Skiing
for the novice in St.Anton
I hope that you find this
information useful, maybe you can print off some of the directions and
bring them with you to compliment your ski area maps - these maps are
available free all over the village. Please
remember to make a small
donation to help us keep the site up and running....Thank you
Gampen
& Kapall
If you are a total beginner or novice
skier I cannot stress enough that you should have ski lessons. There is
a good ski school here and you will be put into a group with people
that ski to the same standard as you do - you can
all learn together, laugh at each other and have a great time whilst
learning what is a wonderful leisure pursuit. Your instructor will only
take you to slopes that are suitable for you, so you won't risk getting
lost and end up on a black run that you should not be on! To really
enjoy skiing you need to get to the point where you can make parallel
turns to a good standard - at this point the mountain will become your
own and you can go pretty much where ever you like on the piste. The
quickest way to get to this point is to have lessons. If you can afford
it then have individual lessons, if you are on holiday as a group of
beginners - then book your own instructor. There is plenty of
information to be found by clicking on the link for Ski Schools. So where
can you ski if you have done some skiing before and can make good
snowplough turns. Each of the three ski areas has runs that will suit
you. Maybe the best area is the Gampen / Kapall area. You can reach
this by taking the Gampen chairlift next to the main Galzig Gondola
station at the top of the village or by taking the Nasserein Gondola.
Both of these lifts will bring you up to Gampen, on Gampen you will
find two beginner drag lifts on a very gentle slope that caters for
absolute beginners to people practising their
snowplough turns. If you
are a confident snowplough skier then you can take the chairlift up
from Gampen up
to Kapall. There is a nice long blue run (no.36) that takes you back
down to Gampen. To ski back to the village there are three blue runs
from Gampen. The first blue (no.24) will take you all the way back down
to the Nasserein gondola station. If you want to return to the top of
the village you can take initially blue no.20 and then blue no.1 which
will take you back down to the village past most of the
après ski bars. Alternatively you can also take a slightly
harder run - blue no.23 back to the same place but not passing the
après ski bars!!
There
is a large self-service restaurant on Gampen as well as the "yellow
igloo" where you can get hot drinks and booze! Kapall also has a small
bar / restaurant. You can click on the piste map and save it to your
pc. The piste maps are available all around St.Anton free of charge.
The photo to the left is just outside the Gampen restaurant and igloo.
Galzig
As
a confident snowplough skier you can also find some nice runs on
Galzig. To reach the Galzig area you take the main Gondola up from the
top
end of the village. If you are on Gampen you can reach the Galzig
by taking blue no.20 and then getting on the Zammermoos chairlift -
this will bring you out at the top of the Galzig ski area. Once there
you can ski down blue no.5, otherwise known as "Blue Osthang" This is a
great run for practising your turns on and it has a chairlift at the
bottom to whiz you back up to the start of the run. However, this run
is very popular and can get very bumpy as the day progresses - Our tip
: Ski it in the mornings first thing. Another very nice run from Galzig
is to ski down to St.Christoph (and go to the Arlberghohe for a hot
chocolate or lunch – Click on the "lunch &
après ski" link - to
get there you need to go around the back of the Galzig lift station / restaurant
and follow blue 8 all the way down to St.Christoph, you can not get
lost down here as this run only goes to St.Christoph. To return
to Galzig you take the chairlift back up.
This picture is the
lovely little village of St.Christoph. To
return from the Galzig to St.Anton
is a little more complicated and quite a long run. Whilst this is a
blue run there is a 150-metre section that is quite hard - if you are
tired take the gondola down, you need to start from the top of Galzig,
not the lift station (as this is too low) initially you follow the
signs and take blue 9 which is basically a path that cuts across the ski
area, take care because at one point you cut across the Tanzboden
draglift. At the end of blue 9 you should go to the right
following
signs for blue no.4 - after about 250 metres you again have to turn to
the right - this is where you reach the steeper section, this is also
quite busy at the end of the day. Having made your way down this little
section you are on a long gentle run down the "Happy Valley" (blue 4).
Follow this and everybody else and you will come out at the Zammermoos
chairlift, from here carry on down (blue 1) and you will end back at
the top of St.Anton village via the après ski bars. There is a large self-service
restaurant in the main gondola station on the Galzig but I would
recommend skiing down to St.Christoph and lunching at the Arlberghohe.
The above picture is taken on Blue Osthang (no.5) You can click on the
Galzig ski map and save it to you pc. Piste maps are available free of
charge all around St.Anton. There is a very nice coffee bar in the Galzig gondola station.
Rendl
I would not recommend Rendl for the
beginner, as it is mainly an area for the intermediate skier although it
does have a couple of blue runs. Also it can be very cold and icy up there
in the mornings. The run back down to the village is also not really
for the snowplough skier.
Going to Stuben
Once you have got to
the point that you are a confident snowplough skier there is a little
trip that I think is well worth doing - Stuben (see pic below). Stuben
is the smallest but one of the prettiest villages in the Arlberg ski
area and there are several very nice places to eat lunch there. The
slopes above Stuben (Albona) whilst being classified as red are
reasonably quiet and very nice to ski on. So,
how do you get there.... Well it is quite a long trip so start
early....You need to get to the top of the Galzig ski area ( see above)
and then as you come down blue 5 you go to the left onto blue 9 which
is just the little path across the mountain, you cross the Tanzboden
draglift and then at the end of the track you turn LEFT down blue 11.
This is quite flat and then goes slightly uphill so you will need to
push yourself along with your poles for a bit. As you approach the
Schindlergratbahn (this should
be directly ahead) you need to head to the left, still following blue
11. This will bring you to the Arlenmahder chairlift, take this eight
seat lift up and you will find yourself just above a large bar /
restaurant called the Ulmer Hutte (see pic below) - a good place to
stop for a rest and a hot chocolate.... When you leave the Ulmer Hutte you
should NOT go to the left but instead carry on straight down blue 17.
This will bring you down to a place called Alpe Rauz where there is a
chair lift back up towards St.Anton - DON'T take this but again head
straight on, still on blue 17, you will pass underneath a little bridge
and eventually reach Stuben. You will arrive by the little two man
chair lift, just above the chair lift you will see the Church
and some racks for leaving your skis - from there you can walk into the
middle of Stuben. There are plenty of places to eat but I recommend
either "Willys" or the "Haus Schneider" - for details click on "Lunch
& Après Ski" link.
To
get back to St.Anton you need to take the two man-chair lift up and
then ski down blue S1, this is signposted to St.Anton. This will bring
you out at Alpe Rauz where you take the chairlift back up the mountain.
As you come off the chairlift you ski straight on and then around to
the right - this part of the slope goes down and then up, the more
speed you carry downhill the less pushing you will do with you poles! However
exercise caution
as it is very busy and you can pick up quite a bit of speed.... You
will now be at the top of blue 4 - this is the slightly steeper section
at the top of happy valley (blue 4) so carry on down this run, then
down the valley and past the Zammermoos chairlift, now you are on blue
1and heading back down to St.Anton, via the apres ski bars of course !!
You
can click on the piste map and save it to your pc. Piste maps are
available free of charge all around St.Anton. Have a great trip!