People

Fire, water, cattle and wood. Essentially, this is all Sarah Kofler, Janis Pönisch and their two children need each summer, when they leave their work and city life in the valley to spend two months on an ‘Alm’ high in the Austrian Alps. Tending 34 cattle in a world that you thought was long gone at the heart of Hohe Tauern National Park.

From international banking to hotel management. From civil servant to mountain farmer. We talked to people in Tirol who decided to escape the ratrace and start all over again.

Tirol is home to more than a dozen remote end-of-valley communities. These small villages hidden away deep in the mountains have retained their original character. What is life like there? We met seven people who live at the end of a valley road (and none of them wanted to swap for a life in the city).

Snowboarding and Innsbruck go together like salt and pepper. As you’d expect for a place that is considered ‘the Birthplace of snowboarding in Europe’, their “Skyline Park” is pretty awesome. Terrain park shaper Bjarni Thor Valdimarsson, an Iceland native now living in Tirol, gives us an insight into what goes on behind the scenes.

With a 78 percent grade, the thrilling double black Harakiri Trail rakes in hard-core honours for being Austria’s steepest downhill run. This sickeningly steep terrain requires a special winch cat to groom, which is driven by heavy machinery operator Christoph Egger.

Things didn’t always used to be better, but a lot was certainly very different than today – especially in the mountains. There was less talk of sustainability, yet its core principles were lived. Sometimes this was a conscious decision, sometimes not – and sometimes it was simply because natural materials were the only things available to make clothing, equipment and packaging. What can we learn from earlier generations? We set off on a journey to find out what it means to live in harmony with nature, accompanied on our travels by a mountain guide who has spent more than half a century out and about in the mountains.

Searches for lost hikers, ski accidents or broken legs—when the location is remote and challenging in and around the mountains of Reutte, RK-2 helicopter’s rescue team is called upon. On board is Florian Selb who volunteers his time and expertise in the service of people who need assistance.

Everyone knows them: the panoramic maps on giant display boards in the ski region, or in folded information leaflets from the tourist information offices. What most people do not know: these maps are drawn by hand. Only a few experts worldwide have mastered the techniques required to do this. One of them is Heinz Vielkind. He has already painted the whole of Tirol.

Pemba Sherpa works at Aldranser Alm over the summer and as a trekking guide in the Himalayas in fall and spring. I met Pemba to find out what he learns here in Tirol — Western-style lodge management, for example. What I found out, indeed, is that we can learn a lot from him, too.

Installed in 1960, powered by a 42-horsepower diesel engine, crossing the village road: The T-Bar lift of Navis represents a fading era of the snow sport. Lift operator Friedl Peer has been keeping the lift running for two decades.