St Anton has a well-deserved reputation as a ride hard, party harder kind of place. There are plenty of amazing steep faces and powder to hunt out and plenty of après ski bars to quench your thirst.
It’s an attractive, typically alpine town, which has a well-connected train station making it a doddle to get there from most airports. Its expensive reputation is fairly well deserved and you’ll be needing a suitably large wallet to really make the most of it.
St Anton, St Christoph and Stuben combine with Lech and Zürs to create the Arlberg ski area, totalling 280km of pistes with a mouth-watering 180km of off-piste trails. It really is worthwhile making the 30 minute bus trip over to Lech or jump off at Zürs, especially during the week when the slopes can be almost deserted.
PISTES
The whole Arlberg area boasts a fine 280km of pistes, and a visit over to the quieter Lech and Zürs should be essential. In St Anton the variety of pistes is fantastic; from the steep and fast runs down from the Valluga to the gentle runs off the Gampen and Galzig.
Beginners are not as well catered for but the slopes in Nasserein and Runs 4 and 5 from the Galzig are good places to get started. By the end of the day though the top section of Run 1 gets incredibly busy, as well as a bit flat and icy, so it can be a bit of a confidence knocker for those on snowboards.
There’s one piste run not to miss when skiing in St Anton: Blue 17. A great long wide run straight down in to Stuben where you can either head straight back up on a luxury heated chair lift or stay for fun in a back country paradise for more experienced riders.
PARKS
There is a lot more effort going into the park up on Rendl these days. It is now maintained by the experienced QParks crew, and head shaper René Friedl manages to cram a lot of jumps and rails into what is still a relatively small space.
Located just below the top station of the main gondola, it’s served by its very own tow-lift. When it’s fully set up, you can expect a pro, medium and easy kicker and rail line, totalling around 20 features. There is a further terrain park in Lech, but it’s not really up to much these days compared to its bigger brother.
POWDER
The word is out on the great freeriding to be had here, so you’ll need to be up early and charging to be making – rather than following – tracks. Riders who know what they’re doing should worm their way up to Kapall where they’ll find loads of great freeride terrain.
You can also head to the mid station of Valluga Grat via the Galzig cable car to reach some amazing off-piste, with long runs back down to St Anton and St Christoph.
Rendl is great fun after a fresh dump, and you can expect to find the locals and ski-bums cramming into Rendlbahn for first tracks
There are routes off the summit of Valluga into Zürs, but these are only do-able with an official guide. Rendl is great fun after a fresh dump, and you can expect to find the locals and ski-bums cramming into Rendlbahn for first tracks.
However, they don’t call it rocky Rendl for nothing, so maybe dont take your fresh-out-the-box skis or board too early in the season.
This area is amazing for full-on freeriding terrain with tight and open trees, and relatively crowd-free slopes. Make sure you head over to Lech for a day at least; the off-piste trails from the top of Rüfikopf are excellent, and they even have a T-bar lift in the middle of nowhere just for these off-piste runs.
From this peak you can also head over to Zürs for some super quiet freeriding. Back in Lech there is more fine stuff off the Kriegerhorn and Zuger Hochlicht peaks.
PARTIES
St Anton is an attractive town, and most of the action is located on or just off the main pedestrianised street. There are plenty of fancy hotels and money floating around, and recently there has been a surge in cool boutique style hotels; however it still manages to retain a good balance without becoming too poncey.
Après ski in St Anton is the thing of legend – as long as you like it Austrian style and starting halfway up the mountain. As reader Dean Stevens says, “St Anton is one of my favourite resorts of all time. Everyone is super friendly and the après kicks ass!”
Descending on Run 1, just before it meets with Run 21, take a look at the Senn Hütte where a nutter called Didi Diesel will be on the mic. Next stop is the Heustadl for some more traditional live music après ski.
“Après ski in St Anton is the thing of legend – as long as you like starting halfway up the mountain”
From here traverse left onto the Red 21 and head to the Krazy Kangaroo or the (slightly more chilled) Taps bar next door. The MooserWirt – only open for six months a year – sells the most beer in Europe and has some of the cheesiest music ever created! “Definitely go there for après,” says skiier Catherine James. “They bring around massive trays of beer and jäger, so you don’t have to stagger to the bar.”
While in St Anton you have to try the Austrian cuisine, if only for the Kiserschamn – a delicious – pancake dessert the perfect reward after a hard day on the slopes. Seasonaire Emma Casey thinks the best place to eat in St Anton is Underground on the Piste. “They have live music, the best steak ever and a really chilled out atmosphere. I always had the best time there!”
At the bottom of the Galzigbahn, the Anton Bar is a nice respite from the après action, and has ski and snowboard movies playing on the big screens, “plus a little train that runs on a track above the bar!” says Catherine.
On and just off the main street you’ll find a good number of bars, starting with the Piccadilly which has a covers singer every evening until 8pm and then re-opens as a nightclub later. The Kandahar does good food and has a nightclub open until 4am, Bobos is the place for a taco and tequila, and Bar Cuba is popular hangout among seasonnaires. Scottys Bar is an old classic, and tend to run a few drink specials.
If you need a day or two off the mountain then it’s well worth checking out the Arl Rock Centre which consists of a sports bar, climbing and bouldering walls, bowling, squash and indoor tennis. There’s also the Wellness Centre, an indoor/outdoor heated pool with saunas, Austrian steam rooms and massages – always a good place to unwind and never that busy.
GETTING THERE
St Anton is just 90 minutes drive from Friedrichshafen Airport. British Airways flies to Friedrichshafen twice a week from London Gatwick, with fares starting from just £45 pp each way, based on a return fare.