xcountry
05-11-2007, 03:04 PM
Spent 2 weeks in Austria this year with my family, mostly in Graz, home of Arnold Schwarzenegger, but I took a trip for a few days to St. Anton to see what it's all about.
It was a true skiing pilgrimage. I stayed in St. Jakob which is basically the eastern section of the town of St. Anton at a 3 star hotel named Tirolerhof. The accommodation were comfortable and food good but not especially exciting.
There had been some recent snow the week before but none while I was there. The first day was partly cloudy and cold. We skied in the immediate vacinity of St. Anton and most of the well traveled pistes were VERY icy ! After exploring about for most of the morning and early afternoon we discovered the best snow and terrain we could find were off of the Schinlerkar chair lift with some other goods off of the Valluga 1 tram.
There, with a little traversing and sidestepping we found a few turns in untouched powder and a number of other turns in some very nice cut-up/crud. There was some reasonably steep terrain but nothing too extreme. Of course looking around us at the unbelievably spectacular panoramas there were an uncountable number of lines off-piste (out of bounds) of any degree of extreme most could desire. Near the end of the day we decided to take a bump run leading down to the Galzig area and had a blast on medium sized bumps of blue ice with come scattering of light snow over them. Nevertheless we felt we had a great first day with some very good skiing, some classic icy bumps and prepared pistes, and of course some of the most spectacular views imaginable.
The second day we hired an Austrian guide to do the classic route from St. Anton to Zürs. We started out with an off piste run heading east and circling around back to the Nassereinbahn. Then we headed up to Valluga I and II (you can only go on the Vallugabahn 2 (6 person tram) with a guide or without skis to see the view. Over the top of Valluga II we headed toward Zürs. The descriptions of the easiest route from the top (which we took due to pretty icy conditions on the ridge route) are a bit exaggerated IMHO. You ski down a moderately steep section that has a big 1000 meter? drop off down the fall line (you ski around to the left) but unless you have solid ice (which we didn't) or you're going excessively fast there is little or no chance of tumbling off. Even an intermediate could handle this IF they weren't bothered by the potential exposure. Anyway, the tour will be one that I will never forget. I have never skied in such awe inspiring surroundings and getting fresh tracks down into a valley surrounded by high Alpen peaks has got to rank as one of my most memorable skiing experiences. To share this with my daughter, who very much felt the same, made it even more so. When we got to Zürs we stopped for a bowl of soup at a typicaal mountain hut. After the snack our guide took us through a back door of a lift terminal up an exterior stairway and bridge from where we hiked for about 30 minutes to get back to the top of the ridge of the valley we had come through in getting from St. Anton to Zürs. From that ridge top we once again got fresh lines down to the bottom of the valley and headed back to Zürs. At the end of the day we caught a bus to Stuben where we took a lift up and skied back to St. Anton for a little apres ski with our guide. Our apres ski conversation (and beers) with our guide was very enjoyable and the perfect way to end one of the most "classic" skiing days anyone could have.
The last two days we skied in Stuben and Rendl. In both places we ventured off-piste on our own and found some very good snow and some very satisfying, moderately steep terrain. (Nothing we skied was really as steep as the chutes we like to ski at Jackson Hole or in the Wasatch - although there is no lack of such terrain if you want to hike - pretty much need a guide). We felt confident yo-yoing off-piste (OB) because there were guided groups and numerous tracks where we went (only a few fresh turns, mostly soft cut-up with long icy/bumpy run-outs back to the lifts) and the avalanche conditions were pretty stable. Without having gone OB the panoramic views and spectacular surrounding we found ourselves in would have still made for a memorable trip. The off-piste ventures, however, really added to the sense of truly skiing the alps.
A final note. On one of our nights we did explore the famous night life of St. Anton. We (my daughter and I) headed out at about 11:00 with a young Finnish lady who worked at the hotel and a Dane who was also a guest at the hotel. We hit the "Funky Chicken" and about three other discos/bars. While it's not especially our thing, it was one more interesting part of our St. Anton pilgrimage. Since we had stopped for apres ski at a place called the Krazy Kangaroo on the lowere slopes on the way down that day we felt that we must have hit a number of St. Anton's hottest spots.
Phew, that's it !
It was a true skiing pilgrimage. I stayed in St. Jakob which is basically the eastern section of the town of St. Anton at a 3 star hotel named Tirolerhof. The accommodation were comfortable and food good but not especially exciting.
There had been some recent snow the week before but none while I was there. The first day was partly cloudy and cold. We skied in the immediate vacinity of St. Anton and most of the well traveled pistes were VERY icy ! After exploring about for most of the morning and early afternoon we discovered the best snow and terrain we could find were off of the Schinlerkar chair lift with some other goods off of the Valluga 1 tram.
There, with a little traversing and sidestepping we found a few turns in untouched powder and a number of other turns in some very nice cut-up/crud. There was some reasonably steep terrain but nothing too extreme. Of course looking around us at the unbelievably spectacular panoramas there were an uncountable number of lines off-piste (out of bounds) of any degree of extreme most could desire. Near the end of the day we decided to take a bump run leading down to the Galzig area and had a blast on medium sized bumps of blue ice with come scattering of light snow over them. Nevertheless we felt we had a great first day with some very good skiing, some classic icy bumps and prepared pistes, and of course some of the most spectacular views imaginable.
The second day we hired an Austrian guide to do the classic route from St. Anton to Zürs. We started out with an off piste run heading east and circling around back to the Nassereinbahn. Then we headed up to Valluga I and II (you can only go on the Vallugabahn 2 (6 person tram) with a guide or without skis to see the view. Over the top of Valluga II we headed toward Zürs. The descriptions of the easiest route from the top (which we took due to pretty icy conditions on the ridge route) are a bit exaggerated IMHO. You ski down a moderately steep section that has a big 1000 meter? drop off down the fall line (you ski around to the left) but unless you have solid ice (which we didn't) or you're going excessively fast there is little or no chance of tumbling off. Even an intermediate could handle this IF they weren't bothered by the potential exposure. Anyway, the tour will be one that I will never forget. I have never skied in such awe inspiring surroundings and getting fresh tracks down into a valley surrounded by high Alpen peaks has got to rank as one of my most memorable skiing experiences. To share this with my daughter, who very much felt the same, made it even more so. When we got to Zürs we stopped for a bowl of soup at a typicaal mountain hut. After the snack our guide took us through a back door of a lift terminal up an exterior stairway and bridge from where we hiked for about 30 minutes to get back to the top of the ridge of the valley we had come through in getting from St. Anton to Zürs. From that ridge top we once again got fresh lines down to the bottom of the valley and headed back to Zürs. At the end of the day we caught a bus to Stuben where we took a lift up and skied back to St. Anton for a little apres ski with our guide. Our apres ski conversation (and beers) with our guide was very enjoyable and the perfect way to end one of the most "classic" skiing days anyone could have.
The last two days we skied in Stuben and Rendl. In both places we ventured off-piste on our own and found some very good snow and some very satisfying, moderately steep terrain. (Nothing we skied was really as steep as the chutes we like to ski at Jackson Hole or in the Wasatch - although there is no lack of such terrain if you want to hike - pretty much need a guide). We felt confident yo-yoing off-piste (OB) because there were guided groups and numerous tracks where we went (only a few fresh turns, mostly soft cut-up with long icy/bumpy run-outs back to the lifts) and the avalanche conditions were pretty stable. Without having gone OB the panoramic views and spectacular surrounding we found ourselves in would have still made for a memorable trip. The off-piste ventures, however, really added to the sense of truly skiing the alps.
A final note. On one of our nights we did explore the famous night life of St. Anton. We (my daughter and I) headed out at about 11:00 with a young Finnish lady who worked at the hotel and a Dane who was also a guest at the hotel. We hit the "Funky Chicken" and about three other discos/bars. While it's not especially our thing, it was one more interesting part of our St. Anton pilgrimage. Since we had stopped for apres ski at a place called the Krazy Kangaroo on the lowere slopes on the way down that day we felt that we must have hit a number of St. Anton's hottest spots.
Phew, that's it !