Obertauern

Obertauern is a tourist destination which is located in the Radstädter Tauern in the Salzburger Land of Austria.

Obertauern lies in the southeast of the state of Salzburg in the Radstädter Tauern mountains at heights of between 1,630 and 2,526 metres above sea level.

Obertauern belongs to two districts: St. Johann/Pongau and Tamsweg, hence why the community is separated into the two municipalities of Untertauern (Pongau) and Tweng (Lungau).

Also, the Roman road led over the Tauern Pass (in Alpe) to Iuvavum (Salzburg).

The people of Obertauern date the foundation of their village to 8 December 1929, because it was on that day that regular winter traffic over the Tauern Pass began for the first time.

This resulted in radical changes to the terrain in order to make the runs easier to negotiate for piste maintenance equipment and also for a wider range of tourists.

By linking several of the lifts, a precursor to the present day Tauern Circuit (Tauernrunde) was created.

One season later, in February 2001, Christian Flühr set the world record again by skiing for more than 4 days (103 hours and 21 minutes) non-stop.

The name comes from the time when people crossed the Tauern Pass on foot with poor clothing and equipment, often in bad weather, losing their lives as a result.

The ski region has around 100 kilometres of prepared pistes and 26 lifts that are capable of transporting 48,000 - 49,000 people per hour.

In addition to downhill skiing and snowboarding, Obertauern offers other winter sport activities.

Visitors may used the 26 kilometres of cut cross-country skiing tracks, including one used for the world cup, as well as hiking trails.

In summer, Obertauern is a popular base for numerous hiking trails because the village lies on the Central Alpine Way (Zentralalpenweg).

The two Alpine huts, Oberhütte towards Styria and the Südwiener Hütte in the direction of Flachau may be reached in 2 hours on foot.

In earlier times, famous sportsmen like Hermann Maier and Michael Walchhofer trained in this centre between races.