Austria 

Spotlight On St. Anton am Arlberg

(Originally written for OnTheSnow.com)
by Ted Heck

“We have nothing like this in all of Austria,” said the local woman stopping to let her skier friend catch his breath. She waved her hand back up toward the Valluga peak and around the endless snowfields. Then she took off again, leading on the mile-high descent and five-mile run.

But her comment would have played just as well in the middle of St. Anton. It fits in the pedestrian zone of the village’s après ski scene, which looks like Grand Central Station at commuter time, except the crowd lugs skis instead of briefcases. Or in the Heimat Museum where the long history of the town and its place in skiing lore are on display.

It was here in the Arlberg region of Austria that Hannes Schneider launched his legendary teaching career and bred generations of champions. More of them were crowned in February, 2001, when the World Alpine Championships were held here, an event for which town fathers spent five years getting ready. Americans howled in delight when Daron Rahlves won the gold in the Super G, nosing out Austrians Eberharter and Hermann Maier.The contest coincided with the 100th anniversary of Ski Club Arlberg.

Visitors getting off the train from Zurich and Munich gateway airports gaped at one of the improvements. Somebody moved the station! A $100 million was the cost of lifting tracks and station from the village center and carting them several hundred yards to the other side of the Arlberg Pass road. The relocation created a lot of open space around the traffic-free pedestrian zone, made it easier to get to the lifts, and gave many thousands of spectators a lot more room to watch the championships.

With the World Championships behind them, St. Anton’s tourist office has an easier time finding accommodations for skiers. But if you’re a typical American, you are not into watching a race anyway. You’d rather don your ski duds, hook on an electronic lift ticket, and set your own pace around the circus of 85 lifts and 174 miles of slopes of varying degrees of difficulty.

A cable car from Nasserein up to Gampen gives you a quick ride up to the racing venue. But once you’ve earned bragging rights for having skied there, try a comfortable cruise down to picturesque St. Christoph and its hospice, the kind of setting from where you’d expect to see a St. Bernard dog come ambling. If that’s not enough of a challenge, consider a hairy, deep snow, backcountry trek over to Zuers and Lech.

You’ll stop in the middle of these adventures at one of 10 mountain restaurants for an alfresco alpine meal that introduces you to hearty Austrian food. For dessert try the chopped up pancakes called Kaiserschmarren. On the way home, another hut introduces you to the merriment of the après ski scene.

It’s a preview of the fun that awaits after dark in restaurants, bars, discos. They may not be unique; other ski resorts jump at night, too. But that chauvinistic woman skier would say that her St. Anton has a flavor of its own.

St. Anton is one of the 12 classic mountain resorts in five alpine countries that participate in a joint promotion called “The Best of the Alps.”