Skiing in St. Anton & Lech, Austria

To put it bluntly, it was time for a ski trip. We left Vancouver nearly a year ago, ie it’s been nearly a year since we last skied. That is probably the longest streak in my life that I have gone without skiing; a record I’m not proud of, and a record I will now certainly not attempt to beat!

In November James told me he was planning a trip to St. Anton in Austria with a few friends. He’d been there before and had raved about it, so we teamed up for our trip. We had a mix of people with some staying longer than others.

Kim and I left Paris on Friday and flew to Zurich where James’ friend Sami picked us up and we hit the road for the 3 hour drive to St. Anton. We arrived in St. Anton and Katrin was already at the apartment we rented; she took the train from Vienna. The following day James and Stéphane joined us, since James’ flight from San Francisco was delayed, ironically, due to a massive storm that dumped 7 feet of snow at Tahoe. So by Saturday the crew was there: 6 people from 5 different cities: Paris, Vienna, Zurich, San Francisco and Mulhouse (near Strasbourg). The apartment we rented turned out to be fantastic; an apartment in a new house, just a 10 minute walk down the hill to the lift and the village of St. Anton. I would highly recommend staying here if any of you make it to St. Anton to ski.

Day one on the slopes was amazing, not only to get the skiing sensation back, but also to be in the fresh mountain air. I hadn’t realized how much I had missed the outdoors after living in Paris for a year. I think it’s safe to say that when you grow up and live in a city like Vancouver you are completely spoiled and it becomes easy to take it for granted. I had the same feeling after my 4 years at Queen’s but obviously got complacent in the 11 years since moving back. The weather on the first day was perfect: crystal clear blue sky, not a single cloud and endless mountain ranges. The ski area of St. Anton, Zürs and Lech are massive, and your ticket is good at all locations. The snow level this year was below average but you can’t win them all.


Zürs is a special place for another reason, my grandparents on my mum's side met there. My mum just sent me a note:
My parents met in Zürs!  Mamita had broken her ankle and was with a group of friends in the bar of the pension, when my father walked in.  He saw her, and thought "this one and no other"  (young Mamita was unusual as having jet black hair with grey-green eyes).  Mamita thought, "hm...somebody one can have a conversation with, probably a Russian".  As Mamita couldn't ski, my father abandonned skiing and took her for sleigh rides.  I have the photos...  At the time there were no lifts, you had to hike the mountain, assess the terrain and take the longest route down to maximise the climbing effort.  She could not understand modern skiing...

One of the great Austrian traditions is the après-ski and in St. Anton it’s plentiful. You have your choice of about 5 or 6 good bars on the ski hill to start your après-ski. We started at Taps, then moved next door to the Krazy Kanguruh. After a few rounds of beer, Jagermeister and pear schnaps it was time to ski down, not to the village, to the next bar about 100 metres down the hill in the dark. The Mooserwitz is where you will find the largest après-ski crowd, dancing on the tables, singing and drinking until goodness knows when. Of course we were willing participants in the action for another few rounds. Still another 500 or 600 metres to ski down, hammered and in the dark until we hit the village. We ditch our skis and boots at the ski shop storage that we have for the week before we head for another drink and some dinner.

The rest of the week the weather was a mix of clear and cloudy skies, with a few teasers of snow. Day 3 we went to Zurs which is a 25 minute drive from St. Anton, and only 5 minutes before Lech, the other big village in the Arlberg region. From Zurs you can ski a complete circle taking 5 to 6 lifts and covering about 20 kilometres. Unfortunately we didn’t have much time skiing in Lech, and we didn’t get back there he rest of the week, but we’ll be sure to go back next time.

Once a week during the main ski season, there is an outdoor Ski Show put on by the town and the ski hill. It’s a combination of live skiing events and displays along with a huge video screen explaining the history of skiing in the area. Did you know that the first ever ski school was started in St. Anton? And as the saying goes: “there is a first for everything” I think it’s safe to say that this was the first time I had seen fireworks being shot from a pair of snow cats as they did their display during the Ski Show. Imagine what the entire ski hill would look like at night if all the snow cats shot off fireworks!

We didn’t ski the entire week, we did take a day off after 5 days. Ulla, who owns the house and apartment, also has a fabulous dog named Lui and a couple of horse a few minutes away. We had planned to have a wandering day anyways, so Ulla invited us to walk with her to stables and then continued on with us as we walked in the forest near the cross country ski trails, with Lui in tow. As most of you from Vancouver know, Kim and I always enjoyed babysitting our friends’ dogs, and now we had a new one for a few hours. Throw anything deep into the snow and Lui goes bouncing after it, full speed ahead into the snow bank.

After a day break near the end of our trip it started to snow and snow and snow. On our last day we had fantastic dry, knee deep powder and no lift lines. Our apartment host, Ulla, skied with us in the morning and showed us some awesome lines. What a great way to end a fantastic week of skiing. 

If any of you plan to ski in St. Anton I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it. The terrain is fantastic as over ¾ of the mountain is above the tree line giving you lots of free reign to ski where ever you want. I also wouldn’t hesitate renting an apartment from Ulla Winther haus.winther@st-anton.at

So now it’s back to big city of Paris. As much as we look forward to getting ‘home’ we also can’t wait for our next ski trip. Maybe we’ll be fortunate and will end up with a long weekend somewhere closer to Paris, such as Chamonix, before the end of the ski season. One thing is for sure, it won’t be another 12 months until we ski again.

I’m writing most of this blog on the train on the way from St. Anton to Zurich as we weave through the snow covered mountains and valleys. My phone just beeped to tell me we were in Liechtenstein. Hmmm, who knew that we would hit 4 countries in one day.

For all of you back home in Vancouver don’t forget to get out and enjoy the mountains and the outdoors which are right at your door step; don’t take it for granted.

A bientôt and happy turns where ever you find the fluffy white stuff this year.

Plenty more pictures posted here: http://picasaweb.google.com/DKSPENCE76

November, December and Christmas in Paris

Other than the post about our trip to Reims, I haven't really updated the blog much in the last couple of months so here is a brief summary of what we did in November and December.

Near the end of November we went to one of the best museum's in Paris: Musée d'Orsay. It's housed in an old train station, so it's got a fantastic feel to it, nice and open and quite easy to get around. You don't feel like you are being shepherded through like in other museums. Of course the collection in Musée d'Orsay is phenomenal. We also lucked out with a neat temporary exhibit of Art  Nouveau. Certainly not to be missed on your visit to Paris. Plenty more pictures here: Musée d'Orsay

The following weekend was the Salons des Vins et Vignerons Indépendant (the independant wine producers trade show). We showed up as rookies, of course, and we noticed right away that people where showing up with either rolling carts or carry-on luggage in order to stock up on any good wines they found. Why didn't we think about that? It was free to enter, and free wine tasting at over 1000 exhibitors. Next year we will be there with empty suitcases, and a big list of wines to try, from our new Guide Hachette des Vins that has 10,000 wines listed and reviewed.

When we moved into our apartment in July, it came with a guide book with 7 walks in Paris. We have been meaning to do these for quite a while but simply never got around to it. No time like the present, so off we went on the first walk listed which was just down the street. Many of the things explained in this book won't necessarily be in the regular tour books from TimeOut or Lonely Planet. The walk starts at just in front of Notre Dame and walks you passed St Julien le Pauvre and gives you a great little history of the old small streets, the merchants that have been there for a long time, and even a few little surprises. When you come and visit us, we'll be sure to give you the book and you can explore on your own. Needless to say we'll definitely go through the rest of the book, and then there are other historical books and walks to do, including one taking you to all the places where people were executed! Plenty more pictures here: A Walk In Our Hood

The following weekend Luke, Mel, Ollie and Gabi arrived in Paris. Luke and I went to Queen's together, and he just finished his MBA in Rotterdam, hence our trip to Rotterdam in October (Rotterdam Trip). They had just came back from a week long trip in Italy and were on their way back to Canada so they returned the favour and spent a couple of days with us. We had just put up our Christmas tree so that kept Ollie and Gabi busy for a little bit. Since we didn't have many decorations, Ollie improvised and cutup anything colourful he could find. Our tree looks great. Unfortunately Saturday was really cold in Paris, so we were only out for a few hours, but got a chance to take them to Notre Dame, Eiffel Tower and the Christmas markets on the Champs Elysées. Ollie also developed an addiction to chocolat croissants!

The following day we had brunch with our friends Thierry and Aurélien, then headed out to the grands magasins. Each year the big department stores in Paris decorate the window displays, so we had to go and check it out. We had planned to do this with the kids the day before but it didn't work out. We then took shelter in the warmth of the department stores and people watched while we warmed up.

After les grands magasins I met up with Mack and some others and we hit the Paris-StGermain vs. St Etienne soccer game. This was my first time at a real European level soccer game, but I know that English premier league or the Spanish or Italian leagues are even a notch above. It was awesome nonetheless, and in typical soccer fan fashion the crowd was electric; chanting the entire time and setting off flares. Video & December In Paris Random Shots

No Christmas in Paris would be complete without pictures of the Champs Elysées all lit up. More pictures: Champs Elysées

We spent a fabulous Christmas eve and Christmas Day with Bernard, Josseline, Thierry and Eric Nicolet, long time friends of my mom from when Bernard and my mom were in graduate school in geology together.


To wrap up an adventuresome 2009 we spent New Years eve with some new friends, Maarten and Susan, who live in our apartment building. We cooked an excellent meal, followed by a ringing in of 2010 with Champagne.

Wishing you all and healthy and prosperous 2010! Bonne Année!