The Kitzsteinhorn glacier above Kaprun

The Kitzsteinhorn rises to 3,203 metres at the head of the Kapruner Tal, and Austria's first glacier ski area has been running on its northern flank since the 1960s. Two stages of gondola from Kaprun and then the Gletscherjet lift bring you to about 3,029 metres, where the Gipfelwelt 3000 puts a viewing platform out over the ice and drives a lit gallery straight through the ridge to a window that looks south into the Hohe Tauern National Park.

The photograph here is scale and cold colour: white ice, grey rock, and the Grossglockner group across the valley. It is the one location in the Zell am See area that carries snow in August, and it is genuinely different in feel from anything at lake level — high, thin, quiet, and very often above the cloud.

Go early. The platform faces south and morning gives the cleanest air; from late morning in summer the cloud builds along the Tauern and swallows the view within an hour. In winter the light is low all day and the snow holds colour from sunrise, but the wind is brutal and the operating window shorter.

The cable cars run through the year, but they stop for wind, storm and avalanche work, and altitude is not for everyone — 3,000 metres is felt. Check the day's operation and the summit weather before setting out, and allow a full hour for the ride from Kaprun each way.