Top 5 Runs at Hintertux Glacier - Zillertal Valley, Austria

Hintertux Glacier sits at the head of Austria's Zillertal Valley, and with skiing from 1,500 to 3,250 metres across 60 kilometres of pistes, it delivered five runs worth talking about.

Hintertux's glacier terrain keeps snow reliable well beyond the point where lower resorts have packed it in for the season. The resort runs 21 lifts across a mix of wide beginner-friendly runs up high and steep freeride lines dropping into alpine gullies below. I spent a day here and came away with a clear top five - counted down from number five to number one.

5. Piste 17 - Tuxerjoch

When you step off the first Gletscherbus lift, everyone around you is scrambling to get higher as fast as possible. My advice is to resist that urge. Head over to the Tuxerjoch bubble chair instead and use this zone to warm up while the queues sort themselves out above you.

Piste 17 starts at 2,389 metres and drops 360 metres of vertical. It's marked blue on the piste map, but there's a middle section that gets noticeably steeper than you'd expect from a beginner grading - think of it as Falls Creek's Wombat's Ramble suddenly deciding it wants to be something else for 200 metres. Whether that caught me off guard because I was still finding my feet on skis at the time is debatable, but it's worth knowing about. This zone is also home to the Hintertux fun slope, which is a good option if you want to mix things up between laps.

4. Piste 2 + 2A

This is the run that has everything. Starting at 2,600 metres at the top of Gletscherbus 2 and dropping 655 metres of vertical down to the base of the Sommerbergalm six-person lift at 1,945 metres, you get nearly three kilometres of intermediate terrain that changes character the whole way down.

The upper sections are wide, drawn-out cruisers where you can open up your turns and carry speed. As you descend into the valley, mogul fields develop through the lower sections in the afternoon, and you transition from high alpine into the valley floor. It's one of those runs that feels like a complete journey rather than just a descent. There's a strong chance this will be the last run of your day too, because it naturally funnels you back toward the lower lifts as the afternoon winds down.

3. Piste 13 - Freeride

A couple of things upfront. This is a marked freeride run - it's not groomed and it's not for everyone. If it's closed, do not go in.

To access Piste 13, head to the far right side of the resort and take the Kaserer 2 T-bar. Once you're off, keep pushing right until you find the entry point. The route drops you into a steep gully with the Lärmstange peak towering above you on one side - it's the kind of terrain that makes you feel properly small.

The numbers: 2.15 kilometres of distance covering 658 metres of vertical descent. None of it is groomed, so conditions will vary depending on when the last snowfall was and how many people have been through before you. For anyone used to staying on-piste at Australian resorts, this is a significant step up - but if the conditions are right, it's one of the most rewarding runs on the mountain.

2. Piste 8A - Glacier

Up on the glacier proper, Piste 8A is one of only two advanced runs in the main glacier section. It starts just below the Gefrorene Wand double T-bar setup at 3,214 metres and delivers a short, sharp hit - 238 metres of vertical over 689 metres of trail with a maximum gradient of 33 degrees.

The numbers don't jump off the page in terms of length, but on a slope that steep, every metre counts. What makes this run stand out is the elevation. Starting above 3,200 metres during peak winter means the snow is almost guaranteed to be cold and dry - a far cry from the spring slush you'd be dealing with at the same time of year back in Australia. Catch this after fresh snowfall and it's an absolute blast.

1. Piste 2 Freeride - Unterm Eisbruch

I already covered the groomed version of Piste 2 at number four, but there's another version - the ungroomed freeride variant known as Unterm Eisbruch. You access it from the top of the marked Piste 2 at around 2,500 metres, peeling off into ungroomed terrain that drops 390 metres of vertical over just over a kilometre.

I caught this on a powder day and it was fantastic. The terrain flows naturally, the pitch keeps you moving, and it connects you back to the Lärmstange 1 six-person lift, which makes the whole area very lappable. Combined with Piste 13 on the other side, this section of the resort offers serious freeride potential for anyone comfortable off-piste.

But - and this is important - just like Piste 13, these are off-piste trails and they can slide. Proper avalanche awareness, appropriate equipment, and respect for closures aren't optional here. If the conditions aren't right, walk away and come back another day.