skiing in st anton

snow report

Snow report date: 2/2/12

ski review

There may be more picturesque ski resorts in the country, there may be more guest-friendly places to visit, there may even (whisper who dares!) be more interesting ski areas amongst its rivals – but St Anton retains its clear position as Austria’s number 1 ski resort.

St Anton is the closest you will get to a French-style expert’s ski resort in Austria – with long and challenging bump runs, a cornucopia of off-piste opportunities in fresh powder and the highest proportion of good skiers on the slopes.

St Anton’s main ski area is essentially divided into two collections of lifts above the town – the Gampen/Kapall area and the Galzig.

The Gampen is reached either via the Nasserein cable car (most convenient for those arriving by car) or the Gampen chairlift which deposit the skier on a wide open terrace with the options of the crowded and narrow linking runs to the Galzig area, the cruising red runs back to the town, or taking the Kapall 6-seater chairlift further up the hill.

From the Gampen, the connecting routes to the Galzig are narrow pathways which are often icy and crowded with hesitant beginners and intermediate skiers. In high season the Zammermoos chairlift can get crowded and it can be worth bypassing this lift to head for the slower option of the Feldherrnhügel draglift.

Both of these lifts – or, of course, the Galzig cable car from the resort – will deposit you on the Galzig viewpoint where you can admire the routes to St Christoph and Stuben or decide whether you feel in the mood for the testing bump runs on the ski routes available from the Valluga cable car or the Schindlergrat chairlift.

Blue 8 is a good warmup run down to the exclusive enclave of St Christoph, while, if you have been thinking about the moguls higher up, the red ski route 3 under the Galzig cable car will give you an idea of whether your knees are up to it today.

Skiers heading to Stuben also pass through this way and have the options of taking the Schindlergrat chairlift and red 14 or the Arlenmähder chairlift just along from St Christoph before heading down blue 17, under the bridge and the somewhat surreal experience of skiing alongside the heavily-used road route over the Arlberg pass.

The Albona I and II chairlifts above Stuben are notoriously slow and cold (the lift attendants even offer quilted blankets on particularly bad days) but the valley on the other side offers glorious sunny red runs, with the top of the Albonagrat chairlift giving access to some superb off-piste descents to the village below (visitors unfamiliar with the area and with high mountain conditions should hire a qualified local guide as these routes can be avalanche-prone).

The cold conditions on the other side normally keep the snow in good condition on the cruising runs down to Alpe Rauz and the way back to St Anton. The modern Valfagehr chairlift provides some spectacular views of the runs up to the left at the top of the Valluga cable car and the Schindlergrat chairlift.

Those wishing to pass on the higher ski routes will instead take the often-crowded blue route down the Steissbach valley with access back to the Galzig, up to the Gampen or the distracting route past the après-ski watering holes on the homeward run back to the resort.

Our tour has one more stop to make, however, and that is on the all-too-often ignored Rendl area. The old and bizarre combination of a short walk, baby drags and a moving carpet has now been replaced by a brand new cable car from the western end of the St Anton centre. There is also a new panorama restaurant at the top of the lift and a step outside will reveal an open area with inviting cruising pistes and an outrageous amount of off-piste available (again, strict attention should be paid to avalanche warnings). Most of the skiing over here is on red runs or red ski routes, although there is a blue run available on the Maas chairlift.

The Rendl is at its most spectacular in the afternoon sunshine and the après-ski over here can be just as raucous as on the main slopes.

st anton photos

 

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• 
  Looking across to the Galzig area
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  St Christoph from the blue run down from the Galzig
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  The chairlift out of Stuben
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  The top station of the Albona chair at Stuben
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  Looking across to the neighbouring resort of Zürs
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  The base of the Valfagehr chairlift back towards the Galzig area
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  The Ulmer Hütte with the Valluga cable car in the background
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  The temptations of the bars on the return to St Anton
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  Looking from the Rendl back towards the main St Anton slopes
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  The Gampen area with the top of the lift from Nasserein
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  Skiing back to the base of the Nasserein lifts

similar ski resorts

It is pretty difficult to find a resort and ski area that is similar to somewhere as unique as St Anton, but here are a few options:

Kitzbühel (it too has a large ski area, a town full of ski history, and a fairly ritzy clientele)
Ischgl (more high-altitude skiing in a linked area with more nearby)
Saalbach-Hinterglemm (a decent-sized ski area, although not as tough, with similar ski-to-resort runs and après-ski options)

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