The best mountain sports in Austria

When you think of Austria, the mountains are probably one of the first things that come to your mind. For us at Verival, the mountains play a very special role. Our production and headquarters are located in the middle of Tyrol and the Tyrolean Alps. Therefore, the mountains are very close to our company’s heart. They are also important for many Austrians. Austria is a popular travel and holiday destination for tourists from all over the world, with its mountain landscape, hiking opportunities in summer and beautiful ski areas in winter. This is why countless different alpine sports have developed – some have been popular for hundreds of years already, others have developed in the last decade. In this blog post we will introduce you to our six favourite mountain sports in more detail.

 1. Alpine skiing / skiing

A classic among alpine sports and most likely the sport that every Austrian has tried out at least once besides football is skiing. Some try it until they win the Alpine Ski World Cup 8 times in a row (see Marcel Hirscher) – others just want to get down the mountain in one piece.

The nice thing about skiing is probably that it is not difficult to master it. However, becoming really good at it is a comprehensive task that can take years. But regardless of skill level and enthusiasm, the most beautiful thing about skiing is the absolutely unbeatable view from the summit. This feeling of freedom when you are on a mountain top is something that is hard to replicate. The wind and the mountains all around make you aware of how small you actually are and make you feel that this world is something special. If you then make it down the hill safely, it is a lot of fun.

2. Ski tour

There are actually not so many differences between skiing and ski touring. The difference is that ski tourers walk up the hill with their skis instead of getting carried to the top by a lift. At this point, many ski tourers would probably say that is a key part of the whole experience. You can leave it at that, because one thing is for sure: if you walk up a mountain with skis, it is surely much more exhausting than simply taking the lift. In this sense, one definitely feels more rewarded if one manages walking up the hill with skis. The feeling of dragging yourself up a mountain is associated with extreme freedom – preferably off the normal ski slopes, where you have your peace 😉

3. Hiking

The trend sport among all mountain sports. Currently on everyone’s lips and loved by everyone. The reason for this is very simple and obvious:  anyone can do it. You don’t need any special equipment or previous experience to go hiking. Nevertheless, it is advantageous to have sturdy shoes and an average amount of endurance. Time is also important, because if you want to go to the mountains, you have to make time for it. We are not talking about a 10-minute-workout. Hiking is popular in all generations, because it clears your head. It’s just the right mixture of strenuous and not so strenuous – and there is no better place to think about life than in forests and on mountains.

4. Climbing (any form!)

Climbing is a bit different than hiking. You should have some previous experience and training, because if you don’t take the right safety precautions, the chance of an accident is higher. But if you are trained and careful, you can minimize the danger to almost zero. Climbing is probably the sport where you get to know yourself best. Where are my limits? How high can I go? But these are not the only questions you can answer.

Climbing is also always a game of trust with your climbing partner. From a health point of view, climbing is the sport that activates and stresses our muscles the most. When climbing, you need almost all the muscles you have at your disposal. Anyone who has tried climbing once knows how much the whole body has to struggle with sore muscles the next day. The “little” brother of climbing is bouldering. Bouldering is now not only possible indoors – specially designed mountain bouldering routes make it possible to boulder directly on the mountain. You don’t need ropes and belts, because bouldering is not about reaching a certain height. One thing that is also certain when bouldering: sore muscles are pre-programmed!

5. Mountain run / trail running

This form of mountain sport is probably one of the most strenuous and violent. Running in itself is already a challenge for many people – just imagine running up a mountain. For many, trail running is the ultimate test of endurance. For example, in mountain running there are some competitions which are over 50 kilometres long and which have a total running time of 24 hours. Hard to imagine, but it is true!

6. Honourable mentions: downhill mountain biking and canyoning

We want to mention these two mountaineering activities, although in theory you don’t necessarily have to go up a mountain for both. In Austria, however, both sports can be practised in the mountains. Admittedly: these are also somewhat more “extreme” types of alpine sports.

Canyoning combines many sporting activities. One climbs, one swims, one climbs up and down and jumps from cliffs. At best, this should be done during a guided tour as it is often not so easy to find paths. There are different procedures for down hilling or downhill mountain biking. In Austria there now are several different parks that you can visit. You find several different routes for different skill levels, which you can use for mountain biking. The other possibility would be the so to speak “free” one. Most of the trails are not perfectly prepared, but this way it is a bit more adventurous 😉

Energizing sports breakfast from Verival

But what connects all these sports is that you need a good source of energy. We at Verival have already done a lot of research into what the perfect sports breakfast looks like. We have developed our own Sport Range, which is the ideal basis for your energizing power breakfast. Just click through!

Dominik Wendl

Content Creator

Ich interessiere mich schon seit Jahren für Sport und Ernährung und setze mich intensiv mit den Themen auseinander. Auf diesem Blog teile ich gerne mein Wissen rund um das Thema gesunde Ernährung und die richtige Ernährung beim Sport.

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