Snow guaranteed: Hochkar

Due to its climatic conditions, Hochkar is one of the snowiest winter sports regions with the most reliable snow conditions in Austria. At an altitude of around 1,500 metres, it has vegetation that resembles that at 2,000 metres elsewhere in the Alps.

Despite its naturally reliable snow conditions, work on its snow-making facilities started back in 1997. As the Hochkar is a karst area and has no springs of its own, a reservoir was erected with a capacity of around 90,000 cubic metres to supply the artificial snow making system with water. The mountain lake with drinking-water quality is filled exclusively with melt and rainwater and is charmingly nestled into the countryside at an altitude of 1,570 metres above sea level.

The snow-making system has naturally been extended several times and now includes around 70 snow machines to ensure snow cover on around three-quarters of the Hochkar’s skiing slopes.

How does an “artificial snow”-making machine actually work?

To begin with – nothing about it is “artificial”. The snow that comes out of the snow machines is made of pure water with drinking-water quality – entirely without chemical additives. Snow-making works with pressure – the water is forced through the very fine nozzles of the snow machine at about 50-60 bar. This way, around 1 cubic metre of water produces about 2.2 to 2.3 cubic metres of snow.

Naturally, it doesn’t work at all conditions – for perfect snow-making conditions, temperatures have to be down to -4 °C and colder, and air humidity must be at a minimum.

Slope preparation

We at the Hochkar attach great importance to offering our guests perfectly groomed slopes. To be able to offer such slopes depends on many factors. For a start, you need a sufficient cover of snow – in case Mother Nature fails to provide enough, our snow experts will make sure that there is sufficient snow cover in all the important places.

Our snow experts must always keep an eye on the weather and respond straight away to certain temperatures or wind conditions.

As soon as there’s enough snow, it’s our slope experts’ turn to do their job. After all, to prepare perfect skiing slopes, it takes a great deal of know-how and the skill to handle the 400-horsepower equipment. Right now there are six snow groomer vehicles that are put to use every day straight after the lift has stopped running to bring the slopes back into shape.

As steep sections of the slopes have to be groomed by using a winch, we must close the slopes for safety reasons from 5:00 p.m. onward (except on slopes with floodlights on skiing nights). Please note that there is a real danger to life!