Lifts & Terrain
St Anton Ski and Snowboard TerrainSt Anton ski resort is part of the Arlberg region that includes Lech and Zurs ski resorts. St Anton is interconnected via lifts with St Christoph and Stuben. The Alberg ski pass covers all these areas, but St Anton is not interconnected with Lech and Zurs via the lifts and piste, but only by shuttle bus or car which takes about 30 minutes. It is possible for expert skiers and snowboarders to travel from the backside of Valluga (in St Anton resort) down to Zurs, but this necessitates a guide. The combined ski areas of the Arlberg alliance provide 82 chair lifts, and 260km of groomed piste.
The St Anton skiing terrain is divided into two areas on either side of the village. The main part of St Anton is accessed directly from the village, whilst Rendl is up the other side of the valley. The snow conditions are sometimes better at Rendl because it has a north-facing aspect.
St Anton is particularly suited to advanced skiers even though there are very few black runs on-piste. Most of the vast expert terrain is off-piste. In good snow conditions the off-piste skiing is superb, but unfortunately due to the south-facing aspect of many of the slopes, these quickly become sun affected. For intermediates there is great skiing in any conditions due to good grooming and snowmaking facilities, and there’s a huge range of runs to choose from.
In 2006/07 a new 24-person ferris wheel gondola replaced the old Galzigbahn lift. This is an engineering feat but it is incredibly amusing to watch the unorderly way in which people push to get into the gondolas. Some of the other lifts are also modern, whilst some are fairly slow. Even with the reasonable lift infrastructure, there are still some amazing lift queues. It’s hard to remain relaxed considering the very unattractive culture of pushing and shoving to get to the front of the queue.
Some of the slopes get very busy and when combined with bumps and ice, they can become incredibly unsafe for those who are not confident and assertive skiers. On the plus side, the mayhem makes for an interesting spectator sport!
Some of the lifts are not particularly easy to navigate for first-time visitors to St Anton, and the signposting is small and discrete. In addition to this, the trail map is not entirely accurate. We tried to find the run down to St Christoph, and the run certainly wasn’t where the trail map indicated it should be. Frequenters to the area obviously don’t notice these inadequacies.
There are also some unfortunate terrain shortcomings in the middle area of the resort where there are major dips. Even if you go at top speed in a tuck, you’ll often need to herringbone or walk up part of the rise – very frustrating for snowboarders.
St. Anton Beginner TerrainThe beginners runs are relatively challenging, and as St Anton has a tendency to be crowded, these “green” runs can quickly become mogulled making them even more difficult. Even advanced skiers may find it challenging to navigate all the moving obstacles and fixed bumps on the main runs. The bottom half of the no. 1 run is particularly perilous towards the end of the day, but you’ll be rewarded by some fantastic action in one of the slope-side après bars.
Intermediate Skiing Similarly for intermediates, the red and blue runs are probably more difficult than other resorts. Some are quite steep and those on major routes become covered in bumps fairly readily. There is plenty of variety for intermediates with our favourite run being the long highway down to Stuben. The Rendl area is great, particularly in the afternoon when it catches the sunshine.
For the Family/Kids Even though St Anton is party central, it’s still quite family-friendly. The learning area on the village side is where the pistes from the Gampen and Galzig converge. Ski school is available for children aged two and above.
Park and PipeThere is a small terrain park in the Rendl area which has limited jumps, table tops, slides, rails, and a fairly simple halfpipe.
Advanced Ski and Snowboard TerrainThere is little on piste for expert skiers, although some of the intermediate runs may be challenging enough. The best descents are runs served by the Valluga and Kapall lifts. Other advanced skiing and boarding is off-piste, with many wide areas to choose from. The Mattun run is nice with powder, otherwise it is a great spot to practise bumps. Another nice place to explore off-piste is across at Rendl where the fear factor is not too extreme, and there is enjoyable tree skiing.
Expert SkiingWith most of the resort above the tree line, there’s a large range of off-piste areas to be consumed by experts. There are some serious frighteners reached from the Valluga summit. There are also scary chutes off the triple chair. As you turn left on the chair, the first run is fenced off and accessed via stairs, perhaps to make sure no one accidentally skis the run. Don’t be fooled by the easy-looking wide entry as it tapers off into a tight chute.
If accompanied by a guide, the route off the backside of Valluga down to Zurs is popular. For first-timers to St Anton, it may be beneficial to hire a guide to aid your orientation to some of the best runs.
For the Powderhound Like the rest of Europe it can be a case of luck for Powderhounds. The frequency of powder days is not too bad with an annual snowfall of 7 metres on average. The majority of the resort is above the tree line, so there are plenty of open areas to sniff out the powder. The downside of course is that there is only minimal tree skiing. Another disadvantage of St Anton is that there are many local powderhounds, and after a big dump they appear on the slopes en-masse. The chances of finding fresh tracks after 10am are minimal.
Stuben was the highlight for us, where five days after a snowfall it was still possible to find fresh snow. This area also has a little tree skiing, or at least shrub skiing.
Snow Conditions We unfortunately visited St Anton during a very bad season. The cover was sparse in many areas. There was a large snowfall our first night and for the rest of the week it was perfect sunshine. The snow melted a little more each day. Other than the first day of powder, the snow was a combination of ice and slush. You had to be incredibly adventurous to find the good snow conditions. At least the hot weather was perfect for sunbaking and sitting outside for brunch, lunch and après.
St Anton has a lot of snowmaking facilities to make up for the lack of natural snow.