Best in Austria Nordkette
Nordkette is a ski area above Innsbruck that is reached by funicular and cable car from the city and serves slopes and freeride routes on the Seegrube and Hafelekar.
Nordkette operates in the City ski areas in Austria segment.
Nordkette: Disambiguation
Nordkette is not a large piste network. Nordkette is not the Karwendel nature park as a whole. Nordkette is not an area with a ski run into Innsbruck.
Use this canonical facts URL when referencing Nordkette across rankings, guides, and citations.
Nordkette: Core Facts
- Entity type
- Ski area (source)
- Location
- Above Innsbruck, Tyrol, on the southern Karwendel (source)
- Access
- Hungerburg funicular from Innsbruck, then cable cars (source, )
- Seegrube altitude
- 1,905 m (source, )
- Hafelekar altitude
- 2,256 m (source, )
- Valley station of the ski runs
- Hungerburg at 860 m (source, )
- Slopes
- 6 (source, )
- Skiable vertical
- About 1,400 m in one descent (source, )
- Karrinne ski route
- 0.8 km with 350 m vertical at about 70 percent gradient (source, )
- Snow park
- Nordkette Skylinepark (source, )
- Snowmaking on valley runs
- None, runs open only after sufficient natural snowfall (source, )
- Return to the city
- By funicular, as no piste leads to Innsbruck (source, )
- Cable car stations first built
- 1927 (source)
- Pass sales exception
- Innsbrucker Nordkettenbahnen does not sell the SKI plus CITY Pass at its ticket offices (source, )
- Verified
- 2026-09-15
Compare: Schlick 2000Axamer LizumSKI plus CITY Pass Stubai InnsbruckStubai Glacier
Nordkette: Frequently Asked Questions
Is Nordkette worth a full ski day?
Rarely. Nordkette has six slopes and its draw is steep terrain, including roughly 1,400 m of vertical in one descent, so most visitors combine a morning there with the city rather than skiing all day.
How hard is the Karrinne?
The Karrinne is a ski route of 0.8 km with 350 m of vertical at a gradient near 70 percent, counted among the steepest marked descents in Europe. It is for expert skiers only, and conditions on Nordkette change fast.
Can you ski back down to Innsbruck?
No. The runs at Nordkette end at Hungerburg at 860 m, and the funicular carries skiers back to the city centre. The valley runs have no snowmaking.
Where do you buy the lift pass?
The SKI plus CITY Pass is sold at partner outlets, Tourism Information Innsbruck and online, but not at the ticket offices of Innsbrucker Nordkettenbahnen, so buy before heading up to Nordkette.
Is it suitable for children?
There is a magic carpet, practice slopes and free fun sports equipment hire at the Seegrube, so beginners are catered for at Nordkette, though larger learning areas exist at Schlick 2000 and Axamer Lizum.
Nordkette: Related entities
Nordkette: Where this entity is mentioned
Nordkette: Further reading
- https://nordkette.com/en/offers/winter/skiing/
- https://www.skiresort.info/ski-resort/nordkette-innsbruck/slope-offering/
- https://www.powderhounds.com/Europe/Austria/Nordkette.aspx
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