Lech Mar 2009

A snowHead

Lech
Red 27
March 2009
hard-charging flat track bully, making first forays into off piste & ski routes
www.skiarlberg.at

Travel LHR T5 complete with great breakky at wagamama, to Zurich then the superb door-to-door Arlberg express. BA delays as usual with scant apology but the flight times are good and the prices are cheap

Lift system Faultless... heated hooded chairs fast cable cars. there are 2 two seaters that form key links in the Weisse Ring circuit but I saw no queues. excellent free buses between Lech & Zurs with cheap post bus to St Anton

The terrain : Lots of intermediate cruising with some decent steep reds and lots of unpisted but marked ski routes which are perfect for those looking to get into off piste. Zurs snow was much better than Lech, and the pistes so much emptier some with a real backcountry feel. Madden joch, done at 9.30 was a pisted red run cruise then after a circuit and a bit of the Weisse Ring, a crowded mogulled riot so best done early.. The Weisse ring is a good circuit but gets crowded. Great guided potential, very high standard of both skiing ability and couteous, safe skiing. A Day in St Anton gave some contrasts... What a huge area and fantastic challenging pistes, the best anywhere I've been and again the off piste potential was enormous. Busier than it's posher neighbours but not too bad and of course more english/orange voices but the skiing must rank it in the top 10 world resorts.

The snow : Sunday was snowy so there was loads of the good stuff but the weather was warm on Mon & Tues so conditions were Spring -like and suited the early riser.
The resort : Ah Lech.... As John travolta might have said it's the little differences... Ties at Breakfast, LBD's + killer heels at dinner. the biggest flashiest building is a private bank incorporated in Lichenstein. Lastly one family with the unmistakeable mark of money and breeding had 2 (count 'em) nannies to deal with their 4 perfect children. Let's say, without prejudice, that the atmosphere wasa little different to Les Deux Alpes!

Food : There are no restaurants other than in hotels! Lech is strange. the pistes are empty but it's a devil of a job finding somehwere to eat of an evening. I ate in the Lecher Stubbe which was lovely, delicious and good value

Accommodation : I swore I would never do this but the hotel was so good it must remain nameless... I paid 107€ a night for the most beautiful family run place. gym, spa, pool (family + naked) which I used every day and ached a lot less than usual as a consequence. A mouthwatering hot buffet breakky, and sky sports 1 in the room! Quite extraordinary Austrian Buffet night with roast leg of veal, salmon, lamb stew, beautiful salad bufett, eveyone in leather and the music was terrible - sounds like a some gaff on old compton street.

Costs: hahahaha bonk - yes I laughed my head off. Costs, well.... Lech... What can I say, my courtesy car from the bus staion to the hotel (200yds) was an audi A8 V10, the spar sells Krug and my wallet's sphynichter twitched when I saw Sir Fred Goodwin busking, but nothing prepared me for an eye watering 234€ for very average Head Chip skis for 6 days at Stolz... Otherwise though things were more Austrian but the Credit Crunch meant that I economised by pre loading on the mega brekky, lunch was a roll bought in spar night before + left on balcony, and pre dinner beers (ditto)

Conclusion: My best ski trip ever - and I've had a few... Hotel was breathtaking, Lech/Zurs are beautiful, characterful villages and the ski area has enough to amuse, especially with a day in St A thron in. If you were thinking of going , stop thinking and do it!

A snowHead

red 27, glad you enjoyed it it's a great place I've always founds it friendly and laid back and not snooty at all. The Hotel sounds great if you change your mind feel free to PM me with the name of it and I won't tell a soul!!!

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

there's plenty of restaurants outside hotels in Lech - we only ever do B&B and eat out every night - never in hotel. Schneider, Cafe Olympia, Fux, several others I can't remember names of. Some tasty food available at moderate prices.

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Here's me on the (off shoot of) the Madloch. Glad you loved. The Austrians are great, the service is top-notch. It'll always be my top spot.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

red 27, Had a similarly fantastic four days in Oberlech, blue skies, empty groomed pistes, and friendly service from everyone. And despite its 'exclusive' tag, it was no more expensive than Val D or Meribel. I think the French resorts are going to have to change or lose business, simple as that.

here's how busy the pistes weren't:

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Axsman, Was it like that all day, or were you up at the crack of sparrow?

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

erica2004, Axsman, agree with all you say. It was so uncrowded! Friday was an epic day as the weather was foul in the morning, snowing hard but then cleared into a perfect powder day and there must have only been about 100 people out!

Axsman, I know where that was taken - top of the blue with the speed trap on it, a run much loved by beginners/ski schools and probably the most busy run in the whole area, so I reckon you were the early bird... Read your report too, looks like we both had a cracker!

gortonator, noted! I'll look harder next time! I tried to eat out twice but everywhere was full - I think I have to book a table in advance, not something I'm used to in Ski resorts in late march in a credit crunch Smile

After all it is free

erica2004, TBH that pic was taken around 9.00.

This one was about an hour later, a bit busier (that's me in the pic) Very Happy

:

red 27, Bang on. Thing is, even when it was 'busy' it wasn't really busy Laughing

Off to Lech on 12th April.... was digging through some old piste maps and realised to my horror that this will be the first time back in Lech sonce 2003.... why? I ask myself.... not even packed my bag to go yet and already thinking about booking for next year!!!

red 27, ssssshhhhhhhh.... don't tell tooooo many people about it wink

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red 27, Axsman, erica2004, I was amazed at how uncrowded it was in Lech, I put it down to the bad weather while I was there, but it seems from the pics that even when the sun shines crowds aren't a problem. I thought I was going to have problems at the day parking at Schlosskopf but I never found it more than a quarter full.

Also, I was talking to the landlady at the apartment we stayed at in Dalaas (10-15 mins down the valley that leads out twd Switzerland from the Arlberg), she said that her bookings were well down this winter because the snow was really good across all of Austria's lower resorts and people have opted for these (cheaper?) places rather than the guaranteed snow (and slightly more expensive prices?) in the Arlberg. Perhaps a bit of Credit Crunch mixed in too?

I found the locals really welcoming, the cashier in the self-service restaurant at the Hotel Burg in Oberlech remembered my face from the day before, smiled and greeted me in English (probably out of pity for my previous mangled attempts at speaking her native tongue wink

) The waitress at the Kriegeralpe hut was similarly friendly, attentive and had excellent English.

It's fast becoming a favourite of mine, especially if I can avoid the steepish hotel prices by staying 20 mins away with easy access to Stuben and st Anton too. We paid €23pppn for our apartment and ate at the best restaurant in the valley, the Gasthof Rossle at Braz for around €25-35 per head depending on what you chose, the chocolate souffle was divine at €7.80:

http://www.roesslebraz.at/gourmet.htm

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Axsman, Mmm..that must be worrying for Lech. In January it was fairly busy but I've been in Feb (very busy) and March is usually fairly busy - although not nearly as busy as other resorts. I must admit I've never seen empty pistes like that on bluebird days.

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erica2004, it was moderately busy first week in March when we were there. Maybe many credit crunch sufferers are likely Lech skiers. Certainly higher end resorts are suffering more in US than less expensive ones where most folks go

Second week of Feb in Lech/Zurs/St Anton was somewhat quieter than usual, but the following 3 weeks seemed not much different to previous years. That said, not many people in Zurs and Lech seem to get out of bed before 9:30 - 10am, and quite a few seem not to return after long lunches. Works for me! Smile

Next year could be telling. I suspect that many people who had booked trips early in 2008 decided to go regardless of personal circumstances - and hoping the recession would be short. I guess we now know there will be no quick recovery, which may play out as more caution about future discretionary spending.

Luigi... are you talking about the waitress at KreigerAlpe who was blonde and had a pony tail? I would like to say she was very attractive, but that might a bit non-PC, so I won't... Twisted Evil

You know it makes sense.

ulmerhutte, luigi, .... I'll have to look out for her at Easter wink

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

red 27, Glad you had a great time. Austria beats any other European country for the all round ski experience IMO wink

A snowHead

dk100, Agreed! Switzerland and Italy tied for 2nd, then Spain, then... no, those are the only ones worth going to I think wink

Just in the process of booking Ischgl for next January Very Happy

A snowHead

ulmerhutte, That'll be the parallel universe again (see my Madloch pic. above) You should see the queue for the Zürs gondola at 9.00am on a sunny day. Mind you, no where near like the one in Ischgl.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

erica2004, I was in Zurs at 9.00am 2 sunny days last week and didn't see a soul, let alone a queue! Maybe weekends in Feb, but not every sunny day Erica, Long may it continue!

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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

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SnowGod,

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

gortonator, by god that picture takes a while to download - worth it though snowHead

After all it is free

Welcome to the Arlberg Very Happy

stanton, In the words or Arnold - "I'll be back" Laughing

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Axsman, me too!! frequently

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stanton, thank you... We haven't always seen eye to eye but we do agree on the worlds best ski area. Very Happy

Help!!

Lech Mar 2009

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