 Poster: A snowHead
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hello all
anyone been to St Anton? Whats it like? We're considering it as a destination for the end of January
cheers
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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I've been twice, and I'm going back in two weeks. It's great for intermediates and above, but a bit limited for beginners in terms of the skiing that is available.
The ski area is pretty large, but when you add in Lech and Zurs, it is enormous. The off piste is excellent as well. The mountain restaurants are pretty good, the apres ski is amazing. One of the worlds best resorts.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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And it you're partial to a bit of apres, then be ready to party hard, StAnton has some of the most rocking on-the-mountain bars anywhere. The Krazy Kangaruh and the Mooserwirt are legendary. But take care on the ski down afterwards!
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Went to St Anton in early Feb 2003. Absolutely bleedin' marvelous!
The slopes are great, perhaps a little intimidating for anyone below decent intermediate level and the bars are fantastic. Every day at 4pm we were at The Mooserwirt getting wasted on well earned Gluwein before trying to board back into town. There's a little bit for everyone on the slopes, especially if you include the Rendl area plus Lech and Zurs, also the off piste areas are supposed to very good. The town itself is quite pretty. It basically consits of one main street which has nothing but hotels, shops and bars/clubs along it.
The only downside for me was large drunken groups of Scandanavians and Germans.....but if you can't beat 'em, join 'em.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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I'm going on Sunday. Can't wait. Heard lots of great things about it 
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Look out for Maria in the KK and take the chalet girls with you...blow out dinner if need be...!!!
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Just back from 16 days there. Was Dumping hard last two days , good coverage. This year was quieter than usual. Quite a few Hotels had rooms free on NewYears eve which I have never seen before.
Maybe something to do with folk going to the US & the Poor German economy.
Got to go into 2 weeks Detox now 
Have fun !
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A group of us (Pete Horn, Vic Dennis, Danny O'Connell and I) are hoping to pick up a late deal there, departing on 22nd January. I don't think I've been there before. We're all really looking forward to it. 
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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alex, you'd remember if you've been to St Anton. Try the tourist office for deals, they have a central booking service. I've been there with Total Ski who I'd recommend but just about all the big TOs go there.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Ben,
You will get a deal in Jan, I'm sure, but go anyway. St Anton sets a benchmark for most resorts. One of the worlds top 5, I'd say.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Spent 2 weeks there last season, going to spend another 2 weeks there this season.
Top resort!
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Been over a dozen times to St Anton including twice so far this season. Skiers tend to ski everywhere but Rendl - which is popular with boarders. Off-piste everywhere. OK to learn but no godd for timid intermedes. Wide variety of restaurants from chic to self-service. Loadsa bars on the slopes - not just Krazy and Moos. Zen Hutte and and Griabli worth a look if you like live music (of the German and Geordie variety respectively). Loadsa bars, music etc in town. If you can ride and drink then it's the best 
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You know it makes sense.
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I've not been to St.Anton yet but I don't understand why everyone says it's really hard. Looking at the piste map, there are lots of blues and reds - are these wrongly classified ? Speaking of which, there does not seem to be any uniformity of classification between resorts. In Obergurgl, a hotelier told us that lots of blacks had been reclassified over the years as reds - apparently 'Brits don't like skiing blacks.' 
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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A blue at STANTON is a RED just about everywhere else in Europe. For Americans, think blue at Stowe compared to Blue at Killington. Interestingly, with a few notable exceptions, there's not a hell of a difference between groomed blacks and reds in the Arlberg. Blacks tend to follow the fall line a bit more religiously but they really are not that much more difficult to ski--except Kandahar and Kandahar is tough because it gets tracked out.
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Poster: A snowHead
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It's not as fearsome as it's cracked up to be but it's definitely not somewhere to go unless you're a confident red run skier. There are few blues at StAnton and several of those would be classed as harder intermediate runs anywhere else. The "blue" back into the village is particularly notorious for catching out beginners when busy and chopped up.
A good proportion of the reds would be blacks in other resorts. StAnton doesn't piste its black runs and a number of reds are also 'dotted red'. The blacks are all 'dotted black' - read US black-double-diamond difficulty.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Yep, if you are a good skier in St Anton you are a good skier anywhere.
But if you have a 'give it a good go' attitude you will get on fine and see why everyone rates it
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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I may offend some people here, but I've got to do it anyway... One thing that really needs to be said about St. Anton is : If you are only skiing on-piste then it's actually not that great! There are quite a few runs e.g Happy Valley, Ulmer Huette->Valfagehr (the Stuben run), the valley run from Galzig etc which can get really badly crowded. To the point where they are dangerous in fact. Even some of the ski routes, like Schindlerkar, get crowded.
St.Anton is wonderful if you want to make use of all the possibilities to get into the variants near the pistes. If you don't want to do that then I would rather head for Lech, which has much more wide open crusing style runs, plus almost as many off-piste possibilities as St. Anton. Also in my experience Lech doesn't get as crowded as Anton.
Just my opinion!
P.S If you are in Anton, and want a bit of room, then either head for Rendl, which is almost always empty, and has really nice pistes as well (I've never understood this), or head down from the Schindlergrat to Stuben onto the Albona. The Albona is also almost always empty, and has some of the best off-piste access in the world!
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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| Quote: |
The "blue" back into the village is particularly notorious for catching out beginners when busy and chopped up.
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Also because most people would have been to Ze Mooserwirt or Kangaruh and might be slightly tipsy!
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Mike Lawrie, I totally agree, Rendl and Stuben are the best places to ski on piste in St Anton, but neither are particularly difficult to get to. If you stay around St Anton itself it can get very crowded, but that just makes it better when you get to the less crowded areas. Lech and Zurs are definitely worth a visit or two.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| Quote: |
I may offend some people here, but I've got to do it anyway... One thing that really needs to be said about St. Anton is : If you are only skiing on-piste then it's actually not that great! There are quite a few runs e.g Happy Valley, Ulmer Huette->Valfagehr (the Stuben run), the valley run from Galzig etc which can get really badly crowded. To the point where they are dangerous in fact. Even some of the ski routes, like Schindlerkar, get crowded.
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I agree completely. With a few exceptions such as Vallfagehr, The marked piste on the St. Anton side of resort is not worth it: it's too crowded and tracked out for my tastes. The better stuff is at Rendl, Stuben (especially Albona II), Zurs, and Lech. But Stanton has the cheaper food and lodging and better apres and that's why many of us stay there instead of Lech or Zurs. Stanton also has the rail station, wich is just 2.5 hours away from Zurich, THE UNIQUE AIRPORT, by train.
Zurs is basically a dryland cruiseship--when you are not skiing, you are in your hotel. Lech is better and has some ok restaurants but it is terribly expensive and the people wear fur coats to dinner.
PS If you are not into off-piste, I'd suggest Ischgl instead of the St. Anton. It, along with Samnaun, has more lift linked terrain than the STANTON side of the Arlberg and once you get away from the madness of Idalp, you can find some nice marked piste to cruise on. There are also some excellent safaris: Ischgl to Samnaun and back. Also, if you get bored with Ischgl (you'll need a week there to get bored), you can always head to Galtur just down the road.
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[quote="johnfmh"]
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| Lech is better and has some ok restaurants but it is terribly expensive and the people wear fur coats to dinner. |
This just isn't true, it's rather like some mountain myth, people say it so very often it's just accepted as true. Pensions in Lech as as dirt cheap as the rest of Austria and the restaurants are pretty reasonable as well. There's expensive hotels and restaurants but that's true in most ski stations.
If your tour operator's charging a 200% premium on what the rest of us wearing jeans and tee shirts to dinner are paying then you need a different tour operator
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I could go on a bit here but I would just give some basic advice....
Dont go in Peak Season unless your up for the crowds/liftlines having to reserve at restaurants etc.
Get up early do your skiing/boarding like the locals do . Between 8:30 & 11:00 (max) . Your find you will be able to do as much uninterupted sliding in 2 hours than you would be able to do for the rest of the day !
Go early season before Xmas or Late after Easter , these are the best times.
Nest Season Rendl will be used alot more as they will build 3 new lift this summer to link over to Kappl.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Oh please - Lech is not 'terribly expensive' and I've never seen anyone wear a fur coat in the town, let alone to dinner. We're going again in a few weeks and to the three valleys later on. Courchevel is twice the price of Lech for the same category of hotel.
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On the same vein as others ... If piste skiing, and lots of it, is your bag then St Anton is not for you. Nearby Ischgl is better. It will suit everyone up to Advance Intermediate. St Anton best suits off-pisteurs or those aspring to be an off-pisteur. There are plenty of opportunities to ski off-piste which is close to the piste - and frankly once skied out then any aspirant who is a fairly confident intermed will be able to cope. Plenty for everyone in this category upwards. Schindlerkar and Mattun Joch/Mattun, Mein Vasen etc ski routes accessible for the advanced intermediate/early advanced. But if you are an advanced skier or above take a guide and they will show you a different area altogether. Shortish (20-30 mins) traverses and hikes will offer you fantastic skiing like you may not have experienced before. An advanced skier who doesn't go off-piste at all will get bored with St Anton/Stuben alone but like others say there are Lech and Zurs
too and also Sonnenkopf. I haven't stayed in Lech/Zurs but have eaten there and like others I do not know why the ministry of disinformation has been at work. It is not expensive. If you want to stay in Oberlech then fine. But otherwise it's prices are pretty standard. Queues - they are not bad at all if you compare with overcrowded France. There don't seem to be that many queues near-piste either. There are crowds in the Mooserwirt etc but that's part of the fun. So, if you're a confident intermed or above and want to try off-piste then GO THERE!
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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I've visted Lech three times and I've sat at Charlie's pizza, one of the most affordable places in town with very good ZA too, and counted on two hands how many fur coats were on the rack. When you walk into Strolz, they serve you Champagne. I'm not complaining but this is definitely an upscale place on par with St. Moritz for quality but with Austrian prices. It would not have been Lady Di's favorite for nothing. Her husband prefers Klosters, but Lady Di had taste and style and she gravitated to Lech. Three star hotels at Lech are as expensive as four star hotels over in St. Anton. My wife said good morning to one of the Slovak housekeeping staff in Slovak and the girl almost passed out. She said, "what are you doing here? It's so expensive. "
With that being said, I love the place and would stay there again in a flash. It's much less crowded than the STANTON side and has excellent access to the Zurs slopes, which in my opinon are some of the best marked piste in the Arlberg. The Ruffi tram is empty at 0830 and whisks you up to Zurs in five minutes for an endless empty run down to the base. I then make my way over to Zeekopf because it has better morning sun than Trittalm. Zeekopf also has amazing terrain but Madloch and Muggengrat are my favorites. One of the great things about rich people is that they don't ski much, leaving the high-speed lifts and empty pistes for the rest of us. Lech, in short, is worth the extra quid--especially if you like less crowded terrain.
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