Cable Cars: 1
Chairlifts: 3
Draglifts: 12
This larger of the two Spitzingsee ski areas can be accessed from two points on the Spitzingsee side: at the bottom of the Kurven draglift or at the main base station at the bottom of the Stümpfling chairlift.
The chairlift is reached through the hamlet of Spitzingsee and the narrow stretch from the village to the base station ends up with a car park next to the lift building and ski pass offices. There are also a couple of flattish beginner draglifts to the right of this area.
The chairlift, as its name suggests, rises to the Stümpfling at just under 1500m. From here there is a long red and interesting run down into the valley above the Tegernsee (this is where the ski area can be accessed from the Tegernsee side). The Sutten chairlift takes skiers back up onto the same ridge.
Looking south along the ridge, the third chairlift in this area can be spotted: the Rosskopf chairlift which serves two black runs from the highest point in this area. The Rosskopf run is a short steep run rejoining the main red runs under the Stümpfling chairlift, while the Grünsee run takes the eastern side of the peak all the way down to the bottom of one of the beginner draglifts mentioned earlier at the Stümpfling base station.
On the other side of the Stümpfling chairlift, the Osthang draglift offers access to the far right of the area and the somewhat isolated lifts over in the Firstalm area. The Nordhang draglift has a short red run to the side of it, while the lower Dreitannen draglift offers a short blue run.
Skiers looking to rejoin the main area will need to pass the bottom of the Dreitannen lift and head on down to the Kurvenlift, a long drag which takes a curve to bring its users back to the bottom of the Osthang lift.. From here skiers can descend to the main car park or to the one at the bottom of the Kurvenlift.
The Taubenstein ski area is on the other side of the Spitzingsee. It has the only gondola in the area, but both the gondola and the ski facilities on this side are distinctly 'old-school' (and none the worse for that, if you know what you are getting!).
From the top of the gondola, it is possible to drop into a bowl served by two drags and with a couple of easyish blue runs. (Getting back from the bowl was a slight problem on SkiGermany's visit: either a connecting run had not been cleared/marked after heavy snow or it just doesn't exist. At any rate, there was an interesting sidestep up from the top of the Taubensteinhang draglift to the ridge from where it was possible to drop into the main red run again.
This long red run, which eventually goes down to the valley following the route of the gondola, has a side route off to the right when descending. This leads over to a third bowl and the Schönfeldhütte. The draglift here offers a long red and a short black run which connects onto it. The way back to the main valley run is along a similar path through the trees as the one used to get over here.
A couple of points to note about the valley run:
The Spitzingsee ski areas are not the kind of place you would visit for a week of full-on piste-bashing. But for those who are maybe looking for a convenient shorter break or, alternatively, a winter holiday in a scenic area with skiing included, the Schliersee region - with its lakes, good connections from Munich and varied activities - would be a good choice.
