Without a doubt, Kitzbühel reminds me of the Beauty and the Beast fairytale. The ancient walled city is stunning, while the world’s most dangerous downhill lurks in the mountains, waiting for its next victims.
The town of Kitzbühel dates back 750 years and walking through the cobblestone streets reminds is a magical journey. From the horse-drawn carriage rides and streets lined with one-of-a-kind boutique shops, cafes and restaurants, it looks like something out of an Disney movie. The gigantic walls that surround the town really catch the eye along with the two massive churches and their towering steeples remind you of their history and culture. Both Pfarrkirche, Zum Heiligen Andreas and Franziskaner Der Immakulata are worth visiting and steeped in history with a large cemetery marking the grave of famous Austrian racer and 007 stunt double, Toni Sailer.
The city is impressive during the daytime, but it is jaw dropping at night with streets lined with overhead lights and buildings lit up like Christmas trees. We took a night tour with local legend Pepi Treichl walking by thousands of glimmering lights along multi-coloured buildings. Once a year this small, chic, and relatively quiet alpine town turns into a full tilt mountain party for the fastest men in the world on skis.
The world famous Hahnenkamm downhill on the unforgiving Streif has crushed many a skier’s dreams of fame and fortune. These daredevils hit speeds of 140km/h with icy hairpin turns and 60-meter jumps that take no prisoners. Conquering this mountain is like winning the Masters at Augusta for golfers or winning Wimbledon in tennis.
Last week, we skied part of the Streif and adjacent ‘family run’ of reds, blues and black runs. It’s so steep in some parts, it’ll take your breath away. These are heralded, sacred grounds and you can feel the intensity in your bones riding the gondola on the way up. It’s so dangerous many racers admit being very scared heading up the gondola for their run.
I had the pleasure of skiing the “family run” beside the Streif last week and couldn’t believe the severe steeps and death defying turns athletes take at mach 3 speeds.
On race day 50,000 people pack the stands and line the racecourse cheering their heroes or just anybody that’s able to finish the race. This year, Arnold Schwarzenegger was in attendance along with former winners, European royalty and many celebrities. After 23 years of Austrian dominance on the Streif it was Canada’s turn to shine and the bright lights were beaming on Jack Crawford of Georgian Peaks in Collingwood winning his first career downhill, and first on the Streif by a Canadian since Todd Brooker in 1983, while B.C.’s Cameron Alexander finished third.
Other Canadians have found the Hahnenkamm magic in the past, include Crazy Canucks Steve Podborski and Ken Reid, who was in attendance while his son Jeff competed. The Crazy Canuck torch may need to be passed to Crawford, Alexander, and Read because they’re that good. Maybe now, call them the Crazier Canucks. Once the race was over, the celebration moved into town for the traditional epic evening of partying and celebration with the Hahnenkamm winner and other racers at the Londoner Pub.
As for skiing, Kitzbühel sets the bar for others to follow in many areas including modern ski lifts, variety of trails, snow conditions, huts and the Intersport rental centre at Hahnenkamm Bahn gondola. The attention to detail included a huge rental area, a next-door locker room for skis and boots, wider steps for boots and more importantly, the ease of renting and moving up the stairs to the gondola.
We enjoyed two days of skiing with clear and crisp days under crystal blue skies. Kitzbühel is massive with two main areas, Hahnenkamm and KitzbühelHorn. There’s an impressive 233km of ski trails, 58 modern lifts, and 60 privately owned huts (mountain restaurants).
Another mountain feast was had at Usterwies which served a traditional Austrian dish of Spinatknodel-Kasnudeln brown butter gem (homemade dumplings variety, one with spinach one with cheese) with the most incredible creamy dessert, Cremeschnitte. It’s so popular, you have to order in advance. We also enjoyed a day of skiing at Jochberg using the 35 cable car. The runs on Hartkaser and Hanglalm are wide open with less crowd along with a wonderful mountain hut for lunch, Baerenbadalm atop the Baerenbadkogel summit for stunning 360 panoramic views.
Kitzbuhel is many things to many people and serves up some fantastic opportunities off the slopes with its 70km of groomed and free cross-country trails, Austria’s only indoor curling and outdoor skating rink called Sportpark, and a number of luxurious spas, especially in higher end hotels like the A-Rosa.
There’s guided peak expeditions, Aquarena with large indoor pools and saunas, historic walking areas Kitzbuheler Innenstadt, and even tobogganing or sledding with impressive 3-5km runs. We enjoyed a stroll through museum Kitzbühel featuring the interesting paintings and works of Alfons Walde, some consider the founder of Kitzbühel and its rich Alpine tradition.
Kitzbühel is a busy ski town with plenty of 4 and 5 star boutique hotels and accommodations for all budgets. We really enjoyed staying at the Hotel Seebichl with its warm and welcoming reception. The four-story boutique is run by two brothers whose grandfather started the hotel many generations ago. History and local architecture are important to the brothers and the reception area represents their passion with unique, antique furnishings. They offer a full breakfast along with an impressive dinner menu. There’s also a free hotel shuttle service to and from the town. Apres and fun after dark are also important pleasures of Kitzbuhel mountain life with such spots as Ye Muinch, Club Take Five, Golden Jazzclub in the Grand Tirolia Hotel and there’s even a small casino.
Kitzbühel is famous for its unique cuisine with award winning restaurants like El Moro for pizza, First Lobster for seafood and Centro for Italian. For a taste of authentic Austrian, we travelled 10 minutes to Landhotel-Gasthof Jodlbühel for my favourite Weiner Schnitzel and apple strudel. Kitzbühel has everything you’d expected and more appreciating meticulous mountain detail, world-class cuisine, world class shopping, world class hotels and just simple world class fun. All this combined with the friendliest and most welcoming people you’ll ever meet will make your Kitzbühel experience unforgettable.
I will be back to Kitzbuhel someday soon, I enjoyed it that much.
Glenn Crouter is also ski/golf/lifestyle reporter for 640 Toronto radio, Ambassador for the Canadian Ski Council. @glennskigolf.
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