Photo spot in Kitzbühel
The Hahnenkamm summit and the Streif start
Eight minutes by gondola from the edge of town to a grass or snow ridge at 1,665 metres, the Wilder Kaiser laid out to the north and the most feared start gate in ski racing under your feet.
About The Hahnenkamm summit and the Streif start
Get directionsThe Hahnenkammbahn leaves from the western edge of Kitzbühel and the ride takes about eight minutes, which makes this the easiest big mountain view in Tyrol: no walk, no drive, town to ridge in the time it takes to change a lens. The top station sits just under the summit, and the ground opens north across the valley to the long grey wall of the Wilder Kaiser.
Two frames matter. The ridge itself, with the Kitzbüheler Alps rolling away in soft green or white folds and the Kaiser as the hard line behind — that is the wide shot, and it wants a couple placed small. The other is the Streif start house, a few minutes along the ridge: the gate, the fall-away below it and the valley a vertical kilometre down. Standing there is the picture; the slope drops at eighty-five percent within seconds of the gate.
Light is easiest early, when the Kaiser is clean and the haze has not built, and again in the last hour when the whole northern wall goes pink. Midday is flat up here in summer and glaring in winter.
The lift is the constraint. It runs through the winter season and again through summer, with closures for the changeover in roughly April–May and again in November, and in a big race week the mountain belongs to the World Cup. Check the current timetable and the race calendar before you plan a summit session.
Best time to shoot
First lifts for a clean Wilder Kaiser, or the last hour when the north wall turns pink
Tips
The gondola closes between seasons — usually part of April, May and November — so check what is running. In race week the Streif is fenced and off limits; the ridge above the start still works.
Other spots in Kitzbühel
The painted houses of the Vorderstadt
A curving pedestrian street of ochre, pink and green merchant houses under two church towers — the silver money of the 15th century still standing, and the one Kitzbühel frame that works in any weather.
The Schwarzsee at sunset
A small dark moor lake two kilometres out of town with reeds, a wooden jetty and the Kitzbüheler Horn standing behind it — the warmest swimming water in Tyrol in July, a skating rink in January.
The Kitzbüheler Horn and its alpine flower garden
A 1,996-metre summit reached by toll road or gondola, with a hillside of several hundred alpine species below it and the Grossglockner on the southern horizon — a July and August place above all.
Ready to book?
Our concierge team will hand-pick 2-3 photographers who know The Hahnenkamm summit and the Streif start — free of charge.