J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by Wanderer

St Anton is a real curiosity. It seems to generate real animosity with lots of people for some reason. Yes - it does have some issues but overall, the area is fantastic. Maybe not for everyone. It certainly is not a good place for beginners or timid intermediates, the home runs can be difficult and frightening around 3pm, especially when "good" skiers come flying through at outrageous speeds. There are also one or two bottlenecks that could do with some new runs/lifts. Getting down from Galzig involves either the Black Kandahar run or the Blue 4 valley run. The Kandahar is not terribly difficult if conditions are ok but can be a bit crowded for a Black. The valley run (4) is lovely if not busy. Unfortunately, this is rarely the position. More of a motorway, especially after lunch :evil:. They should really put a short lift up from that dip between Galzig and Schindler (bottom of Black 10). At the moment, coming back from the Stuben/Schindler/Valluga side requires you to ski down into the valley and come back on on the gondola or Zammermoos lift. Also, the bus services is simply not good enough, while taxi prices are outrageous. But these are (relatively) minor quibbles :wink:.

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.

Does anybody feel the format for the Olympics should be different from the usual. It sometimes feels like it is just another competition and can be won by anybody on the day.

Would it be better to run it over 2 or even 3 runs? Would this approach give a very chance to the more consistent skiers.

Scarlet. I can really recommend the Sella Ronda area. It is vast with wonderful skiing, scenery, food and a really nice attitude. I posted a detailed review of my trip last year under the heading "Dolomites - Moena".

However, do not expect much apres. It is possibly a little better in some of the other villages but virtually nothing in Moena.

At this late stage, I would have thought it was a question of seeing what is available.

I would suggest playing around on a site like Booking.com and seeing whats available. You might need to be fairly open about where to go :wink:

By way of example, a quick search brought up this one in the Montafon area:

http://www.booking.com/hotel/at/sport-vitalhotel-bachmann.en-gb.html?sid=c760aaa0bd604ba1c455c782aa76dda7;dcid=1;checkin=2014-02-15;checkout=2014-02-22;in_a_group=on;widened_group=1;group_adults=1;group_children=1;age=12;group_adults=1;group_children=1;age=10;highlighted_facilites=103;group_rooms=29767509_83246642_0_17_2_0_0,29767507_83246642_0_17_2_0_0;srfid=f61e923a8a0be96b0223ab7ae1321c4e8d569bfcX1

You could also have a look at some of the tour operators for last minute offers. E.g.
http://www.stantonchalets.co.uk/[url]

Good luck with you search.

Actually missed my long weekend in January after being knocked off my bike :evil: .

However, really looking forward to my main trip next week to St Anton (this one has been on the list for ages) :wink: .

Have also now booked a long weekend in Ischgl from 16 March :lol:

Nice idea :D . Probably easiest to go with a tour operator. Crystal offer a good selection of trips out of Ireland to all the major resorts, including Andorra. Never been here so can't comment on which resort.

You can do lessons on the dry slope at Kilternan http://www.skiclub.ie/. Its really worthwhile and will make your progression in resort much quicker.

Good luck with your preparations and have a nice time. :wink:

I don't have any current information about the area. However, it is worth remembering that the skiing is generally well above the villages and while the resort runs might be very dodgy in poor conditions, the main skiing area will usually be in reasonable condition. As Snowlily has said, the Skiwelt area is probably the best in the alps at preparing and maintaining the pistes.

Accept that you will probably be better off taking the gondola down rather than taking on the resort runs and you will be absolutely fine and have a ball :wink:

I made an impulse purchase of a new pair of skis at the end of a ski trip 3 years ago. An end-of-season bargain. However, I haven't used them since because of the exorbitant cost of ski carriage on most scheduled airlines and they have just been sitting flat in the attic in their bag ever since:oops:.

I am planning on taking them to St Anton next month - the cost of ski hire there definitely makes it worthwhile bringing them :shock:.

However, I am wondering if they will be ok to start using straight away or will I need to get them waxed or do anything else to them. Settings were set by the shop where I bought them based on the settings of the hire set I had that year.

Can any of the knowledgeable people out there give me any advice?