Reiteralm - Pichl - Mandling

The praise starts with grooming: Reiteralm is named one of the first Austrian areas to finish its overnight preparation, and full snowmaking lets it open early. Wide pistes with a serious vertical suit carvers and confident intermediates, and queues stay short even at weekends. Visitors note the easy approach off the Enns valley road, roomy car parks, cosy mountain huts and a bar at the base station where the fun carries on after the lifts stop.

An elderly two-seat chairlift is the usual target: slow, with people piling up in front of it in bad weather. Pricing attracts the sharpest words - the gap between a single day and a multi-day pass is small, day tickets cannot be bought in advance, and the four-mountain pass is poor value for a family because the transfers eat the day. The terrain park and some runs are often shut despite those prices. For nightlife you drive to Schladming.