The last ski areas in Bavaria are starting the final season with some fresh snow. The mountain railways are scheduled to run until May 1st at the Zugspitze near Garmisch-Partenkirchen and at the Nebelhorn near Oberstdorf. While some lower-lying ski areas had to close earlier than hoped due to the often unusually warm temperatures, the lift operators in the Zugspitz area, in the Nebelhorn-Kleinwalsertal area and also in the Bavarian Forest on the Großer Arber are reporting a good season.
Skiing ended on Easter Monday in the Garmisch-Classic area, which reaches up to 2000 meters. At the 2,962 meter high Zugspitze, however, there was another 20 centimeters of fresh snow. “The snow situation is really good,” said Bavarian Zugspitzbahn spokeswoman Verena Tanzer on Tuesday. “Especially on the Zugspitze we notice in spring, when other ski areas close, that we have a lot of visitors.”
According to their head of marketing, Jörn Homburg, the Oberstdorf-Kleinwalsertal Bergbahnen also benefited from their higher location this year. The season started “very well” with early snowfalls. A ski lift also ran one last time on Tuesday at the Großer Arber in the Bavarian Forest, which is around 1,450 meters high – half as high as the Zugspitze. The season was above average with 122 days of skiing; Otherwise it would be an average of around 100 days of skiing, said Andreas Stadler, spokesman for the Arber-Bergbahn. “We have held the flag high for winter sports in the Bavarian Forest. The 2023/2024 season was really very good for the Großer Arber.” The final day was actually planned for the end of March. Tuesday was actually the last day here. However, many skiers stopped coming. “Everything is already blooming downstairs – who thinks about skiing anymore?”