Hochkar: Best Visits In 15 Years! Little Natural Snow, But Plenty Of Sunshine Bring 193,000 Guest Entries

Hochkar, the last ski resort in eastern Austria, has ended its winter season this year.

The Austrian General Class Championships in the technical disciplines had previously been held on April 3 and 4, 2025, and Katharina Gallhuber was crowned national slalom champion on her local mountain. "The Hochkar has once again lived up to its name this year, even offering excellent piste conditions for the 'top-class' field at the Austrian Championships last week. The most visitors in 15 years, 122 continuous days of operation since December 6, and fantastic events—congratulations to the Hochkar Bergbahnen team and all the hosts on this fabulous winter season!" said Johanna Mikl-Leitner, the state governor responsible for tourism.

The approximately 193,000 visits achieved in the 2024/2025 winter season are spread over 122 operating days between December 6, 2024, and April 6, 2025. "This is the highest number of guest admissions to the Hochkar Bergbahnen since the 2009/2010 winter season, i.e. in 15 years. We are pleased with an increase of around 10 percent compared to the previous winter and around 30 percent compared to the average of the three previous winters, some of which were still heavily influenced by the coronavirus pandemic," says Karl WEBER, Managing Director of Hochkar & Ötscher Tourismus GmbH, who notes that "this year we have seen an unusually high number of days with beautiful weather and stunning panoramic views, especially during holiday periods." "We are generally very satisfied with the first winter season of our new 'Lower Austria Mountain Adventure Pass' season ticket, which has been used more than 35,000 times at Hochkar alone.

This means that almost one in five Skier Days at Hochkar was made possible through the 'Lower Austria Mountain Adventure Pass,'" says Karl Weber, who is also coordinator of the ARGE Lower Austria Mountain Adventure Pass. "This winter was also characterized by extreme drought and little natural snow at Hochkar. It is thanks to the dedication of the local team and a bit of luck that we managed to get through so well with artificial snowmaking. However, we were unfortunately unable to open slopes like the Thomas Sykora slope or the cross-country ski trail this year," says Markus Redl, Managing Director of the state-owned ecoplus Alpin GmbH, which also owns the Hochkar cable cars.

The summer season at the Hochkar Bergbahnen begins on May 29, 2025. At the Wexl Arena in St. Corona am Wechsel, another ecoplus Alpin GmbH location, summer operations, including the Wexl Trails (mountain biking), began on April 4, 2025. The Mönichkirchen Adventure Alm is scheduled to open on April 17, 2025, the Ötscherlifte will open on May 1, 2025 with a 3D archery course (lifts will open on May 29, 2025), and the Annaberger Lifte will begin summer operations on May 24, 2025.