 Poster: A snowHead
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I won't detain you long, as StA is well covered elsewhere. The snow was in good nick, although they could do with more, and the weather was glorious. The restaurants were as ever, Ben Venuto still excellent, and the nightlife has not raised its sights; it's fine if you're 18, much older than that and you'll feel decrepit. We were usually tucked up with a pfefferminztee by 10.30pm, so we didn't care much.
Travel: We took the train. Left sunny SW London at 10.45am Fri, tube to St Pancras, Eurostar to Brussels, quick coffee in the Grande Place, Bergland Express to Innsbruck, arrived in equally sunny StA by train at 10.15am Sat. In reverse, left StA at 5.45pm Sat, arrived SW London 12.30pm Sun. Not a cheap option, about £1050 in total for 4 of us in a (bloody uncomfortable) couchette, but more fun and greener than flying, and we could have had 8 days skiing, including two Saturdays (we chose not to ski on the first Sat, not sure why).
Ski school: The kids (both 13) spent 3 days in the top kids class, and enjoyed it, although the daughter was apoplectic about lack of organisation on the first day. They skied fast, did some off piste and arsed around on snow bikes for an afternoon. Better fun than skiing with the OL and me. My son had two days of boarding lessons, lower down the food chain, which were OK, not brilliant, apparently. The OL and I had a 2 hour private lesson, with the daughter tagging along for a laugh; it was very helpful. We took the same chap for the day on Saturday, which worked well; he took the kids off piste a good deal and gave the OL and me some time as well. A good way to finish the hol. Not cheap, but it never is. We used the Arlberg Ski School, but I think that it and the StA Ski School are in reality one and the same.
Top restaurant tip: Il Pomodoro does decent enough pizzas (they all look and taste much the same, but they're OK) in a busy, noisy atmos. Nothing wrong with it, but the place next door, on the left as you look at it (The Platzl's Apres?), is apparently in common ownership and does the same menu until 10pm in much pleasanter, quieter surroundings on the 2nd floor (the 1st floor is a very pleasant looking bar). The house plonk is pretty decent. The Funky Chicken was surprisingly good at the cheap and cheerful end of the market.
The bad news: After several years of trying to get a pair of Salomons to be comfy, the OL bought herself a pair of semi bespoke Strolz boots, for €500+. El gaspo. She skied in them for the whole week with the minimum of faffing and without a peep of complaint (just as well or Intersport would have been a pole or two short). Touch wood, they'll do her for the rest of her skiing careeer. Strolz are based in Lech, but the boots are also made and sold at Albersport in St Anton. The daughter managed to need new goggs, lose a glove and buy a ski top for €70, so it wasn't a cheap hol. The son was quite modest in his needs, apart from the board lesson, but I had to take him to Switzerland for 4 days ski racing in Jan, so he should have been. I invested €15 in a tube which can be twisted up and worn on the head like a pirate bandana, to keep the sun off my pate during pitstops; think Black Jake from Captain Pugwash or, more flatteringly, an (elderly) extra from Easy Rider. The kids found it excruciatingly embarrassing, so it was a bargain.
Last edited by Poster: A snowHead on Mon 18-02-08 22:51; edited 1 time in total
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Was there last week too.....
Agree that there really is only one ski school in StA however they served our 3 and 7 year old pretty well. It did seem to me that most parents see ski school as child care with snow, not really taking much interest in what happens between 9.30am and 3pm - maybe we're old fashioned....
Weather was amazing - hardly saw a cloud - and the snow's bearing up very well considering - queues weren't too bad for High Season apart from the first Nasserein Bahn and Galzig Bahn (wow what a piece of engineering) lifts up in the morning.
Went to the 9pm ski show on Wednesday Evening (called "The Snow must go on" - they must have stayed up late thinking that one up) which was a 20 minute show dragged out to 45 minutes in my opinion but good entertainment for free.
Due to the small ones we didn't sample too many restaurants - Bobo's and San Antonio's recommended though.
Drove there and back - drama free with overnight stops in Gent on the way and Stuttgart on the way back. Thoroughly recommend the Stuttgart Stop over - it might not sound like much of a drive from StA but it means you have clear roads for the main run on the Sunday. Stayed at the Mercure at Sindelfingen next door to huge shopping centre and Expo - €49 for a good sized family room and they have a huge swimming pool.
We'd like to go somewhere else next year but know StA so well it's difficult to break the habit. Recommendations gladly received......
TTFN
Dave
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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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MazDave, check out the ski amade area. I love st anton for the off piste and apres when we didn't have a little one. ski amade offers great piste skiing, off piste though not in st anton scale, loads of different ski resorts to explore, good snow record, more family orientated than st anton, pleasant apres for grown ups. Only 1 hour from salzburg, some resorts include schladming, gastein, flachau, zauchansee, mulbach, maria alm.
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