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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Dec 2008
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    1,488

    St. Anton - March 2019

    Word of warning – if you’re looking for death defying Euro insanity you might have to look elsewhere because last year I broke my hip skiing. Then during PT this January I sliced my shin open and had to get 18 stitches (box jumps on metal boxes are stupid and I hate them). So I went to St. Anton in March not exactly at 100%.

    Also want to say – thanks to everyone posting in the EuroBBI thread as it helped with research since this was my first Euro trip (should have joined you guys but this was for my wife’s 40th) and Buster for some last-minute intel on St. Anton (none of which I actually listened to since like all good dumb Americans I never hired a guide).

    First 5 days of the trip were bluebird. Most easy shots had been skied when we got there, but pow was easy to find. By day 4 though we were having to skin further and further to north faces to find it or just ski south facing corn laps. Day 6 rain/snow shut us out, but on Day 7 we had 15” of new + bluebird.

    First foray was Hinteres Rendle. It’s easy to access and hudge. It was tracked, but a quick lap is an easy way to get your head wrapped around the Rendle area.

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    Next plan was to climb/ski the Hochkarkopf down to St. Jakob, but we opted to do this shorter skin instead:

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    And ski corn down to the Malfon valley ending at Pettneu. It was too late in the day for us to get to the W and N facing shots across this valley, but there are skin tracks up most everything you can see. Although I think the main bowl on the other side of this valley is most easily accessed via Kappl summit. A tour I'd love to do is up the Rendle, over to Ischgl, taxi to Kappl and then down that face back to Pettneu:

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    We also spent a big chunk of time touring out of Stuben. Most everything starts with a 20 minute skin up the Mario:

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    The summit offers skiing in every direction or you can use it to skin even further. This is less than half the terrain it accesses, but is taken from an opposing ridge so you can still see some of the inbounds. Mario skin summit is up on the right:

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    We skied the south facing 3700 foot Maroi Leitn first. Even got an “action” shot for once as I found one tiny bit of pow in the middle of a corn run:

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    Run was basically the entire face on the right. I’d imagine skiing this on a day when south faces are holding pow would be pretty ridiculous. Even as a corn lap it was so damn fun. Only “downside” is you end up a couple bus rides from the lifts so you can't easily lap this. The huge upside is this valley ends at the Verwall restaurant – which is the polar opposite of the Moosewirt, but we liked it just as much:

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    Next day I wanted to ski the Kaltenberg. It's the biggest peak up that valley a couple photos back. Skinned up the Mario, skied about 2000 vert down into the valley and started skinning, but when I got a look at it there were a shit ton of tracks and a bunch of parties on the way up. So I skied this insignificant bump that had a bunch of untouched north facing snow. Putting down some big American tracks here was so fun:

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    Then I skinned over the pass to the Krachelspitze and got a shot of my intended goal the Kaltenberg. It's the more classic tour for sure, but not sure there was a fresh line left. Had my hip not been fried from all the Euro switchbacks it wouldn't have been a huge deal to add this to the day:

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    But instead I turned around from where I took that last photo for a 4500 foot ski down to the bus in Langen. It looks tracked, but there was more than enough space to ski mostly fresh all the way down. The term glorious meadowskipping comes to mind:

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    On our final day we had about 15" of new on top of a frozen base and bluebird skies. South faces were roughed up coral reef under that new snow so we went to Stuben again since it faces North and the mountain had been windbuffed the days before. Barely took any photos - I think I skied somethign like 20 -25k vert mostly untracked. It was silly and gluttonous and amazing and sure as hell made up for all the stupid injury crap I dealt with this past year. This was maybe 1/3 to 1/2 way down the Geisleger. Took this far left from here, under the powerlines and ended up at the end of the xc track in Stuben:

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    More big American tracks:
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    To end the day I did three laps up this guy. I skinned the first one, but it was pretty slick so I just booted the next two. Was probably 5-10 minutes faster that way:

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    First two I just skied off the summit back to the Albonabahn II. On the last lap though I hiked over to the Peischelkopf and skied down to St. Christoph. Going from one village founded in the 1300's to another founded in the 1300's was just a tad bit different than my typical Bridger Bowl day:

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    St. Christoph down below:
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    From there you're one chair from the Moosewirt so I skied there to meet my wife, got rowdy, had dinner, grabbed a train to Zurich and was home 24 hours later.

    10/10 would St. Anton again. Getting there on the direct train from Zurich HB was ridiculously easy. Only downside is it ain't cheap - especially the lodging. If I go back there I think I'd just stay down valley in Pettneu or Langen. With the free buses to both it doesn't seem worth the scratch to stay in St. Anton unless you want to get wasted with Brits all night.
    Last edited by kathleenturneroverdrive; 04-10-2019 at 09:34 AM.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Sep 2001
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    Nice weather! I only got 1 day of blue sky over my 5 days. Verwall was cool, liked that face above Stuben. Did Hinterrendl in a storm; no viz.
    Merde De Glace On the Freak When Ski
    >>>200 cm Black Bamboo Sidewalled DPS Lotus 120 : Best Skis Ever <<<

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Dec 2008
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    1,488
    We got so lucky - altough I think all the tracked snow our first few days was from the storm you scored. Hinterrendl in a storm must have been an experience - not much to see there at all. And 100% agree - Verwall was so, so nice. We ended up staying for a couple hours and I made it back just in time for last chair up the Galzig - where my form was loose as hell all the way to the bottom

  4. #4
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    Sep 2001
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    Mind blown?

    Merde De Glace On the Freak When Ski
    >>>200 cm Black Bamboo Sidewalled DPS Lotus 120 : Best Skis Ever <<<

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Dec 2008
    Posts
    1,488
    100% blown. Subscribed and interested in EuroBBI next year and planning a longer visit the year after.


    Sent from my iPhone using TGR Forums

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Apr 2009
    Location
    Sedrun CH
    Posts
    468
    Well done! Did your wife liked it too?
    St. Anton and surroundings lately got a bit pricy (especially for austrian standards) these are the wonders of marketing... and the local will to be part of CH :-)

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Dec 2008
    Posts
    1,488

    St. Anton - March 2019

    She loved it - a couple lines were tough get back from on her split board but she was stoked nonetheless. Now she’s debating a dynafit ski setup for the next euro trip
    Last edited by kathleenturneroverdrive; 04-10-2019 at 06:35 AM.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Aug 2016
    Location
    No longer Alexandria, VA
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    2,648
    Looks like a blast, thanks for the pics. Hoping to get my wife out to Yurp for a trip like that!

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Sep 2016
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    902
    Great photos. Glad it worked.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Posts
    277
    wait, there's skiing in St A!?
    This:
    [got rowdy... in St. Anton... it ain't cheap [/QUOTE]
    Pretty much my understanding of the place (and it's popularity).

    Mind = Blown.

    Beautiful photos though - looks like a great trip.

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Dec 2008
    Location
    Nashville TN
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    1,054
    Looks like a great time. I love that area above Stuben. I stayed there my first 2 trips to the Arlberg. Before the lift connection between Zurs and St. A, Stuben was the bargain place to stay in the Arlberg. I paid approx $100/night for a decent room for 2 with a good breakfast about 15 years ago.

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