Hintertux Glacier
Zillertal, TyrolSee it on the map
About Hintertux Glacier
The Hintertux glacier is the one ski area in Austria that never closes: 365 days a year, with pistes from around 1,500 m at the valley station up to 3,250 m below the Gefrorene Wand. It sits at the very end of the Tux valley, a side branch of the Zillertal beyond Mayrhofen, and the hamlet at the bottom is a row of hotels and a car park rather than a village.
In winter it is the high, snow-sure anchor of the Ski- und Gletscherwelt Zillertal 3000 with Mayrhofen, Finkenberg and the Tux valley's lower areas, and it is the place people head when the rest of the valley is short of snow. In autumn it is a training base for national teams and race clubs, and you will share the lifts with people in speed suits. In summer it offers a handful of pistes, a terrain park and the Nature Ice Palace, a walkable cave inside the glacier.
The skiing is better than glacier areas usually are: around 60 km of piste with real variety, some genuinely long descents from the top to the valley when the lower runs are open, and good freeriding after a storm. The wind at the top can be brutal, and when the weather closes in the flat light on the glacier is disorientating.
Last reviewed 13 September 2026
Best suited to
- Intermediates
- Advanced skiers
- Snowboarding
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Where lessons start
There is gentle terrain around the middle station at Sommerberg, at roughly 2,100 m, where the slopes are wide and the snow is dependable — it is where the summer race camps put their youngest athletes. Even so, a complete beginner is better off in the lower Tux valley areas or on Mayrhofen's Ahorn in winter, and coming up to the glacier for a day out. Hintertux is at its best for intermediates and advanced skiers who want guaranteed snow, and for anyone wanting a lesson in October or May when nothing else is open.
Getting there
The same approach as Mayrhofen — Innsbruck airport about an hour and a half, Munich around two and a half — plus another twenty kilometres up the Tux valley by car or bus. By public transport that means the main line to Jenbach, the Zillertalbahn to Mayrhofen and a bus to Hintertux, roughly two hours from Innsbruck all told. The valley road is narrow and the last stretch is steep; snow chains are worth carrying in a cold spell.
Qualifications required in Austria
Teaching skiing or snowboarding for payment in Austria is a regulated profession: an instructor must hold the Skilehrer qualification. Instructors listed as certified on Alpine Pal have either sent theirs to us for review or are vouched for by the ski school that invited them.
Find instructors in AustriaHintertux Glacier: common questions
Is it worth going to Hintertux in summer?
For a few hours of skiing, yes — it is one of very few places in Europe where you can ski in July and August, and the pistes at the top are fine until about midday, after which the snow turns to slush. Expect a limited number of runs, a lot of race teams and a short day. It is a curiosity or a training tool rather than a holiday, and prices are not lower for the reduced terrain.
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