Guiding in St Anton

A snowHead

After a long dry spell (well since last season Laughing

where I have had to deny myself all 'ski porn' jsut for the sheer agony of waiting till March (for me this is nearly summer) we are finally off to St Anton in a couple of weeks and been looking for info on guiding - does anyone have info on a great guide/service to use? Incidentally if you know of good schools/hire for our friends that would be very generous of you to share Happy

I sneaked a few pictures on snowforecast this morning but had to shut the site down quickly as it gave me a bit of a turn - heart speeds up, breathing becomes shallow, strange longing feeling - is it just me does anyone else get strange tingles when they look at ski pics?????

A snowHead

http://www.pistetopowder.com/

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

Try Arlberg Guides - somewhat cheaper than Piste to Powder. We skied with Pio Jutz last season and he was excellent. The top guy there, Andy Thurner, published a couple of books on offpiste routes in the Arlberg.

Should also add that when I did ski with Piste to Powder, I had excellent days.

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I and the Mrs have had great days with Piste to Powder also. If you go with the ski school, ask for a guy called Tom Schnabl - who is ex-P2P. He's a great guy.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Not just you. Be careful with that.

My mate discovered his Dad's stash of Powder magazines in the attic and went blind.

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Big Paua, see thats what I'm scared of! Cool

Thanks for all of the info - I also heard that there's heli-skiing - did you try that??

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Parkyparcours, Theres a highly recommended new guiding company (all ex Arlberg Ski School Guides) gnarly well respected guys, calles St Anton Classic, www.st.anton-classic.com. Never used them but was talking to a bunch of guys and them in Jnauary after a busy day in the POW they all looked happy! Ask for Josi Jennewien, 250€ for 2, additional people 20€ pp extra.

After all it is free

Looks like the rules have changed and many more off piste outfits are opening up in St Anton. Probably wise to compare all details e.g. cost, duration, qualificaltions etc. Some people just need guiding, some people need teaching/developing. Piste 2 Powder are more expensive than some others but generally provide teaching and guiding, they also do a full day 9:00 to 16:00 whereas others only do a morning or 5 hours. Depends what you are looking for as some people won't manage a full day. If you make up your own group it's generally cheaper but you can as an individual join other groups. Another important factor is your level compared to others nothing. There's worse than trailing at the back digging your skis out all the time or hanging about waiting for others. A good guiding company will run many groups and put you in the correct group for your level but you need to be honest about your ability.

DB, think it would be me and Mr PP only - we both ski at the same level and like the same stuff so theres no difficulty with that and fortunate for the first time this year to not have to be too careful about cost. Not sure about how long we want to do it for - I've been working my way back from a patella tendon injury so haven't been able to get back to my thighs of steel status that I try to achieve ready for skiing Laughing

so will see how I go for the first couple of days. Dr says I must be good and stick to the pistes and take it easy to warm up my legs... Mad

Ah well, theres always nurofen.

Markymark29, thanks for this - have just looked and they do heli-skiing too which is on my list of always wanted to do and judging by the snow forecast we may be in luck snowHead

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Parkyparcours - heliskiing is bad for our precious mountain environment, annoys other people and deafens you to the words of the Great Snow Spirit. We should all walk for our backcountry turns.

Sadly, it's also the bestest, gott damn fun you'll ever have with your clothes on! Enjoy every minute of it!

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Parkyparcours,

Try to get a group that is similar in ability to you or pay up (i.e. 1 guide for two people).

IHMO Heli-skiing in St Anton is for people who aren't willing to put the effort in to skin up. There are much better places in the world to heli-ski, I've been in a helicopter while skiing once but to be honest the sense of achievement is much better if you have earned your turns by skiing / booting up.

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The standard ski school does plenty of off piste and is fairly inexpensive if funds are tight. Normal price for lessons with a bit extra for tranceiver hire.

DB, +1 re heliskiing, plus there's a recession on (or so I believe anyway, even though we're clearly out of it if you listen to the radio/ TV............NOT!!)

Parkyparcours, Those guys at st.anton-classic are top guys, will be going with them guiding next year, only met them while there in January and they have been in the area for years, just branched out on their own, well worth a go, with 4 of you it'd be £75€ each plus a 1/4 of lunch and a tip so a great day out IMO and good value at that.

You know it makes sense.

DB, the only thing I can liken it to is my experience of cycling - my summer occupation. I do long distance and I'm a big fan of going fast downhill - you could argue that the downhill is made much more enjoyable and satisfying if you've had to climb to get there - the burn in the legs, the sweat pouring and lungs crying out for oxygen will amplify the exhiliaration and adrenaline of flying downhill with the hands very firmly off the brakes.
Crap I say, I hate climbs - they are miserable slogs that have to be endured. If there was a chairlift on ditchling beacon I'd be there with bells on Laughing

DO agree that there are better heliskiing options and its not environmentally friendly Embarassed

but are taking our Ozzie friends to experience the Alps for their first time so have had to compromise. Otherwise would def be in Canada this year....

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

Markymark29, like to support newbies so will follow up - thanks

A snowHead

A snowHead

stanton,

What's happening? are we finally seeing proper ski instruction/guiding competition in St Anton ? What next - will the shop cartel be broken? Wink

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

I saw lots of their, very noticeable, green suits about last week.

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Do they speak English too? Read about the thread about ESF but didn't realise Austria had the same problem. My foreign language skills (beyond communication through the medium of mime) aren't up to much!

DB, So are you saying my diligent attempts to find the best ski hire for my friends are a complete waste of time???

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Another vote for Piste To Powder, I've had some great days with them. Not only are they full moutain guides but they are also fully qualified instructors, so you'll get to work on your technique (but not at the expense of skiing, the tuition is *nothing* like ski school).

I've never use the Classic guys, are they also all UIAGM guides too? I recognise a some of the names and I'm pretty sure they are not full moutain guides. Nothing on the website indicates this, unless I'm missing something.

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

thanks sah, I've been to St Anton before but didn't run into many locals for some reason - well apart from slurring "beer please" to the guys in the Mooserwirt Little Angel

After all it is free

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will do

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Top shelf. I've just had to excuse myself after clearing up the little pool of drool on my desk Embarassed

You know it makes sense.

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

Assuming the classic guys used to wrok for the main ski school, yes they are UIAGM (Bergfuehrer is the Austrian branch of it), and most/all of them will be Staatliche instructors too (highest instructing quali). At least that was the case for all the guides I met when I was working there (as a lowly anwarter lol).

A snowHead

I'm confident they are all UIAGM, they had had a great day out with a team when I met them having a couple of beers late pm in the Griabli. I asked Josi if he was free that week (January), he smiled and he said he was busy for the next 4 weeks but he'd be able to sort us out the week after with one of his main guys, good sign I thought. I agree with the above posts, they know these mountains like the back of their hands, they commented wisely that they wouldnt take us here and there, they know where to go, when and where and dependent on snow/ weather/ snowpack. Big back-slaps from all the locals who were in there.Top guys, I'll be using th lime-green guys in January/ February next year. Toofy Grin

A snowHead

Parkyparcours,

I misread your post, thought you were talking about guides - looks like there are plenty of guide choices now. One thing I will say - even though I'm also a fluent german speaker it was good to have a native English speaker when learning to ski powder as they tend to be able to explain things in much better detail. Graham @ P2P is a geordie so speaks that language too. snowHead

P2P have catered mainly to English speaking clients, I've met a fair few english speaking ski buddies at P2P, people that I have kept in contact with over the years. Some of whom I will be doing a weeks hut to hut touring in April. Not sure what the international mix with the other guiding outfits, you might end up skiing with some Dutch bloke Shocked

I wouldn't expect much difference in ski hire or skiing goods prices though. Probably best to find which shop has the biggest selection of skis.

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

DB, true enough, but a lot of Piste to Powder guides are also Austrian... Nothing wrong with that, indeed a lot good, but just because Graham is British doesn't mean his guides are...

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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

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

After all it is free

DB, yes just looking for guiding not lessons (as ok off piste) so nice to have an English speaker to chat with when travelling but not critical. Sounds like he could be v interesting though so that would be cool.

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This guy is one of the very best to guide you around the area, always finds the best snow what ever the conditions, not only holds the highest quali but is great fun to ski with too! He does get very booked up so best to contact him asap: http://www.learn2ski.eu/en/

His name is Georg.....

All the best
Sidney

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Guiding in St Anton

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