The Ski Amadé Resorts: Austria's Largest Linked Pass

Ski Amadé is the largest linked ski pass in Austria and one of the largest in Europe: 760km of piste, 270 lifts, 860 runs across five distinct ski regions in Salzburg Province and neighbouring Styria. For a seasonaire based in any of those regions, the pass unlocks terrain variety that makes a 20-week season far more sustainable than being confined to a single resort's runs.

The Five Regions

Schladming-Dachstein

The anchor region. Schladming (800m, Styria) is a proper Austrian mountain town with a year-round economy — not a purpose-built ski village that empties in summer. The ski area links four peaks: Planai, Hochwurzen, Reiteralm, and Hauser Kaibling, collectively marketed as "4 Peaks." The Dachstein glacier sits at 2,700m and offers early-season skiing from late autumn. Season runs late November through April.

Schladming is also home to the FIS World Cup Night Race — an annual night slalom held in January on the Planai, drawing 50,000+ spectators under floodlights. It's one of skiing's most atmospheric events and working a season here means being present for it. The week around the race is the resort's peak period; employers need extra staff, the town's bars and restaurants are packed. Ramsau, adjacent to Schladming, is a dedicated cross-country skiing area and an Olympic cross-country venue — useful if you want to add a different discipline to days off.

Hochkönig

Three villages — Maria Alm, Dienten, and Mühlbach am Hochkönig — sit beneath the Hochkönig summit at 2,941m. The area covers 120km of piste and is considerably less well-known internationally than Schladming or the Gastein Valley. That lower international profile means less competition for jobs and a more authentically Austrian working environment. Mühlbach (860m) is quiet village-scale; Maria Alm is more developed with slightly better facilities. For seasonaires who want to work in Austria without the heavily tourist-facing environment of a flagship resort, Hochkönig is worth looking at specifically.

Salzburger Sportwelt

The Sportwelt area covers Flachau, Wagrain, St. Johann im Pongau, Alpendorf, and connecting villages in the Pongau valley — 270km of linked terrain. Flachau is the main village name (historically the home base of Marcel Hirscher's training). These are good-value Austrian resorts priced well below Kitzbühel or the main Tyrol destinations, which matters both for your own costs and for the type of clientele you'll be working with. The Sportwelt draws a large Austrian and German domestic market rather than the international crowd of higher-profile resorts.

Gastein Valley (Ski Gastein)

Bad Gastein, Bad Hofgastein, Dorfgastein, and Sportgastein spread across 200km of terrain in the Gastein Valley. Bad Gastein (1,000m) is genuinely unusual for a ski resort: it's a belle époque spa town with large 19th-century grand hotels and a thermal spa culture that predates skiing here entirely. The Victorian grandeur gives it a visually distinctive character you won't find elsewhere in the Alps.

That spa heritage also means the employment landscape is broader than standard ski hospitality. Thermal spa hotels hire physiotherapy assistants, massage therapists, and wellness staff alongside the usual front-of-house and kitchen roles — which opens Gastein to seasonaires with health and wellness qualifications who might not otherwise think of a ski resort.

Tennengebirge

The smaller Tennengebirge region, including Abtenau, operates on a local Austrian scale with limited international staff presence. Less relevant for most seasonaires looking at Ski Amadé, but part of the pass.

What the Pass Means for a Seasonaire

Employer-issued passes in Ski Amadé regions typically cover the full Ski Amadé network — not just your home resort. From a Schladming base you can reach Hochkönig, Gastein, and the Sportwelt area via the regional Ski Amadé bus network on days off. The practical effect over a five-month season is substantial: by week ten you won't be repeating the same runs you've already skied forty times.

Cross-country options at Ramsau extend terrain variety into a different discipline entirely, which plenty of seasonaires end up exploring mid-season.

Working Rights

Austria operates under EU free movement — EU passport holders have full work rights with no additional process. UK citizens need a residence permit for stays over 90 days. Australian and New Zealand citizens can access the Austrian Working Holiday Visa. See /visa-guides/austria for current details.

Who Ski Amadé Suits

Ski Amadé works best for seasonaires who want genuine terrain variety across a long season without paying the premium of Kitzbühel or St. Anton. The Schladming and Gastein regions both have year-round town economies that keep living costs more grounded than purpose-built resort villages. The Nightrace is a genuine highlight for anyone working a Schladming season — an event on the skiing calendar that's hard to find an equivalent for elsewhere.