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  1. #1
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    School me on St. Anton Im Arlberg

    I would like some information on how-to do St. Anton.
    I don't know German, aside from a few cheesy insults.

    I'm aiming for an inexpensive 3 star hotel with easy access to the train station, likely a 2 or 3 night stay.

    The Valluga is guided only, right? What's the least expensive and most fun way to ski it?

    I can skip the Mooswirt in lieu of a smaller quieter bar with local schnapps.
    Merde De Glace On the Freak When Ski
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  2. #2
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    Not much in the way of advice I'm afraid but my weekend there back in 1991 was outstanding. I recall shit tons of off piste skiing, couloirs abounded (in bounds), and basically anything off of the groomers was un-tracked. The resort is incredible, with lifts everywhere. Great terrain and big vertical.

    This advice may not help you, but I trust it will reassure you on your destination pick. Have fun Buster! You never know, may see you in yurp one day.
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  3. #3
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    There is a good free bus system in the valley, so no need to limit yourself to just near the train station.

    There is one marked run off the Valluga, but the fun stuff is off-piste, but I don't believe you are required to be guided. It is well skied, and judging by the gaperness of many of the guided skiers, there are some easyish routes. You can easily end up in the wrong town or valley many lifts and runs from your hotel...like in much of Europe, so nothing new for you.

    I've only skied there a total of five days, all on piste with intermediate skiers, so can't say too much, other then there are massive amounts of off-piste lift access skiing.

    I agree it is a constitutional right for Americans to be assholes...its just too bad that so many take the opportunity...
    iscariot

  4. #4
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    School me on St. Anton Im Arlberg

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    You sure Buster? I’m not sure if there’s enough terrain for you.
    Last edited by plugboots; 09-14-2018 at 04:26 PM.
    Well maybe I'm the faggot America
    I'm not a part of a redneck agenda

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by garyfromterrace View Post
    Not much in the way of advice I'm afraid but my weekend there back in 1991 was outstanding. I recall shit tons of off piste skiing, couloirs abounded (in bounds), and basically anything off of the groomers was un-tracked. The resort is incredible, with lifts everywhere. Great terrain and big vertical.

    This advice may not help you, but I trust it will reassure you on your destination pick. Have fun Buster! You never know, may see you in yurp one day.
    Thanks G, it would be great to ski with you anywhere. If I go to St. Anton, it will be just one place on my usual tour schedule, but this time, further east. I'm getting old and have to tick this stuff off before I can't anymore.

    Quote Originally Posted by hutash View Post
    There is a good free bus system in the valley, so no need to limit yourself to just near the train station.

    There is one marked run off the Valluga, but the fun stuff is off-piste, but I don't believe you are required to be guided. It is well skied, and judging by the gaperness of many of the guided skiers, there are some easyish routes. You can easily end up in the wrong town or valley many lifts and runs from your hotel...like in much of Europe, so nothing new for you.

    I've only skied there a total of five days, all on piste with intermediate skiers, so can't say too much, other then there are massive amounts of off-piste lift access skiing.
    I may be arriving late on a train, do the buses run late? Also, I like to ski a day, then take an afternoon or evening train to the next spot.

    Hmm. OK, I'd read a guide is required, like they do @ Verbier for the Gele tram (sometimes). Besides, I'll be a newb there.

    Quote Originally Posted by plugboots View Post
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    You sure Buster? I’m not sure if there’s enough terrain for you.
    I'm more familiar with smaller places, but like I said, I should do this one at some point before I'm too brittle.
    Merde De Glace On the Freak When Ski
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  6. #6
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    Did you ask klar yet?

  7. #7
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    Don't need to speak German - everyone pretty much speaks English. Staying in St. Anton proper is pricey but way cool. Lech/Zurs is more expensive. St. Anton, Lech, Zurs, Warth all connected now by gondola. More terrain than you can wrap your mind around. Heated seats on six seat lifts, hydraulic lifts that adjust the loading height of the chair if you have little ones, half liter beers for 4 euros. May be able to get half board - breakfast and dinner at a place. Don't rent a car - take the train.

  8. #8
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  9. #9
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    Look into Zimmers local B&Bs cheap small tasty.
    Plenty of bars clubs English everywhere.
    Trains are where it's at, they do it right.
    People ski in funny places in Europe. just sayin'

  10. #10
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    I'm not exactly an expert from one trip there but my 2 cents:

    Lodging in St Anton was super expensive mid winter so we stayed down in Landeck. Nice little town with good cheap eats. Then you can hit Ischgl too.

    You can ride the Vallugabahn to 2645m, but need a guide to continue up the mini-tram to the top at 2810m. The main lift offers plenty of great terrain, but you need to go to the top to drop off the backside runs down to Zurs. I did not do it. With the new Flexenbahn, you can connect over to Zurs by lift anyways.

    The scale of the place is ridiculous but it's pretty easy to find your way around. As long as visibility is good, just ski what you see. And hope it's not too windy so the upper lifts open.

  11. #11
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    Screw my previous advice - rent car, stay in Landeck. Ski at St. Anton/Lech/Zurs/Warth for a couple days. Then Ischgl, Serfaus, Silvretta/Montafon, Solden, Obergurl/Hochgurgl for a day. Your furthest drive will be about an hour to Solden (15 more to Obergurgl/Hochgurgl). I can't wrap my mind around the amount of terrain at all those resorts together, maybe 20-30 Vail's, 250 lifts of 20 person gondolas, heated six-seaters, detachable everywhere....Tirol infrastructure at ski resorts is quite impressive. I don't know how they pull it off financially.
    When I finally retire I plan to stay in Landeck for multiple weeks and get the Tirol Snow Card (covers about 80 resorts in eastern Austria).

  12. #12
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    I'm pretty centered on limiting myself to trains if I can.

    Cars add a lot of expense with the tolls, snow tires, parking limitations and route finding. I think the flexibility one gets with a car is worth it in Italy and France, but not in Austria and Switzerland with some exceptions like Arolla and Val d'Annivers (Grimentz/Zinal). I've had good experiences with the Swiss 'Post Bus' which connect virtually everywhere.

    I have a general plan I'm working on that connects a bunch of places with train rides in between in the afternoon and evening where I have a decent understanding of where to stay and ski. I can go on about that, but St. Anton is the one place that's kind of opaque to me so far. Hence the request for info.

    Yeah, hotels sure seem expensive in St. Anton, the best I can find is around 80E/night which is even more than I spent in St. Moritz.

    The stupid thing is that essentially I have aversions to the A-list places like St. Anton because of the expense and attitude, but I'm trying to get over that as I approach the golden years when the steep shit will be overdoing it.
    Merde De Glace On the Freak When Ski
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  13. #13
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    who you going with Buster alone or in a crew, i know St Anton. Theres a shuttle bus running the length of the village, so you can stay anywhere and get up the mountain easy, im not overly fussed on the piste skiing there but with local knowllage the off piste is fucking immense. The seasonaire smash fuck out of the served off piste, but 30 mins of skinning/boot packing/climbing you'll find what you're after,
    i skied this year with Piste to Powder i paid 120€ for a day in a group of 4.

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  14. #14
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    Likely alone. I usually meet up with some great people in the places I've been before, but I don't know St. Anton at all.

    Thanks for the P2P tip. I try to keep the daily expense under $150 but will blow it out to do something cool.
    Merde De Glace On the Freak When Ski
    >>>200 cm Black Bamboo Sidewalled DPS Lotus 120 : Best Skis Ever <<<

  15. #15
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    Last time there we stayed in Pettneu am Alrberg, the next village over. I think I paid 58euros/night with breakfast. It was a small place, so you can't/shouldn't fill your pockets for lunch.

    I agree it is a constitutional right for Americans to be assholes...its just too bad that so many take the opportunity...
    iscariot

  16. #16
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    OK, thanks good to know. There's St. Jakob and Pettneu on a bus line from St. Anton, looks a lot less expensive there.

    And don't worry, I have very small pockets.
    Merde De Glace On the Freak When Ski
    >>>200 cm Black Bamboo Sidewalled DPS Lotus 120 : Best Skis Ever <<<

  17. #17
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    I’ve done St Anton a few times.

    For places to stay if you aren’t focused on Mooser/Kangaroo, worth looking a Stuben. Easy lift access, much cheaper (and good access to off-piste) and I’m sure here’s a nice little bar there.

    Agreed on the lift-served off-piste getting tracked to oblivion before you even wake up. Worth tacking onto a group for a guide to get the 30-min bootpack goods in my experience.

    I’m a bit hammered in Belgrade right now, so apologize for anything illegible bc I can be bothered to really reread it...

  18. #18
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    i was going to say stuben, tame over there and cheaper but then youll miss out on the chance of seeing some 20ish year old english chick getting fingered in the street just after kicking out time in the mooser or kangaroo.


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  19. #19
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    Pettneu or St Jakob are good places to stay just east of town. Cheaper and more quiet.

    If you ski Valluga in the fog, be careful when getting off the little poma that accesses Schindlerkar and Mattun. I'd done it a million times before, but we completely lost our bearings and ended up in Kaisers and Steeg (look it up on google maps - a very long walk), after riding a lovely wet snow avy down half the slope...

  20. #20
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    Quote Originally Posted by Rossymcg View Post
    i was going to say stuben, tame over there and cheaper but then youll miss out on the chance of seeing some 20ish year old english chick getting fingered in the street just after kicking out time in the mooser or kangaroo.


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    worth the price of the lift tickets right there...

  21. #21
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    Stuben looks like a pain in the ass to access without a car and I'm not finding things to be much cheaper there than St. Anton. St. Jakob and Pettneu appear to be the choice for access and cost.

    Getting exposed to the mating rituals of indigenous intoxicated seasonaires may just be too much of a draw. Are there rules against street spanking?
    Merde De Glace On the Freak When Ski
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  22. #22
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    street wanking or spanking? depend on the time of year. For the former i'd recomend only participating in spring. In the depths of winter, one can struggle to find much to have a tug on due to tempoaray temperature hibernation

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  23. #23
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    Quote Originally Posted by Buster Highmen View Post
    I'm pretty centered on limiting myself to trains if I can.

    Cars add a lot of expense with the tolls, snow tires, parking limitations and route finding. I think the flexibility one gets with a car is worth it in Italy and France, but not in Austria and Switzerland with some exceptions like Arolla and Val d'Annivers (Grimentz/Zinal). I've had good experiences with the Swiss 'Post Bus' which connect virtually everywhere.

    I have a general plan I'm working on that connects a bunch of places with train rides in between in the afternoon and evening where I have a decent understanding of where to stay and ski. I can go on about that, but St. Anton is the one place that's kind of opaque to me so far. Hence the request for info.

    Yeah, hotels sure seem expensive in St. Anton, the best I can find is around 80E/night which is even more than I spent in St. Moritz.

    The stupid thing is that essentially I have aversions to the A-list places like St. Anton because of the expense and attitude, but I'm trying to get over that as I approach the golden years when the steep shit will be overdoing it.
    St. Anton is on the major, fast routes between Zürich and Vienna. Very easy to get in and out of St. A by rail. They moved the train station and it's now a bit of a hike to get to the lifts (except for the Rendlbahn which is now easier to reach.) Staying in smaller towns like Pettneu would be find, but remember it will add 15 to 30 minutes on transit days.
    We feel the same way about A-List. But you will get over it when you see the terrain. And the food is legit too.

  24. #24
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    Been to St. Anton a lot considering I live in CA. Maybe 8 out of the last 15 years or so. Gone with wifey and now taken the 3 kids a few times.

    English is fine, everyone speaks it. In fact its hard to hear German these days between Scandi's, Brits, etc.

    Required to have a guide for top Valluga mini tram. Check out avi conditions. The Nord face does slide with some regularity as its its high and north facing it holds crappy layers far longer than much of the rest of the terrain. If it slides, you fucked. That said, its fun experience, with a long run down to Zurs. Only the top pitch is steep (but not thaaat steep), the rest is meadow skipping. Depending on the time of year, they may be a boot pack in to skip the tram. Looks like a 20 -30 min booter. I have typically just joined the "powder club" through the ski school if it has snowed in the last couple days and made it clear I want to do the Valluga. It has generally been a great experience and is +/-100euro. One year went with a younger guy that F'n ripped and told stories of growing up ski racing with the Matt brothers. That day went up Valluga off backside down to Zurs. Up Zurs tram, down over road to Stuben. Up Stuben down Langen trees to a cab that was waiting. Drove to Sonnenkopf in cab. up a couple lifts, down backside through valley in middle of no where to the waiting cab. Up stuben lifts, down backside again to St. Anton. Pretty standard Langen / Sonnenkopf tour and is a really fun euro pow tour that made paying for the guide worth it because I wouldn't have found most of the terrain, got the cabs, etc. myself. Another time, the guide was kinda meh so ymmv. As most things, depends on the make up of the group and the guide's interest in getting after it versus having a long lunch...

    If coming by train, staying in St. Anton is definitely easiest. Stayed years ago at Haus Gamberg which from a quick search is 63 to 85e per night including breakfast. You could walk there from the train station in 10 or 15mins. Simple breakfast of roll, jam, coffee, etc. but great location. Out of the mayham, but totally walkable to everything.

    My typical mo is to fire off a slew of emails to places, in English, from the list on the tourism board's website and they will respond with offers. The B&B's used to be around that 75 to 85e per night range (although admittedly I'm likely out of date on that now that we have the kids we do it differently). If you go out toward St. Jacob it gets progressively cheaper. Bus works, but is a bit of a schlep back to the Galzig bahn which is the best way up the mountain and is near the gondi to Rendl which has some good terrain off the backside of its lift network, generally doesn't get as much snow, but can be fun when the main area is in the cloud.

    Terrain is endless. Can find freshies days after a storm with minimal effort. Yes, the obvious off-piste gets tracked in a day, but there is plenty off the backsides of most lifts to keep you entertained for a few days.

    Schindlergrat is awesome. Zurs has tons of great terrain if you poke around a bit. Stuben is north facing with lots of snow. If its sunny, crusty, or manky on the south facing St. Anton side head immediately to Zurs or Stuben or Rendl backside.

    Mooserwirt isn't for everyone, but after a few biers is a damn good time and something that couldn't happen in the US. Dancing on the benches in ski boots while its dumping, knowing the next day is going to rule is a great memory for me. For me its a when in rome kinda thing. Much prefer it outside. Inside is too bloody hot and nasty. Make friends, share stories, dance a bit.

    What month you thinking? Enjoy.
    He who has the most fun wins!

  25. #25
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    Thanks comish, thanks hafjell, especially for the lodging leads.
    I'm thinking of going in March, just for 3 days in St. Anton during a big loop.

    I was trying to hit Bad Gastein, St. Anton, Montafon, Davos and then end up in dear old Andermatt over the course of 15 days, but Bad Gastein connections aren't working out well, so I may not make it there this time.

    R/T air to ZRH from SEA is $525 now.
    Last edited by Buster Highmen; 09-17-2018 at 01:10 PM.
    Merde De Glace On the Freak When Ski
    >>>200 cm Black Bamboo Sidewalled DPS Lotus 120 : Best Skis Ever <<<

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