 Poster: A snowHead
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Hi all
In the interests of Forum Karma, here's a quick review of my time in St Anton...
Four of us flew Easyjet from Gatwick to Innsbruck. Great service, no delays and around £200 return all in. Then bus to the station and train to St Anton, which is c.€30 return pp. Very straight forward although the fast trains are only every 2 hrs.
We stayed in Haus Flatscher, a short walk up the main hill - great B&B with 6 rooms and €56pp. Thoroughly recommend.
Snow was poor, but they did well to manage it as there are a lot of cannons - we spent time managing it by staying high, staying north facing and trying to follow the clouds!
Resort generally is nice, although surprisingly quiet after 8pm. On piste après is amazing - the staples of KKs and Mooservirt were great as was the live music bar on the way to the former. Skiing down at 8pm in the dark is a must do!
Well worth getting the bus to open up the ski area. Really easy to get free buses from the bottom of the valfagehrbahn 6 man chair over to Zurrs and Lech, in fact it's a must. Zurrs has great skiing and is quiet and then you can ski over the back into Zug and up to Lech.
New lift from Lech to Warth is great as well. If you stick to the newer 6 man lifts in Warth then there's some good empty skiing.
Overall we spent over 3 days outside of St Anton.
Finally, I have to say something about its rep as a beginner killer. I happen to agree that it's not suitable. The piste grading is poor and "Happy Valley", the only way back into resort and to the après bars, is a joke - it's full of petrified beginners either falling over or killing their thighs with "death by a thousand traverses"! It's also very long. Your beginner friends will dread it by the end of the week and it'll put them back in their development. The final stretch down to the 4 après bars is carnage. Oh, and if it's shut you've got to go down a black instead!! Just my view...
Tips?
- Pay more to be near the centre - buses are a faff and don't drop at the main Galzig and the hills are annoying! Stay on the Galzig side.
- Defo explore Lech, Zurrs etc - lunch in the sun in Oberlech is nice.
- Early morning take the Gampen lift and smash down the red 21 a few times!
- Then go up to Rendl, which seems to stay cooler for longer, and smash down from top to bottom before it gets cut up.
- For après try the Live music bar from 4pm and when it closes, pop up to KKs for more madness
- Don't take anyone with less than 2/3 weeks of experience and esp not those timid.
Enjoy!!
BB
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Quiet in the Evening? You didn't get to the Piccadilly or Kandahar then?!
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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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We stayed the nasserein end which I didn't find a drag - we were v close to the lift so easy to get skiing and ski to Galzig in the morning, and you can almost ski home via a very long traverse from KK.
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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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I class the evening as pre 11pm. Nothing was busy until then and I was in bed!
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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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aha, yes ok, things dont really get going until after 11pm in town.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Badbobby,
Good report.
For readers. The buses are excellent & being down valley a bit can save
You €100s and that is not a exageration. Accomidations are better & normally much
moee personal.
It is best to start the day on Rendl. This hill is out of the sun in the morning therefore
It is vey empty until around 10.30-11.00.'
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| Badbobby wrote: |
Hi all
New lift from Lech to Warth is great as well. If you stick to the newer 6 man lifts in Warth then there's some good empty skiing.
BB |
Good report and I agree with all except this bit - I thought Warth was very disappointing - a bit of a snow desert with far too many wooden stakes marking out pistes. Admittedly I was there in flat light but compared to the rest of the ski area it was sub-standard.
Also misses no 1 highlight for piste skiing in the area - the run from the top of Schindler to down town Stuben. Get onto it before the crowds chop it up and it is one of the finest runs I've ever done anywhere.
Finally - if you have a hire car then I think Sonnenkopf is good value - provided you don't go on the TO day out (which is usually Thursday, sometime Tuesday I believe). Bit odd as a cabin drops you off at two drags - a button and a rope tow. It's not obvious but the tow opens up more skiing than the drag. Also on piste tree skiing if conditions good enough - can go 1/2 back under the cabin and rejoin at midstation.
And then Back in St A there's the itineries, and the off piste. And the RodelAlm Top spot for me. Hope to be back soon
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sergeantslow, agreed, I liked Sonnenkopf a lot.
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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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| Quote: |
Oh, and if it's shut you've got to go down a black instead!! Just my view...
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Or go up the new 8-person chair at Tanzboden and get the Galzigbahn back down to town. For beginners this is probably the best option even if Steissbachtal is open.
Re. Sonnenkopf, you don't need a car, you can get the Post Bus from Stuben. Obviously, if you did have a car it's that much easier to get around.
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Oh and there's some off piste too.....sah, 
Warth is excellent btw, spent a week there early March.......but don't tell everyone, it which case if they ask its lousy!
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Oh and there's some off piste too.....sah,
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Pffff. Who needs off piste when you can go to the Dolomites and ski 1,200km of pistes...  I'm hooked, I might even have to get some of those special narrow skis you can get these days.
Hope the ankle is healing up well!
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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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sah, getting there, cheers....3 hours on my MTB yesterday, back at spin class tomorrow evening.......just a flesh wound!
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Just been back to St Anton again over the New Year and thought i'd add some more comments...!
I stand by my view that you need to be a confident skier/boarder... Early season it seemed far harder for the boarders on the flatter bits around the Schlindler.
As per Sergeantslow's comments, the best run is indeed the red down from the Schlinderbahn (or, even better, from the top of the Valluga) down the blue 17 to Stuben. We spent a morning doing the 17 over and over again until it got mogulled to hell...
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