St Anton, Austria – a summary

Six days of skiing in St Anton….

Skiing: Conditions were great. Bit of ice, but a great job of piste bashing (grooming) was being done. Most runs were open. Skiing at St Anton is challenging, and not necessarily for the beginner. One thing that was great to see was all the investment in lifts that has happened in the last few years. The new lift up to Rendl is great (although they do need to replace the two seaters up at Rendl), and the new Galzig lift is most impressive. Also a number of the other lifts in the area have been replaced.

Lunchtime: There are a number of on-mountain cafe and restaurants. Food was generally good and service quick (Mooserwirt and Crazy Kanguruh), the exception would be the more traditional Austrian mountain hotels and restaurants where lunch could be ‘leisurely’. If you want a quick lunch, and to concentrate on skiing then go for the more touristy type places, long leisurely lunch, go local.

Apres Ski: Great. A lot going on. Mooserwirts and Crazy Kanguruh were ‘happening’ (although a bit quite compared to previous years). The town was lively with a lot going on.

Christmas Eve in St Anton: Not a lot going on. This was a big surprise. All the bars shit around 7 pm and become ‘ticket only’. Be warned.

Mark Warner: For this trip I was travelling with Mark Warner. Generally we were well looked after. The real exceptions to this would be the flights and the transfers. Transfers were fine, but the flight out was delayed by 1 hour, and the return flight was delayed by over 4 hours. The reason for these delays is because of the charter airline, Viking, used by Mark Warner. The plane we were on flies from Gatwick to Chambery, France, and back in the morning, and then from Gatwick to Friedrichshafen (Germany) for St Anton, and back in the afternoon. If there is a problem on the Chambery, France legs then there is a knock-on to the St Anton flights, which is what we experienced.

Food: Food in the hotel was good. The porridge did have a slight ‘wallpaper paste’ quality, and the dumplings should be avoided. Service was slow at the evening dinner and I very rarely got away from the table before 10:30 pm.

Rosanna Hotel, St Anton: The hotel is very nice, and has also been improved (bathrooms) in the last couple of years. A new sound system has been installed in Scotty’s (the bar in the hotel that is open to the general public), so hotel rooms are now quite noisy until 12:30 am – 1 am. My room also was uncomfortably hot at night (even with all the in-room heating turned off), and with the window open the temperature could be regulated, by this made the noise from the bar worse.

Find of the trip: The new lift up to Rendl and the restaurant ‘Speisen and Getranke’ on Route 1 down from Rendl. Best cappuccino of the week, and a great Applestrudel….

Overall: St Anton is a great ski resort. Lots of great and challenging runs, great apres ski scene.