Professional activity as a mountain and ski guide requires an authorisation issued by the competent authority.

Mountain and ski guides are people who, in return for payment, guide or accompany mountain and ski tours, including in particular rock and ice tours and high alpine ski tours. The main task of a mountain or ski guide is to safely guide people who use their services to the agreed destination and back. If you want to work as a mountain and ski guide, you must apply to the competent authority and prove that you meet the required personal requirements.

The district administrative authority keeps a register of officially authorised mountain and ski guides (Mountain and Ski Guide Register). Personal data and essential details concerning the authorisation are recorded in this register. The district administrative authority will provide information regarding the authorisation upon request.

An application is required for:

• the granting of the authorisation;
• recognition of qualifications.

The authority must be informed of the following:

• the relinquishment of the authorisation;
• the interruption/resumption of the activity

The authorisation will be withdrawn if:

• it is subsequently established that one of the personal requirements for obtaining the authorisation was not fulfilled at the time the authorisation was granted;
• the authorisation holder is no longer reliable or medically fit;
• deficiencies have been found in the exercise of the authorisation which are due to a lack of professional competence, or;
• the authorisation holder fails to attend training courses twice in succession without providing proof that this was due to an unforeseen or unavoidable event.

Note: the Mountain and Ski Guide Law regulates the professional practice of activity as a mountain and ski guide. The scope of the Mountain and Ski Guide Law does not include the performance of duties by members of the Austrian Armed Forces and the Federal Police, teaching at universities, ski school activities and mountain trips by alpine associations, provided that these are organised exclusively for members and are led or accompanied by a member.

• Note: mountain and ski guides registered in other states are authorised to exercise their activity temporarily and occasionally in Styria. If mountain and ski guiding is not regulated in that state, the person must have practised the profession for at least 1 year in the last 10 years. The temporary and occasional exercise of activity as a mountain and ski guide is governed by Section 9 of the  Styrian Act on the Recognition of Professional Qualifications and the Proportionality Test before issuing New Professional Regulations (StBRG 2020).