Ski Arlberg (St. Anton/St. Christoph/Stuben/Lech/Zürs/Warth-Schröcken, Austria): January 28 - February 3, 2019

[ChrisC]

Planning a trip to Austria (and W. Switzerland) involved reviewing old trip photos, so I thought I would post some.

After skiing Engleberg and Andermatt, I picked up my brother at Zurich airport, and we went to the Arlberg (Austria's largest connected ski complex)—staying at a half-board inn in St. Anton for a week. The largest villages in the Ski Arberg complex are St. Anton and Lech (both make good bases). Stuben might be the best value since it is central to Zurs, St. Anton, near Lech, and has excellent home slopes - with cheaper lodging options.

Ski Arlberg Map

January 28, 2019: St. Anton and Stuben.

Our first ski day was a storm day with about 6 inches of new snow, but it is never optimal to begin exploring a Euro ski megaplex in a potential whiteout. However, you can use the Arlberg website's ski cams to look for areas of visibility. Also, the lower slopes of St. Anton, St. Christoph, and Stuben have decent tree protection (highlighted in red).

After some steep, powdery shots off the Galzigbahn, there were indications of some OK visibility in Stuben, so we headed off there, gradually working our way back to St. Anton.

Due to the NordStau weather phenomenon, snowfall in the early season of 2018/19 was exceptional in Austria and Western Switzerland.

The Nordstau is a type of Stau effect that occurs when cold, moist air masses collide with the northern side of the Alps, causing heavy precipitation. The Nordstau is one of several types of Stau effect storms that occur in the Alps, including the Nordweststau, Sudstau, Weststau, and Retour d'est. The direction of the prevailing wind determines which side of the Alps receives the most precipitation. The Nordstau is a well-known storm type that can cause significant snowfall in the northern Alps, which include parts of Austria, Switzerland, and France. These events can last several days, especially when there is a strong northerly flow. The chances of a Nordstau increase when the jet stream has a more north-south pattern

Alps Storm Type #1: The Nordstau | OpenSnow

During the winter, the Alps experience heavy snowfall due to several weather patterns and storm tracks. Five key phenomena,...

opensnow.com

Social media posts like the one below were shared in December/January, with multiple meters of snow falling; bases were near 500cm+ at altitude and 200cm+ in the ski villages.

First night in St. Anton. The original Tyrolean village, after which Vail modeled itself.

Finally, I stopped for some photos mid-morning - ascending to the summit of Stuben. Using a combination of some piste markers or rocks, it was not hard to take advantage of the 6-12" of new snow

Lots of fun trees to ski coming into Stuben village.

We are skiing the woods and open areas near the Galzigbahn on our way down to St. Anton. Rendl is the mountain in the background.

Checking out the infamous St. Anton Apres Ski - The Krazy Kangaroo. No one is outside dancing on tables today!

St. Anton base. Rendl Gondola in the background.

I never considered St. Anton a storm-day mountain, but it skied really well on the lower half. St. Anton's slopes proper are mostly SE and S facing, but with the record snow bases, new snow, and cold temps (0F-25F) for the week, it did not matter.

 

[ChrisC]

January 29, 2019: Zurs and Stuben.

Depending on the aspect, overnight, there was about 12-20" of new snow, with low winds and clear skies.

This was our first guided day with Piste To Powder LINK, which provides mainly English-speaking off-piste guiding services (multiple skill levels) and is based in St. Anton. They are located near the Galzigbahn (a super-interesting tram/gondola-style lift with a unique loading station). We did not ski in St. Anton proper since the upper lifts (Valluga 1 and 2 Trams, Schindlergrat) would likely remain closed for avalanche control.

We quickly made our way to Zurs, skiing a beautiful shot in the St. Christoph/Arlberg Pass vicinity, to the Flexen Gondola.


Highlighted areas skied in red: Zurs (AM) - East (Trittkopf, Hexenboden) & West Sides (Madloch, Muggengrat) and Stuben (PM)

View from the Galzigbahn facing east to Kapall/St. Anton Valley

St. Christoph / Arlberg Pass egress. No time for action photos.

Flexen Gondola to Zurs

Trittkopf 1 Gondola

Trittkopf 2 Gondola

Lots of beautiful terrain on the Trittkopff side of Zurs

Not the day you want to step out of a ski....

Beautiful terrain

We took multiple runs in the Trittkopf sector - sometimes down to the Flexen Pass road, where we grabbed cabs/vans back to the lifts.

Looking across the Zurs Valley to the Muggengrat sector, this mountain is the Hasenfluh at 2526m. The Austrian Alps are generally lower than the Western Alps but are further removed from the Atlantic Ocean warming, so the snow is of high quality, and snow levels are often lower.

More of Zurs's Trittkopf sector

The Brit in the multi-color suit is about 6-4/6-5

To be continued

 

[ChrisC]

We left the East (Tittkopff/Hexenboden) side of Zus around mid-morning and skied the West (Madloch, Muggengrat) side for most of mid-day.
This part of Zurs has beautiful off-piste, especially along its north and south extremities - which are huge sectors that take a while to get skied out.

We first did some runs off the MadlochJoch. However, we abandoned this area after one run since it was a fixed grip double.

For next run the guide moved us to the Muggengrat staying high above the piste route to ski the front face of the Hasenfluh.

View across the Zurs Valley to the East Side/Trittkopf. This is where we skied in the AM.

View down the Zurs Valley to Lech

Lots of tight couloirs

View of Run

We did one more on Hasenfluh - a slightly different variation.

The guide than took us over to Stuben for the afternoon via the Flexen Pass. View back over to the Hasenfluh of mid-day runs.

To be continued.

 

[ChrisC]

In the early afternoon, we moved to Stuben from Zurs. Typically, skiers ride the two-way Flexen gondola from the Zurs' Trittkopf/Flexen midway to Alpe Rauz since there are no pistes between Stuben and Zurs. However, our guide decided it was the perfect time to ski into Stuben and make an epic off-piste descent from Zurs over the Flexen Pass and its avalanche car tunnel.

Typically, the Flexen Pass off-piste is not always skiable since it faces S/SW/W, but that day, there was plenty of new snow on a deep base.

View over Flexen Pass to Stuben

Beautiful Terrain

Stuben and Flexen Avalanche Tunnel

First tracks over Flexen Pass

View back over to Zurs and the Flexenspitze.

Slopes of Stuben

My brother about to make some tracks

Stuben

Flexen Pass and Tunnel from below

After a quick lunch in Stuben, riding out of the village on the Albona lift. Flexen Pass to Zurs - middle. Arlberg Pass to St. Anton - right.

Stuben. Quiet, sleepy, but charming and great location - one lift to either Zurs or St. Anton.

We did one run down the Albona Gondola to Alpe Rauz

One of the final runs was from Stuben's summit of the Albonagrat to the far eastern village of Langen, miles down the valley to the west of Stuben. It was another epic descent.

Overview of the route from Fatmaps (remnants).

Skiing the front-side, North-facing bowls of the Albonagrat

Tons of terrain back here. We then entered beautiful meadows and glades down to Langen.

We took a can from Langen to St. Christoph, where we played on some chutes and then skied open bowls below the Galzig midway into St. Anton. A+ Day!

 

[Tony Crocker]

Very impressive!

sometimes down to the Flexen Pass road, where we grabbed cabs/vans back to the lifts.

Liz and I got separated in 2017 and she followed a too tempting powder line down to that road but managed to hail a cab.

Typically, the Flexen Pass off-piste is not always skiable since it faces S/SW/W, but that day, there was plenty of new snow on a deep base.

That was a real score with the exposure. I only recall being that lucky once: the 3 runs under the upper half of the direct S facing gondola on the Sestriere side of Mt. Fraiteve.

Stuben's summit of the Albonagrat to the far eastern village of Langen

Langen is west of Stuben. When I was with Piste-to-Powder in 2013 they skied from the Albonagrat summit to the east, ending at the Verwall bus stop (red X).

It runs once an hour with the last at 3:30. Don't be late!

 

[ChrisC]

Langen is west of Stuben. When I was with Piste-to-Powder in 2013 they skied from the Albonagrat summit to the east, ending at the Verwall bus stop (red X).

Yes - Langen is west. Updated.

The Arlberg resorts have a lot of freeride/off-piste terrain on the peripheries of their lift-served, piste skiing, somewhat similar to Val d'Isere/Tignes:

• Rendl - North Sides
• Stuben - Noth and East sides
• Zurs - Both North (toward Lech or Zug) and South
• Lech - scattered all over, but peripheries are strongest.
• St. Anton - North backside and lots of South-facing areas between pistes

It runs once an hour with the last at 3:30. Don't be late!

We used a lot of cabs this day. It was OK to spend $ to save time when there is 12-24" new, but buses could be fine other days.

 

[ChrisC]

January 30, 2024. Rendl.

Another storm system was moving in and adding a few more inches to the previous day's one to two feet.

The upper mountain of St. Anton proper was still on avalanche hold, so the Piste-to-Powder guides took us over to Rendl for the day. This was a good decision since Rendl is less skied than St. Anton or Zurs and still has many untouched freeride areas on the day after a storm.

The morning was spent lapping the north-facing 3-4,000 vertical ft bowls of Rendl, highlighted in yellow. (Note: Strava is gradually adding back FatMap details.) This amazingly vast area negates any disadvantages to the south-facing slopes of St. Anton proper.

Visibility was OK-ish, but a cloudy day goggle lens was needed to make things fun—or skiing near some rocks for perspective.

And if the weather was good, Rendl's backside would look like this on a clear day. (Souce: Strava).

Some excellent descriptions of Rendl Freeride: Link

After playing around some of the open areas of Rendl proper and the freeride areas of Rendl North and Hinter Rendl, the guide led us to the classic 4,500 vertical ft descent from the Rendlspitz via the Malfon Tal bowl, ending in the village of Pettneu am Arlberg, a few miles east of St. Anton. Note: This is also the backside/north side of the ski resort Kappl which James recommends.

It's too bad I did not have a bluebird day to catch the beauty of the Tyrolean Alps, but it's still an epic line. You also could start to notice the snow shadow (snowfall decrease) as one travels from Warth to Lech/Zurs (400"/yr) to St. Anton (250-300"/yr) and to Paznaun Valley/Kappl-Ischgl (200-250"/yr). There was 2x the snow from the previous storm in Zurs (24") versus Rendl/Kappl (12").

Pettnau am Arlberg

Again, another cab back to St. Anton from Pettnau.

 

[jamesdeluxe]

another cab back to St. Anton from Pettnau.

Isn't the primary taxi/bus service in the Arlberg called "James"?

 

[Tony Crocker]

Isn't the primary taxi/bus service in the Arlberg called "James"?

Actually not. The Arlberg is way too industrial for James, aside from its remote Warth outpost, apparently too remote for ChrisC. I'd be delighted on some future trip if James would do a car shuttle pickup at the end of some far off piste adventure though.

My first day with Piste-to-Powder in 2013 included the two north facing routes off the back of Rendl to St. Anton, though snow conditions were far from the level that ChrisC enjoyed. The longer route down to Pettnau was probably not advisable with the lesser conditions and sketchy visibility.

 

[jamesdeluxe]

Isn't the primary taxi/bus service in the Arlberg called "James"?

Actually not.

Just checked and it's still around as the night bus from 8 pm to 2 am for €7.

 

[ChrisC]

January 31, 2019. St. Anton. All Day.

The first day of skiing focused on all of St. Anton proper. The upper mountain - specifically the Valluga I and II Cable Cars and the Schindlergrat lift - servicing the highest peaks of the Valluga and Schindler Spitze was now open after being closed for 3 days for storms and avalanche control. The settled snow - plus control work- had lessened the Avalanche Rating to a 3 on Upper Mountain and a 2 on Lower Mountain (I had not often seen dual ratings).

This was likely the ultimate time to ski St. Anton's south-facing expert areas. Bases up to 6+m/240-300in up top, almost 24 in of new snow, 2 days of stormy, cloudy weather, and one day of sun with cold weather. Temperatures were typically 0F at night and maybe 20-25F+ during the day - even in the sun. The resort was making snow all day on the major lower pistes.

We decided to take a break from guiding after getting an overview of how to ski St. Anton from Piste-To-Powder, asking many questions and learning to use resort webcams. While this meant no Valuga II cable car (skiers only with guides) and Backside of Valluga today, this could wait. The untouched terrain available from Valuga I and Schindlergrat lifts is exponentially more extensive. Also, prime mid-winter conditions with 12-24 inches of new snow are not often found nearly top-to-bottom of south-facing St. Anton.

Besides, the lift capacity of the Valluga II tram is five passengers and almost <100 p/hr - primarily tourists. The snow stays fresh for days on the "Backside of the Valluga."


Overview of St. Anton areas skied (red): We primarily focused on the top half—the Valluga and Schindler Spitze peaks - most of the day, with a bit of St. Christoph and Kapall later.

This topo map from Strava displays the large area of terrain available from the Valluga, Schindlerspitze, and Kapall to a slightly lesser extent.

Red highlights the primary focus of the day.

View of Kapall riding the Galzigbahn early in the morning. St. Anton was obviously able to open Kapall—a lower, less steep area—on the previous day or two. Hence, tracks are visible.

View of the Schindlergrat. Untouched (except a few skiers/patrollers who might have made the traverse from Kapall). This area reminded me of Mammoth's Chair 23 - except the Schindlergrat is 360 degrees skiable with only one easy egress. It's one of the best, easily lap-able 2000 vertical ft expert pods out there!

I'm riding the Schindlergrat High-Speed Triple (I have only seen HS Triples at Gore and Alta—weird lifts that are all gone now).
This lift has been replaced by a modern 10-passenger Gondola that has a small top station at the Schindlerspitze and continues to intermediate pistes.

A few tracks in the many front side chutes

Valluga Tram I passing overhead.

My brother and I skied the front side chutes first thing, assuming a powder panic would destroy them. Not at all. No skiers touched them throughout the day. Definitely NOT the USA. This would not last an hour at Altabid/Jackson/etc.

We decided to pick some west-facing couloirs near the lift

After starting on the left side in this photo of Schindlergspitze's West Face, we progressively knocked off every route—couloir by couloir. It was almost our own private reserve at St. Anton. If you wanted fresh tracks, just head to the skier's left/right side of the picture.

Sometimes, we added a south-facing front-side couloir to the mix off the Schindlergrat. I mean, someone needed to make some tracks on this face? (This would have been destroyed in the USA by now).

Still lots of couloirs relatively untracked - pick a path!

Still lots of light snow in couloirs....

It is easy to find untracked couloirs right off the lift during the late AM....

Still room for lines....

Got to get around to taking the Valluga I cable car, but the pickings were too easy from the Schindlergrat.

We are finally getting to the Schindlergrat's east side couloirs, still being a powder snob and only looking for untracked.

You can always head to the opposite side of the bowl...

Yeah, we had to do a lot of hiking to get to the untracked - like zero. What is going on? Supposedly St. Anton has a reputation for being too crowded for good powder.

We teamed up with a local snowboarder for a run or two to help find couloir entrances.

Another front-side

And another west side

We skied a few more runs in the large bowl on the east side of the Schindlergrat, called the Schindlerkar. One route down the middle is pisted; otherwise, there is vast terrain with any exposure (E/S/W). Cold temperatures kept the powder preserved.

Mattunjoch: This one bowl over (further east) from the Schindlerkar.

Not happy with only 2,000 vertical feet, we did a few top-to-bottom (Schindler Spitze-to-St Anton village) for 4,000+ ft vertical runs. We decided to ski the far east side of the Schindlerkar one time, as well as the Mattunjoch...

To be continued.

 

[Tony Crocker]

In 2017 we had similar cold weather following a powder dump a few days earlier. However the base under that powder was low tide in 2017. I only skied the far looker's left chute in the pic above. Direct south facing under the Schindlergrat lift was rocky enough that no one was venturing onto it.

 

[ChrisC]

Having seen the terrain at St. Christoph on our previous guided day on January 29th, we decided to return and ski some of the obvious couloirs under the lift. Despite this terrain being accessible/open for a few days, there were still untracked areas. Not sure how much snow, St Anton picked up the previous day, but it was more than at Rendl.


The attractive small village of St. Christoph sits almost on the Arlberg Pass - just a bit to the east.

Fun couloirs to lap with a short fast lift

After spending the entire morning on the Schindler Spitze, we headed to the Valluga (shown below). We primarily waited until after lunch since the Vallugabahn 1 is relatively small (45 passengers) and only has an hourly capacity of 400 people per hour, which can cause some lift lines. Also, surprisingly, the Valluga Cable Car has a smaller vertical than the Schindlergrat lift - 1800 ft vs. 2000 ft - and cannot be lapped, requiring a second lift ride to return the Galzig. Therefore, it is much more efficient to rack up vertical and powder using the Schindlergrat lift (7 min/2000 ft). After lunchtime, the Vallugabahn 1 wait was about 2-3 cars or 15 minutes.

Here are some photos of the Vallugabahn 1 terminal—the lower ridge on the left side halfway down. The Vallugabahn 2 spans from the top of the Vallugabahn 1 terminal to the true summit of Valluga (middle of photo).

The Galzig base terminal of the Vallugabahn 1 Cable Car

Beautiful St. Anton Valley facing East. Pettnau is likely far off in the distance - the terminus of our backcountry Rendl itinerary.

Galzig.

The next couple of photos are of the Schindler Spitze from the Vallugabahn cable car perspective. The front/south face of the Schindlerspitze

West face of the Schindlerspitze. Skied most of these in the AM.

More west face of Schindlergspitze

Top of Vallugabahn 1 looking over to the Schindlerspitze - mostly the west face couloirs

Westward panorama

Vallugabahn 2 base terminal. Only five passengers and skiers can only board with a guide.

Leaving the Vallugabahn 1 terminal, you actually drop off the backside into a north-facing bowl and then take a surface lift to access the front, south-facing side of the Valluga—an unexpected bonus high-alpine powder preserve.

The Mattunjoch / Mattun Bowl

View over to Rendl from Mattun

Some steeper couloirs are entering the Mattun Bowl from Kapall. These have extreme avalanche hazard.

The lower Mattun bowl. There are so many possible lines.

More Mattunjoch / Mattun Bowl. There was some solar impact in the lower third by mid-afternoon. Too bad we only made 2 runs in this zone.

Finally, we reached the Kapall summit, with views eastward down the St. Anton valley.

And westward views up the St. Anton to the Arlberg Pass. Galzig mid-station in the near ground.

Southwad views to the easy-access north-facing bowls of Rendl (center and left side) and the pisted/lift-served sector on the right.

We decided to ski one more easy-access freeride zone of Kapall - the Schafgliger. You can ski to the valley floor/Nasserein (St. Anton village) or cut back midway to the Kapall sector.

We were wandering around St. Anton at night.

Our hotel - the Schwarzer Adler. Another great value Half-board (breakfast/dinner) Austrian - especially in January/early February.

Again, it was an excellent ski day in St. Anton, and it's obvious why it ranks as one of the best freeride areas in Europe and the World.

 

[ChrisC]

Just checked and it's still around as the night bus from 8 pm to 2 am for €7.

View attachment 43062

I took the local 'free' bus between Lech and Zurs a few times vs. riding the lifts. It's often faster than skiing since it only takes <5 minutes between the villages.

Also, later in the week, we started taking the Lech to St. Anton bus versus riding the lifts. The first time was due to closed links because of winds. However, it often became routine because Lech kept its lifts open until 5 pm.

Bus Schedule: Lech to St. Anton - 30 minutes & a few Euros.

Often, we went for Apres-ski at the scenic riverside Krone Ice Bar and then took the 6:15 p.m. bus home to St. Anton.

Krone Ice Bar​

The Ice Bar is at the heart of Lech, set above the river in the discrete five-star Hotel Krone.