Austria winter walking and cross-country ski vacation

Planet

MoaAlm Mountain Retreat is a space to share our passion for the mountains and a balanced and healthy lifestyle. The East Tyrolian Alps offer unspoilt landscapes and habitat for a variety of plants and animals. We are located on the edge of the Hohe Tauern National Park and part of a small village community, Kals am Groίglockner. Every day, life at MoaAlm reminds us of the preciousness of our environment which it is our goal to protect.

We serve plant based, locally sourced organic food, and change our menu with the seasons to ensure we are creating as minimul impact on the environment as possible.

Saving CO2 emissions, energy and waste is an important goal. Daily transport will involve a combination of snowshoe, ski and toboggan. We encourage everybody to be conscious about how to use the lighting and heating in the house. We use LED light bulbs, water-saving shower heads and environmentally friendly cleaning products. Towels and bed linen are only changed on request. We try to avoid waste by ordering things in a well-planned way with little packaging. What still has to go is separated, composted or recycled if possible.

Our water is supplied directly from a mountain spring and our heating system is a brand new 'eco' pellet burning system. The P4 pellet system has won many international quality awards in EU and USA, the most prestigious of all are the Blue Angel and the Austrian Ecolabel. Even in winter our South facing position can also provide supplementary energy from our solar bank.

Natural materials have been used in the construction and renovation of MoaAlm where possible and we have been pleased to find a number of high quality, locally produced materials to use in the refurbishment. The local tradesmen we employ are highly skilled, particularly in mediums of wood, stone and locally-produced felt.

People

MoaAlm stands proud at 1800 meters and without a neighbor in sight. We love our secluded location, but we also love the village! The connection to the people in our region means a lot to us and we prefer to use local structures, services and products. The area has an excellent ski school and advanced mountain guiding network of instructors that guests may choose to take advantage of. All fresh food and drink will be sourced locally where possible. Guests will eat out for lunch on occasion and two evenings at locally-run recommended restaurants.

Our small team lives and works at MoaAlm: We want them to be happy and stay long-term, of course. Good and fair working conditions and enough freedom to enjoy the mountains go without saying. It is mainly women who work at MoaAlm. We feel that the vacations we offer are very empowering for us as female hosts and guides, but also for our guests. Together with other people we experience nature, ourselves in yoga and the confidence in our own abilities in the mountains.