What a sneaky little surprise package Venet is. Propped above the Inn valley, the stupendous views are expected. It’s the ski terrain that was the surprise. As you head up in the cable car from Zams, the steep forested slopes give way to more open, but still steep larch trees & alpine chutes begging to be skied. They are good.... real good. It is possible to traverse out but if you time the drop right you can jump onto the cable car at the craziest mid-station open to the public just about anywhere - perhaps next time.
Aside from a small novice area at the Zams base & one long trail from the summit to Venet Sud, there is little for beginners at the resort. On-piste is predominantly intermediate & long. The runs from the summit into Rifenal are a thigh destroying 1250m vertical. Shouldn't be surprised how good they were, such runs are par for the course in Austria. Sheltered, tree-lined, north aspected & served by two quad chairs, the lower slopes would be wonderful during a blizzard. Lovely on a sunny day too, shame we were sorely pressed for time. Sadly, the south facing slopes were a touch sun-baked, so the off-piste wasn't as chalky & fun as the north side. Loads of potential on its 700m (ish) vertical. The chairlift is best described as painfully slow though.
The Panorama Restaurant at the summit is a beauty. Great food & amazing views of course. The summit accommodation looks simple but nice. I may have snuck in to have a quick peek at an empty room! It would make a nice alpine over-nighter for a large group. Note though that the assortment of summit buildings & the communications antennas on the summit are a miserable eyesore, souring an otherwise sublime location.
Landeck Zams always has accommodation available in winter so can be a great fallback position is wanting to ski Ischgl, Kaunertal or Serfaus Fiss Ladis. Turns out it is fantastic to ski Venet too! A quick bus trip from the centre of town (free with a guest card) to the Venet cable car is easy.
Venet is perfect for a half day tune up on the piste before bigger objectives; a cheap intermediate skiers alternative to the bigger objectives; or an objective in & of itself during a nice cold winter blizzard.
Austria has lots of surprises in amongst its ski resorts, Venet is one of them, & for all the right reasons.
You can see our thoughts on the pros & cons on the Venet overview page and also see our European ski resort ratings regarding how we score it compared to other skiing areas.