Carinthia: €53 million in lifts, Mölltal opens Friday 6 November, day pass €73

The Mölltaler Gletscher ski area in December 2012. Photo: Felix König via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0

Carinthia's lift companies put about €53 million into the 2026/27 season, the Mölltaler Gletscher opens the Austrian province's winter on Friday 6 November 2026 with pistes 8 and 9, and the adult day pass reaches €73 for the first time at Nassfeld, Bad Kleinkirchheim, Gerlitzen and Katschberg. The figures come from the lift association's press conference of 20 October, the Kärnten Werbung presentation of 4 November and the operators' own pages.

• Mölltaler Gletscher opens on Friday 6 November with pistes 8 and 9, the family run to the mid station; the operator had hoped for early October, then 23 October.
• About €53 million went into lifts, snowmaking and energy for 2026/27: the 10-seat Kanzelbahn II on the Gerlitzen (€22 million, open since 23 October) and the 6-seat Tressdorfer Almbahn at Nassfeld (€13 million, December).
• Day passes rise 3–5 %; €73 at the four big areas, €72.50 at Turracher Höhe, €72 at Mölltal; Carinthia's average of €63.33 is still the lowest of all Austrian provinces.
• The Kärntner Skipass costs €814 for 31 areas, 845 km of pistes and 262 lifts; 3.3 million skier days last winter.
• Kärnten Werbung sells a "learn to ski in 3 days" course at €240 with equipment, with Franz Klammer as its face.

The Mölltaler Gletscher site announces the start in one line: "Ab Freitag, 6.11.2026 starten wir mit den Pisten 8 + 9 in die Wintersaison 26/27", a season that runs to 30 May 2027, snow permitting. Pistes 8 and 9 are the family run down to the mid station. It is the first Carinthian area to open, but later than planned: in September the operator hoped for early October, by 6 October the date was 23 October, and the last winter had started on 10 October 2025.

ORF Kärnten reported in early October that the glacier had no fresh snow at all and that the summit stood at +2 °C, no weather for snow guns either. The glacier itself is going: ORF Kärnten quotes GeoSphere's measurement that the Wurtenkees lost about 42 % of its area between 2020 and 2025, with about 12 m of ice left on average and almost 3 m lost per year. The operator told ORF in September that the area now lives from the altitude of the mountain, not from the ice.

The association of Carinthian lift companies gave the figure at its press conference in Klagenfurt on Tuesday 20 October; meinbezirk attended and reported spokesman Josef Bogensperger's line that the investment keeps the province competitive. One caveat: in a 6 October interview the same association had put €53 million on the 2025/26 season and 50–60 million on the coming one, so read the number as the money spent in the summer and autumn of 2026 for this winter.

The Gerlitzen's construction diary calls the Kanzelbahn II "the most powerful cable car in Carinthia": two gondolas now take 18 minutes from Lake Ossiach at 550 m to the summit plateau. Nassfeld's operator gives the Tressdorfer Almbahn €13 million in its fact sheet, with a ride of about four minutes and a 20-hectare Young Stars Area with six conveyor belts next to it.

ORF Kärnten lists the new prices: €73 for an adult day at Nassfeld, Bad Kleinkirchheim, Gerlitzen and other large areas, €54 at Hochrindl, €49 at Petzen and €29.50 at Hrast in the Gailtal, the cheapest in the province. Prices rose 3–5 % on average and have about doubled in 20 years. Bogensperger blamed snowmaking: "Im letzten Winter haben wir sicher um 20 Prozent, 25 Prozent mehr beschneit", at a steady €3–5 per cubic metre of snow. The Katschberg price sheet confirms €73.00 for adults and €36.50 for children.

Even at €73, Carinthia stays the cheapest province. A survey by the Urlaubshamster portal of 17–19 October, reported by Leadersnet, puts the average fixed day price of nine Carinthian areas at €63.33, against €65.72 in Styria, €71.97 in Tyrol, €74.47 in Salzburg and €70.33 for Austria. The Kärntner Skipass for 31 areas in Carinthia and East Tyrol, 845 km of pistes and 262 lifts, costs €814 for adults and €407 for children. Snowmaking stays water only: Bogensperger told meinbezirk on 4 November that additives such as Snomax are "ein No-Go".

Kärnten Werbung used its Vienna press conference of Wednesday 4 November, published as an APA-OTS release, to sell the province to beginners. The offer "Skifahren lernen in 3 Tagen – garantiert!" costs €240 including all equipment: three days of two hours in groups of at most eight, for beginners from 14 and returners. Franz Klammer, the 1976 Olympic downhill champion, fronts it: "Es ist nie zu spät, damit anzufangen! Ich bringe gerade meinen Enkeln das Skifahren bei."

The tourism board backs the winter with a €3.7 million campaign in twelve markets and reports arrivals up 8.2 % and overnight stays up 3.8 % in the tourism year so far. Overnight guests travel free on regional buses and trains since 1 November 2026.

Two kinds of skier read this piece. The first books the €240 course or takes the children to Nassfeld's Young Stars Area, and needs a soft, short ski that turns at walking pace: our top-5 beginner skis list and reviews such as the Elan Wildcat 75 and the K2 Disruption 78C are the place to start. The second drives up to the Mölltal on Friday 6 November for two groomed pistes on a glacier at 2,200–3,000 m, which is a hard, cold surface for a carving ski with metal: the Blizzard Thunderbird R15 82, the Dynastar M-Cross 82 and our top-5 carving skis fit that day. The Pick-a-Ski tool sets the length for weight and level in both cases.