Sölden off-piste skiing & snowboarding

Tyrol, Austria · 1368m to 3340m · 3 documented zones

Finding powder at Sölden

Soelden offers around 70km of off-piste descents across high alpine ground and two glacier arenas reaching 3,400m, rideable from November through to May. The scale is the draw: some descents drop 1,900m to 2,000m in one go. It is also unforgiving high-alpine terrain, and the resort is explicit that expert guidance is strongly recommended.

Lift-accessed zones — no walking

Ride up, drop in. These 3 zones need no hiking, which also means they are the first to get tracked out after a storm.

Gaislachkogl north faces

Gaislachkogl sector

Backcountry - no patrolExpertGuide recommended

North-facing faces and gullies off the 3,040m summit that hold knee-deep powder into spring. Narrow troughs, steep walls and cliff drops, with lines running in every direction and vertical of up to 2,000m.

Outside the ski area boundary. No avalanche control, no patrol and no rescue service. Full avalanche equipment, training and a partner are the minimum, and a guide is strongly advised.

Lift access
Gaislachkoglbahn
Walk in
No hiking — Lift-accessed from the Gaislachkoglbahn.
Getting back
Descends into the Wasserkar, Rettenbach or Venter Tal valleys depending on the line taken.
Aspect
North-facing· Holds powder longest
Known hazards
  • Cliff drops within the gullies
  • Up to 2,000m of committing high-alpine descent
  • No avalanche control away from the pistes

Schwarze Schneid descent

Rettenbach glacier sector

Backcountry - no patrolExpertGuide recommended

The longest run here: roughly 15km from the Innere Schwarze Schneid at 3,370m, dropping 1,900m all the way to the valley.

Outside the ski area boundary. No avalanche control, no patrol and no rescue service. Full avalanche equipment, training and a partner are the minimum, and a guide is strongly advised.

Lift access
Schwarze Schneid cable car
Walk in
No hiking — Lift-accessed from the Rettenbach glacier.
Getting back
Runs out to the valley floor.
Known hazards
  • Glaciated terrain
  • A very long committing descent
  • High altitude

Giggijoch and Hainbachjoch

Giggijoch sector

Backcountry - no patrolIntermediate

Broad open slopes that the resort itself points beginners and warming-up freeriders towards, with room for wide turns in soft snow before taking on anything steeper.

Outside the ski area boundary. No avalanche control, no patrol and no rescue service. Full avalanche equipment, training and a partner are the minimum, and a guide is strongly advised.

Lift access
Giggijochbahn
Walk in
No hiking — Lift-accessed.
Getting back
Rejoins the Giggijoch piste network.
Known hazards
  • Open avalanche terrain despite the gentle pitch

The avalanche danger scale

Every European bulletin uses this five-level scale. The column that matters most is the last one: around half of all avalanche deaths happen at level 3, not at the extremes, because that is when the snow still looks worth riding.

1. Low

about 5% of fatalities

Generally stable snowpack. Triggering is only possible with high additional loads, and only in extreme terrain. Natural avalanches are small at most.

The most favourable conditions of the season. Terrain choice still matters in isolated extreme spots.

Forecast on about 20% of the season

2. Moderate

about 30% of fatalities

The snowpack is only moderately well bonded on some steep slopes. Triggering is mainly possible with high additional loads. Very large natural avalanches are unlikely.

Conditions look benign and catch people out. Roughly a third of fatalities happen at this level.

Forecast on about 50% of the season

3. Considerable

about 50% of fatalities

The snowpack is moderately to poorly bonded on many steep slopes. Triggering is possible even from a single skier or snowboarder. Large avalanches are possible.

The most dangerous level in practice. It carries about half of all avalanche deaths, because the riding still looks good and the snowpack no longer needs much provocation.

Forecast on about 30% of the season

4. High

about 10% of fatalities

The snowpack is poorly bonded on most steep slopes. Triggering is likely even from a single skier or snowboarder, and numerous large natural avalanches are expected.

Off-piste travel should be limited to low-angle terrain well away from anything steep above you.

Forecast on only a few days a year

5. Very High

rare enough that no share is published

An extraordinarily unstable snowpack. Numerous very large and often extremely large natural avalanches are expected, even on moderately steep terrain.

Do not go off-piste. Roads and parts of the resort itself may be closed.

Forecast on very rarely forecast

Scale and statistics from European Avalanche Warning Services - Avalanche Danger Scale.

What you need to carry

Transceiver

Worn on your body, not in your pack, and switched to transmit before you leave the lift. Every member of the group needs one; a single person without makes the whole group less safe.

Probe

Pinpoints the burial once the transceiver has brought you close, so you dig in the right place first time rather than in a hole beside them.

Shovel

A real collapsible avalanche shovel. Digging is the slowest part of a rescue, and it is what actually gets your partner out.

Airbag pack (optional)

Helps keep you nearer the surface in a moving slide. It supplements the three items above and never replaces them.

How to ride it

Read the bulletin before you go, every day

The danger level, the problem type and the aspects and altitudes it applies to matter more than anything on this page. Conditions change overnight.

Practise with your kit until the search is instinctive

Owning a transceiver is not the same as being able to use one under pressure. Run search drills at the start of every season.

Never ride off-piste alone

Companion rescue is the only rescue fast enough to matter. Burial survival drops sharply after about fifteen minutes.

Ride steep slopes one at a time

Exposing one person at a time keeps the rest of the group free to dig, and reduces the load on the slope.

Hire a guide for terrain you do not know

Local guides know which aspects have loaded, which lines cliff out and where this season's weak layer sits. Every resort guide on this page says the same thing.

Plan the exit before you drop in

Several classic routes finish in a different valley or a long way from a lift. Know how you are getting home, and what time the last lift and last bus run.

Keep planning

Sölden snow report & forecastSnow history & depthMore resorts in Austria