multiple ticket windows along with ticket vending machines. They had passes also for the people who regularly comes for skiing. Ticket cost depends on to the station we planned to travel. Our plan is to visit the ‘Top’, so we took ticket for it. I think it costs around 57 EUR. They provided a card which we can use on all gates to enter a segment. We found the way to top consists of 3 segments. In actual it was 4 but for people who does not skii there is a choice not to get down on one segment and can be on same rope car to reach the next segment. so i mentioned it as 3 segments.
Segment 1: This ride starts form basement and ends at the GLETSCHERJET 1 station. They had nice restaurants, sports rental shop, etc there. It was snowing heavily that when you step out you will need a snow proof shoe. Here is a video i have recorded in this station. Read more here: https://www.zellamsee-kaprun.com/en/poi/gletscherjet-1~1838
Segment 2: GLETSCHERJET 1 got 2 types of rope car to reach GLETSCHERJET 2 station. One is open type, meant for skiers and another one is common. The ride was awesome and this second level station got massive snow which can sunk your boots. They had some large buildings, looked like some hotel and sports shop. Plenty of spots for photographs. To take the next rope car we need to walk at least 150 meters in snow. So it was bit of open area where we have no choice but to cross through the falling snow. The weather was -6 to -9 degrees according to local television live cast.
Segment 3 & 4: The next rope car can take us to both 3rd and 4th levels. The segment 3 is only for skiers. There was only toilet and operator station. so tourists can skip this place. if we stay on the rope car without getting down, the operator divert it to segment 4. But we got down and walked a bit outside to take a look and then came back in to pick a new rope car to reach 4th segment. This seems to be the top most segment any skier can come. There was a toilet and medical sections in this segment as well.
From here there is another ride to the ‘Top of Salzburg’ which is the highest peak of this region of Alps mountain. Those are only for tourists. To take this ride, from the GLETSCHERJET 4 station we need to follow the signs and it take us though a tunnel and at the end of tunnel we ll find this ride. This area was bit confusing. It seems like we need to get to the ride location and press a button for the ride to come from top, in case if it is not down already. We could not figure this out and was wandering here for a while, later with the help of a employee there we found the way to make a call to the ride. I took this video when we descend from the ‘Top of Salzburg’ building.
This one last ride took us to the building they had on the top of mountain. That was multi level building and the top most floor is a open deck with ‘Top of Salzburg’ sign. Down to it there was a restaurant. On the ground floor, there was a theatre. On the middle floor, they had a walk way which lead us to a deep tunnel to the other end of mountain. On the way, the tunnel features many section which explains things about climate, culture, history about the place. Here is a picture at this place.
The tunnel was about 1km i believe, but the other end got stunning views.
We spent nice time here and had nice lunch at restaurant and then followed the same way to the ground station where we took the first rope car. For our return journey, we took bus as it was way cheaper to reach our hotel in ‘Zell am see’ town.