Kaunertal

Freeriders. Staying within the resort boundary there is a stack of good off-piste and small rock drops as you make your way down to the bottom of the chairlift, just pick a route and enjoy.

Further afield there’s a good long backcountry trail that leads you into the next valley back down to Fernergries. Take the Norderjoch t-bars and then drop off the back, but check in at the hut to find out about conditions. The hardest bit is initially getting into the main bowl, but if you want more vertical you can hike a further 60min up the ridge to the top of Weissseespitze at 3535m. The first section is pure powder, not too steep and great for laying some turns at speed. As it turns into the valley Keep high, shun the last powder, and traverse across the side of the valley. If you drop into the valley then you’ll end up following the flow of the river, and face an inevitable walk out in some very deep snow (although it is a stunning location). You’ll need to pick up the ski-bus, hitch, or draw straws as to who drives in order to get back to the resort.

From halfway down the slope served by Kartesspitz t-bar you can access a huge amount of steep faces and powder fields which run all the way bottom of the chairlift. These are the areas you zig-zag through on the drive up to the main carpark, so consider hiring a guide to show you some routes as you could face a long walk out if you get things wrong.

This place has one of the best terrain parks in Europe, and it’s the mortals as well as the pro’s who get treated royally. Alex Fischer designs the park and it features rails, kickers and now 2 halfpipes. Serviced by the Norderjoch-1 t-bar, the top section features a number of advanced rails – straight, kinked, rainbow boxes and rails, and sometimes a couple of intermediate/advanced table-tops. Then it splits into 3 parallel sections.

The beginners/intermediate section features 2 lines of 3 table-tops, followed by a box. The usually well-shaped halfpipe sits between that, and the pro-park, which has a line of 2 monster table-tops. In April 2007 they built a massive superpipe, positioned perfectly between the t-bar and the existing park. 120m long, 5m high walls and built on a great gradient making it nice and fast.

The resort run freestyle camps from mid April to end May, http://www.springclassics.at

Away from the park on the runs down to the chair you’ll find a stack of things to jump off, and come May all the pro’s arrive to finish off their latest flics so don’t be surprised to see some huge booters and road-gap jumps on the drive up to the carpark.

Pistes. The resort can easily be split into two areas. The pistes serviced by the t-bars are wide and steep in places, whereas the runs down to the chairs are standard alpine fare but riders who stick to the pistes may want to go elsewhere.

Beginners may struggle a little here as all but two of the runs are serviced by t-bars. The runs are all graded as beginner and intermediate but most have a couple of steep sections that may scare.