Laber - Oberammergau

Most of the praise goes to the cable car itself: the old large-cabin line has been running since the seventies and is the last of its kind still in service anywhere, so the ride is part of the day out. At the top people value the relaxed mood in the mountain hut and the view over the Ammergau Alps, while the descent down the north face has a reputation as one of the steepest in Germany - that is what brings strong skiers and freeriders here.

The complaint is that there is no choice at all: one marked route leads down, it is never groomed and never covered with machine snow, and it opens only when the avalanche commission judges the snowpack stable. Beginners and average skiers have nothing to do here, since the descent is hard from the first metres with no easy way down. Industry ratings score the area poorly for size and piste offering, and the ride up is slow.