First Time in Austria - St Anton
Started by Snowy0000 in Austria 17-Feb-2014 - 12 Replies
Snowy0000 posted Feb-2014
The general cost of meals, drinks, and equipment, etc seemed a cheaper than France :?: so we didn't spend too much. :oops:
The only surprise,was the quality of some of the lifts, small two man which nearly knocked you into next week when you got on them :shock: , and there were the "T" bars. Other lifts had heated seats and pull down covers but quite a few really needed upgrading.
Will we go back oh yes, but what part of Austria that is the question.
Tony_H
reply to 'First Time in Austria - St Anton' posted Feb-2014
Otherwise, the world rates this resort very highly.
Apres is indeed raucous!!!!
Never found a T bar but theres the odd older chair, bit of character if you ask me. The last 100m ride on the top of the Schindler chair is amazing though.
Andyhull
reply to 'First Time in Austria - St Anton' posted Feb-2014
The other thing are the piste markings and sign posts, they're not great.
Ian Wickham
reply to 'First Time in Austria - St Anton' posted Feb-2014
andyhull wrote:I love the place, but agree the lift system could do with some investment. Or at least the money they are spending better focused. Bits seem ridiculously over-engineered, while other keys lifts are rickety old two Man things.
The other thing are the piste markings and sign posts, they're not great.
Nice to see that you have noticed Andy ...Most people ignore the short comings of St Anton because it is St Anton.
Andyhull
reply to 'First Time in Austria - St Anton' posted Feb-2014
Perhaps we're just spoiled by the amount of thought and investment the French put in.
St Anton isn't somewhere you go to cruse the pistes, just we had such poor off piste conditions that we spent far more time on piste than we would have liked.
Something that amazed me was Arlberg have just added a link to Warth, but there's virtually no signage at all pointing the way. They've obviously spent a lot of money on the new lift but it's like they don't want anyone to use it!
Edited 1 time. Last update at 20-Feb-2014
Tony_H
reply to 'First Time in Austria - St Anton' posted Feb-2014
Ian Wickham wrote:andyhull wrote:I love the place, but agree the lift system could do with some investment. Or at least the money they are spending better focused. Bits seem ridiculously over-engineered, while other keys lifts are rickety old two Man things.
The other thing are the piste markings and sign posts, they're not great.
Nice to see that you have noticed Andy ...Most people ignore the short comings of St Anton because it is St Anton.
........whilst others rate it, and I quote "rubbish" because its too difficult for them (not you I hasten to add), and because there was, get this and I quote again, "really bad visibility" when it snowed one morning :roll:
Its the people not the resort that have the problems with it.
Piste markings never caused me a problem, no one I know ever got lost, and the 2 man chairs at Stuben were actually great fun when they stopped abruptly and bounced about 30 feet up and down!!! The vast majority of lifts are modern, covered and heated with some even having tissue dispensers.
Only 1 issue we genuinely found - one short black was at best a blue, whilst another blue on the map should have been black and was carnage, cant remember the run numbers now.
Oh and watch out for that deadly run back down to St Christoph. It seems every time I didn't ski it, someone got helicoptered off or visibility was zero feet. Or something.
8) -)
Edited 1 time. Last update at 20-Feb-2014
Innsbrucker
reply to 'First Time in Austria - St Anton' posted Mar-2014
However if you do go to St Anton, check out the ski musuem. It is combined with a very smart restaurant, and worth a visit.
Edited 2 times. Last update at 03-Mar-2014
Wanderer
reply to 'First Time in Austria - St Anton' posted Mar-2014
IMHO, the secret of St Anton is get out to the edges. The long blue run down to Stuben (Blue 17) can be great fun. Stuben itself has a few lovely reds. Yes - the rickety old 2-man chairs feel like a relic from an older era but I love the fact that they give you a fleece blankets to wrap up in on the (slow) journey up :shock:. Rendl is not too big but has a few pleasant pistes and is worth the spin over for a few hours.
If you want a challenge, there are any number of ski-routes that should keep you interested and that's not even mentioning the endless off-piste opportunities for the experts :wink:
Add to the mix, the lovely skiing in Zurs - the long Red 10 down from the Muggengrat lift is lovely - seriously steep first pitch followed by a long run out. Lech is a bit more gentle but has it own charms. Skiing of the top of Rufikopf down into Zurs is lovely trip with some spectacular scenery.
From Lech it is now an easy trip across to Warth which has some really nice skiing, including a couple of steep, if shortish, blacks. It also seems to offer lots of opportunities for short off-piste runs between pistes - great for those wanting to sample some powder without going back-country.
Prices in the area are high for Austria, especially ski hire. However, if you have lived through French prices, it will not phase you. Food is generally very good and, well, the après-ski is legendary :mrgreen:.
All-in-all, a wonderful ski area.
Topic last updated on 18-March-2014 at 22:06