St Anton revisited

Hit St Anton last week for a long weekend.

Still lots of snow and pistes were in great condition, though a little "marbly" at times. Weather was pretty good with really only one day of poor light - we spent that day in Rendl chasing back and forth across the mountain looking for the best light. Rendl is definitely a relatively forgotten area with a decent amount of runs to keep you occupied for a day.

Got to use the new Flexenbahn over to Zurs for the first time. You take two gondolas to get to the top - the views from up there are spectacular. The runs down from the top are excellent high up but it does turn into a bit of motorway lower down :twisted:. If you are trying to get over to Lech, you can jump out after the first gondola and ski down to Zurs from there.

We skied down and crossed the road to the Zursersee 4-man lift. Because this is now a link lift on the route over to Lech is seems to be prone to longish queues. Better to keep going right over to the Seekopf lift which seemed to be quieter. Our intention had been to take the long slow Madloch lift over to the ski route connecting to Lech. However, it is an old 2-man and the queue was horrendeous so we changed plans and skied back down into Zurs where we jumped on a skibus that was sitting there and got over to Lech in a few minutes. Some lovely skiing around Lech and over to Warth. We did not attempt to ski back to St Anton, settling for some nice skiing in this area before getting the bus back to St Anton.

The next day, we again hit Zurs - this time we concentrated on the bunch of runs back down under the Zursersee and Seekopf lifts which are great fun and usually really quiet - we spent a super morning doing these runs. We also did the lovely Muggengrat run down - its technically a red but the top section is definitely Black. Its a very long run with beautiful views.

On our last morning, we stayed in the main St Anton area - highlights were probably the red run and ski route off the Schindlergrat 3-man chair. Also did all the runs off the top of Kapall and Gampen.

Snow conditions varied a bit but were generally pretty good. On our last run down on Wednesday at about 1.30pm, the last stretch was already extremely slushy in the strong sunlight and high temperatures - I don't want to think what it was like at 4pm :roll:

The link to Zurs is a great addition but has exposed the limitations of some of the older lifts that previously would have been relatively quiet but are now key links. Presumably, they will target these for upgrades over the next few years.

The piste bashing on Sunday was very poor in spots but they had a big dump on Friday and may only have had time for a cursory run over some of the slopes. This seemed to be resolved in the later days.

St Anton does tend to suffer a little from hotshots bombing down busy crowded slopes. However, this really only affected a small number of bottlenecks such as the "happy valley" home run. Overall, crowds were well within acceptable limits and, apart from the links to Lech, we did not experience any queues worth talking about.

Apres ski is as mad as ever - the Mooserwirt continues to attract very large crowds from 3pm onwards while Basecamp at the bottom goes on until 9pm with a super DJ and dancing on the seats if that is your bag :shock: Prices are steep - think French prices - so best not to look too closely at your meagre change :oops:

We flew into Zurich and took the train down - it was a very civilized and relaxing way to get to resort - I would recommend it.

Overall, another great trip to a great resort, if a little expensive -)

Sounds like a good trip, and interesting about the bottlenecks moving to the older lifts... I'd imagine/hope they knew that was likely to happen, but the bus is a good fallback.

Wanderer wrote:We flew into Zurich and took the train down

How long did that take?

...vaguely thinking about an Easter(ish) quicky if the snow comes in again (as is looking possible).

Went in January no problems with lifts in Zurs but coming back massive queue at the chair back to St Anton.
Where did you stay? always had problems trying to find accommodation for a short break in St Anton.
Cheers

When you land, you take any train into main station (about 15 minutes).

The direct train takes 2.20 from Zurich main station. They run every two hours, so trains at 10.40, 12.40, etc. The last fast direct train seems to be at 18.40, though there are later slower trains, some of which require a change. We had an early flight out of Dublin arriving in Zurich a little after 10am local time. We knew we would not make the 10.40 train so had booked the 12.40. This gave us plenty of time to collect bags and get into central station - we even had time for a nice coffee and snack at a local café. Worth booking seats on the train - it can be busy!

On the return, we took the 3pm train scheduled to arrive in Zurich at 17.20, though ours was nearly 30 minutes late. Our flight was not until 20.10 so no problem. We skied until 1.30 and actually changed in the ski hire shop!!!

We stayed in the Hotel Montjola, booked through booking.com - not far from town but up a steep hill. It used to be operated by VIP Ski but they appear to have left and it is under new management. Nice rooms and friendly staff - it did have a chalet hotel feel to it (and evening meals were not great tbh). Here is a link to my tripadviser review https://www.tripadvisor.ie/ShowUserReviews-g608676-d263518-r660089455-Hotel_Montjola-St_Anton_am_Arlberg_Tirol_Austrian_Alps.html

Love love love st anton, but haven't been in over 6 years now. Last time it was overly busy and prices were definitely higher than normal for Austria so maybe I will have to live on memories of the skiing there and avoid for future trips.
Fond memories of the Muggengrat, and also the ski routes off the Schindler chair as well.
Glad you enjoyed it.