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