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This is the Schmittenhöhe, the mountain that rises straight out of Zell am See above the Zeller See. It is one sheet of the Zell am See-Kaprun pass, which also buys you the Kitzsteinhorn glacier and the Maiskogel at Kaprun, eight kilometres down the valley.
Those two sit on their own map and there is no piste between them and this one. The K-ONNECTION gondola chain links Kaprun village to the glacier, but getting from the Schmittenhöhe across to the Kitzsteinhorn means the ski bus. Plan the week around which mountain you want on which day, not around skiing between them.
Zell am See ski resort guide · Zell am See-Kaprun
The Schmittenhöhe is a single broad ridge with runs falling off both sides of it, and the map is easiest to read as two faces either side of that summit line. The town face, on the right of the sheet, drops north-east towards the lake and carries the lifts you will ride up from Zell am See itself. The far side falls away west and south into the Schmiedingertal and towards Viehhofen, and is where the long descents are. Lake views are the whole point of this mountain and they are all on the town face.
GreenBlueRedBlack77 km on this sheet, 138 km and 46 lifts across the Zell am See-Kaprun pass, 750 m to 2,000 m
The side you look at from the lakefront, and the side almost everyone rides up. The Areitbahn gondola from Schüttdorf and the cityXpress from the town both land on this face, and the runs back down to them are mostly blue and red through open pasture with the lake below you the whole way.
It is the busiest ground on the map at the start and end of the day, and the terrain is gentle enough that it is a reasonable place to be while you are building confidence.
The high ground at 1,965 m where the two faces meet, and the hub the whole map is organised around: get here and you can drop down either side. The Panorama and Sonnkogel lifts feed it.
Note the altitude. Two thousand metres is not high by Alpine standards, which is why the glacier at Kaprun is part of the pass at all — it is the insurance policy for a thin December or a warm March.
The western flank, away from the town and noticeably quieter. The pitch steepens here and this is where the reds and the sheet's blacks sit, including the long trapper and standard descents towards Viehhofen.
The catch is that dropping all the way down this side commits you to riding back up it. There is no road-level link round to the town, so check the lift closing times before your last run.
The nursery ground is at the bottom in Schüttdorf rather than on the mountain, and the gentlest runs on the sheet are on the town face around the Areitbahn mid-station. It is a workable first-trip mountain, though the blue grading here is honest rather than generous — a Zell am See blue is a red in some French resorts.
This is who the Schmittenhöhe is built for. The whole town face is cruising terrain with a view, and the trapper runs down the far side give you proper length. Add a day on the Kitzsteinhorn glacier for altitude and a day on the Maiskogel for trees. Kaprun is the base if you want those two closer.
Honestly, not a lot on this sheet — the blacks on the western flank are short, and the mountain tops out below 2,000 m. The reason to bring the pass is the Kitzsteinhorn, where the glacier terrain and the Black Mamba run give you something with real pitch and altitude behind it.
The other half of the pass, eight kilometres down the valley, holding the Kitzsteinhorn glacier and the Maiskogel. Same ticket, different map, and a ski bus between the two.
Over the ridge behind the Schmittenhöhe's western flank and about forty minutes by road — a far bigger linked circuit on its own separate pass, and the usual comparison for anyone who finds this sheet small.
Conditions before you go · Zell am See webcams
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