Lech/Zürs: January 2005 and 2006

[jamesdeluxe]

I could've sworn that I'd posted pix of my consecutive end-of-January visits to the Arlberg on FTO; however, after a quick search I couldn't find them. These were my first ski visits to Europe since going to the Kitzbühel Alps of Tirol in March 2002. After getting acquainted through the Epicski Academy in Stowe, I joined Erik, an expert skier/instructor from northern Vermont, and his childhood friend from New Jersey.

As I was no more than an intermediate at the time, it was challenging to keep up with these strong skiers when they took me on a fair number of offpiste runs that were above my pay grade. 20 years later, I can't recall the locations of many photos or provide a lot of accurate commentary.

Zürser Täli:

The gorgeous Steinmähder sector:

You can tell from the graininess of photos with shadows and low light that I was using one of the early digital cameras of the era:

We scored a lot of powder on what most people would agree is historically the best week of the season to visit the Arlberg:

Since I was the only one with a camera, here's a rare pic of me. I hate seeing chairlifts in photos but here it creates an interesting effect:

Lower mountain, heading back into town:

Time to call it a day:

Après-ski in Lech:

On the way to the hotel, we stopped at the legendary, family-run Strolz luxury sports department store -- best known for inventing the custom-foamed, handcrafted leather ski boot in 1921. Strolz was also the setting for Tony's memorable photo. If I recall correctly, these skis were a mind-boggling $2,500, which is $4,200 adjusted for inflation. I can't recall why they were so expensive (rare wood from an endangered rain forest?).

Going into this trip, I knew absolutely nothing about the Arlberg other than that it received rave reviews from anyone on Epicski who'd gone there, so I asked a question on FTO (one of my first posts on this forum) in November 2004 requesting lodging guidance. Erik (who'd been to Lech several times before with his family) took over the accommodations procurement and scored us a room at the oft-mentioned Hotel Sandhof back in the days of their beloved and high-value "Winter Sport Weeks." These included tasty half-board vittles, wellness facilities, and a six-day ski pass -- demonstrating that rareified Lech could be affordable for people who weren't in the position to spend a couple mortgage payments on a ski trip.

Morning: walking to the Rufikopf tram:

The top of Zug:

Gliding into Zürs for lunch:

Wienerschnitzl:

Zürs: looking up at Trittkopf

We spent one day on the St. Anton side, most of it in and around Rendl. Here you can see what may have been a 1970s gondola (that would've been out of place at Lech) and the first time that I'd seen a hooded six-pack chair in the background:

Lunch at Rendl's Bifang Alm:

We joined a quasi celebrity that day, Hannes Schneider (in orange below), grandson of the same-named skiing pioneer who moved to the U.S. in 1939 after being imprisoned by the Nazis. Young Hannes even got a mention in a 1974 NY Times article.

His grandfather, originally from Stuben, third from the right:

A great introduction to the Arlberg that was followed by an equally snowy visit exactly one year later.

 

[ChrisC]

The Arlberg ski trip must have been eye-opening in terms of powder, snowfall, terrain quality, and scale—both vertical and overall.

Interestingly, both you and Tony returned to the Arlberg for repeat ski weeks, which really speaks to the exceptional quality of the skiing in the region. While the Hotel Sandhof was certainly an outstanding value, you wouldn't return to the same destination unless the experience was truly world-class.

20 years later, I can't recall the locations of many photos or provide a lot of accurate commentary.

I recognize the locations of your first 2 photos. They are somewhat iconic for Zurs and Lech:

1. Zurs - Muggengrat Tali (2450m) piste off the backside.
You can see a traverse to the skier's left, and another (lower) to the skier's right. Those routes are incredible. A Piste2Powder guide showed them to us on our second day, and I was blown away by the sheer number of 3,000-vertical-foot freeride lines leading back to the Zürs valley floor, all easily lappable by lift. My brother and I ended up returning almost daily, especially when we were heading over toward Lech or Warth.

One can see all the dotted freeride yellow lines.

2. Lech - Steinmahder Lift
This is perhaps the best example of why Arlberg? (especially in January - and vs Japan)
It's a heated, 8-passenger bubble lift serving a massive south-facing bowl (high enough in altitude in Jan) with a few groomed pistes, but mostly advanced-to-low-expert freeride routes. Everything to the left of the chairlift is powder; one just selects the next untouched line. This type of skiing can go on for hours, and hours. No effort.

This was one of my favorite Lech sectors.

 

[Sbooker]

Looking forward to seeing the 2006 pics.

 

[Tony Crocker]

I’m sure Sbooker has seen my 2013 and 2017 Arlberg reports. In 2013 I was with Piste-to-Powder 3 days in their second highest group. We needed guidance far afield to get powder but that did include the bucket list backside of the Valluga. With Liz in 2017 we hired no guides but there was fresh snow and some of it lasted all week at Warth with cold temperatures.

 

[jamesdeluxe]

A year later, my wife and (against my protests) eight-month-old son Claude came along for a return to Lech. Conditions were fantastic with light refills most nights and sunshine almost every day. Evenings and mornings were decidedly not fabulous as he caught an ear infection that resulted in lots of screaming and other misery for him and us. As some of you may be aware by now, this trip turned out to be coming attractions for the next 20 years.

In any case, here are the pix:

I positioned her to get a handful of nice backlit shots -- and she was learning to click the button at the right time!

My wife did not enjoy the thick crud on Kriegerhorn:

Near the bottom in Lech -- with the tall pines and gorgeous grooming, it looks like a perfect blue square in the western U.S.:

Stopping for coffee at Palmenalpe:

Leaving the Palmenalp:

I think that this was the beginning of the White Ring circuit, at the top of Rufikopf?

Further down:

Reverse shot:

Knee-deep and soft during one of the very few cloudy periods on this trip:

Lodging: I attempted repeating the previous year's trick by trying to book Hotel Sandhof; however, I got around to it too late -- the Sport Week promotions had already sold out for that stretch. Instead, I found the pleasant Hotel Felsenhof with virtually the same format and price. The food and accommodations were perhaps a half step down from Sandhof and you had to take a bus (only three minutes) to get into the village but still, couldn't beat the price. Looking out from our balcony:

Waiting for the bus:

Here we are on the return flight flying over Quebec's Le Massif four years before the big terrain expansion on the looker's right. Two decades ago, all jets from Europe (at least the ones I took) flew right above the St. Lawrence and then paralleled the Hudson all the way down to Newark; however, nowadays they're routed much further to the east -- not as fun:

Oddly enough, following these two fantastic Arlberg trips, I didn't return to the Alps for five years, until my week at Ischgl.

 

[Sbooker]

^^^^
Beautiful pics @jamesdeluxe

 

[jamesdeluxe]

^^^^
Beautiful pics @jamesdeluxe

Thanks! Everyone looks like a planning genius when conditions turn out well.

 

[jamesdeluxe]

With Liz in 2017 we hired no guides but there was fresh snow and some of it lasted all week at Warth with cold temperatures.

Alps snowfall champ Warth wasn't lift-connected to the Lech circuit until 2013 so without a car -- I didn't have one on either Lech visit/took the Arlberg Express bus from Zurich airport -- only strong backcountry skiers could access it. That lent Warth a quasi mystical status back then. I finally made it to Warth in 2015 and again in 2022.

 

[jamesdeluxe]

1. Zurs - Muggengrat (2450m) piste off the backside.
You can see a traverse to the skier's left, and another (lower) to the skier's right. Those routes are incredible

Just below the Muggengrat chair, that photo shows Zürser Täli: "Little Zürs Valley." Beautiful on a laptop, even more stunning in person.

My Stowe "guide" took us on a couple offpiste runs to the skier's left that I would've appreciated better a few years later. Back then, I was nervously trying to make it down in one piece (I hate slowing people down/they patiently waited for me). The 2,400-vert groomer down the middle is considered one of Lech's onpiste highlights.

 

[ChrisC]

I’m sure Sbooker has seen my 2013 and 2017 Arlberg reports. In 2013 I was with Piste-to-Powder 3 days in their second highest group. We needed guidance far afield to get powder but that did include the bucket list backside of the Valluga. With Liz in 2017 we hired no guides but there was fresh snow and some of it lasted all week at Warth with cold temperatures.

Alps snowfall champ Warth wasn't lift-connected to the Lech circuit until 2013 so without a car -- I didn't have one on either Lech visit/took the Arlberg Express bus from Zurich airport -- only strong backcountry skiers could access it. That lent Warth a quasi mystical status back then. I finally made it to Warth in 2015 and again in 2022.

Many personal examples from the past 20 years show excellent snow conditions and deep bases in the Arlberg and Vorarlberg in late January and early February.

While it has not achieved the mythic status of Ja-Powder-uary / JAPOW, Arlberg is very similar.

 

[Tony Crocker]

While it has not achieved the mythic status of Ja-Powder-uary / JAPOW, Arlberg is very similar.

I still believe Jackson is the better analogy. I've had 4 trips to Jackson in the same late January/first week of February timeframe as we now more often go to the Alps. The first of those was the powderfest with Patrick in 2006, and while the later ones with Liz did not have much powder, the skiing was excellent. Both Jackson and the Arlberg do not have as high powder expectation of Japan but have much more interesting terrain quality.

 

[Sbooker]

As you all may recall I have had one poor outing to the Arlberg in an unusually warm spell at the end of January a couple of years ago. I’m hoping probability suggests I won’t get another poor spell next time. Even if we do get sub par conditions the guides will be able to find some nicer snow and keep us away from the hordes.