Ramsau am Dachstein is a municipality in the state of Styria in Austria. It’s situated on a plateau above the more well known resort of Schladming. Ramsau’s altitude ( 1,135 m / 3,724′ ) and the relatively flat terrain of the plateau means that it’s ideal for cross country skiing. ( Link to panorama webcam )
Getting there, accommodation and getting about
Location
The closest airport is Salzburg although Munich or Innsbruck are not too far away. There’s a relatively frequent rail connection to Schladming with few changes required to get to places like Munich. From Schladming it’s a short taxi ride to Ramsau or there is a regular bus service.
It is possible to drive there from the UK, we’ve done it a few times, but it is a long way and an overnight stop can make things much easier. However bear in mind the winter driving regulations in Europe, especially the need for winter tyres. You will also need a Vignette for Austrian autobahns.
Accommodation
Most of the accommodation seems to be of the B&B or hotel variety with the usual range of prices. There doesn’t seem to be much self-catering but we were lucky because a friend owns a property there and we rented that. Most of the accommodation is within easy reach of the cross country trails but there are ski buses which can be used as well.
The centre of Ramsau has a number of restaurants and cafés as well as a couple of supermarkets and banks.
Things To Do And See
Winter Sports
Cross country ski tracks
Undoubtedly Ramsau is best known for its winter sports and specifically for cross country skiing. According to the website there are over 200 km of prepared tracks both classic and skating style. A weekly pass is 36€ ( 2017/18 season ) which is very good value I think. All the tracks are well prepared and, even when conditions are a bit marginal, there will be some snow to ski on.
Ramsau stadium
The tracks range in difficulty from easy to fairly tricky which was great for me. I could start on the easy trails and work up to some of the harder stuff by the end of the week. The trails generally form loops of varying lengths out from the stadium in the centre of town. Needless to say there are great views from all of them.
During the winter a large number of the walking trails are pressed in a similar manner to skating tracks. This makes walking much easier and snow shoes are not really necessary for the vast majority of these walks. The tourist office has free trail maps both for skiing and walking.
Ski jump training
Next to the stadium in the centre there is a laser biathlon range and slightly out of the centre of town is a “proper” range. I haven’t tried either of these so can’t really comment. However one day I did come across some very serious looking skiers practicing on the shooting range. There is also a small ski jump complex, if you fancy trying this then good luck to you, I’ll watch from the bottom 🙂
There are some small downhill slopes but I think that most serious skiers will find their way to the bigger slopes at Schladming.
Competitive Skiing
The FIS Nordic World Ski Championships took place in Ramsau in 1999. Since then there have been several world cup events held there. Currently there is only one regular event which is part of the Nordic Combined tour and is usually held in the middle of December each year.
It’s well worth trying to see one of these events live because they’re pretty spectacular, especially the ski jumping. We’ve seen an event from the second tier Nordic Combined Continental Cup series and it was riveting to watch. Even though it wasn’t the top tier these guys are excellent skiers and ski jumpers and the relatively small crowds made it easy to see the action.
The cross country phase of the Nordic Combined
Summer Activities
We’ve only every visited Ramsau for the skiing but, like most resorts, it also tries to cater for summer visitors as well. The website will have details of what’s available but you would certainly be able to find some of the following:
- Mountain biking – there are many marked trails and plenty of bike hire shops. If you’re really keen then you can fat bike during the winter. I never really saw the point of the latter because skis are so much easier 🙂
- Walking – as you might imagine the area around Ramsau is fabulous walking country with routes to suit all abilities. I can’t comment on the climbing possibilities but there are a few Via Ferrata routes.
- Rollerskiing – if you absolutely can’t do without your skiing then there are rollerskiing paths. However, beware, some of them are not for the faint hearted.
Other Suggestions
The area around Ramsau is ideal for photography, whatever the season really. It’s particularly good in the winter because the ski trails and walking tracks make it easy to access the slightly remoter areas. Both the photographs at the top of the page and the one below were taken while I was out on skis. In both cases they were taken with my small Canon IXUS 70 point and shoot and stitched together from 3 separate photos.
If you look carefully you can see the Guttenberghaus mountain hut on the skyline. I suspect the views from up there would be spectacular but I’m not sure how easy it is to access during the winter.
The Retired Engineer 