Spotlight on Austria's Tyrol
By Ted Heck 

The mountainous Austrian state of Tyrol, wedged between Germany and northern Italy, would fit within the state of Connecticut. Yet it is a skier’s paradise, with 119 resorts that offer downhill skiing and snowboarding. That’s about three times the number of all ski areas combined in Utah and Colorado. Skiers have more than 2,000 miles of prepared runs to choose from and nearly 1,200 lifts to ride. There are countless off-piste opportunities for downhillers and almost 2,500 miles of tracks for cross-country skiers. In many of the larger resorts the mix of skiers is roughly two thirds German, one third Austrian, with only a single digit percentage for other nationalities, including Americans. The demographics of the skiing population appear to be similar to those seen in the United States: all ages represented, but predominantly in the 20 to 50 age bracket and from all walks of life.

Some of the smaller resorts are anonymous to the U.S. market, even though they may be important links in impressive ski circuits, such as the Wilder Kaiser—Brixental region, where 27 resorts operate on one ski pass. Such circuits, sometimes called circuses, are a major draw in the Alps. Rarely in America can one ride up a mountain, cruise to the bottom of another peak, go up and down again on still another mountain, and end up in a village miles away from the starting point.

American skiers gravitate to better-known Austrian resorts, such as nearby Kitzbühel in the northeast corner of the Tyrol, the ski areas around Innsbruck, and famed resorts of the Arlberg region on the western end of the state.

Popular Innsbruck

In 1964 viewers saw the first American males ever to win Olympic alpine medals when Billy Kidd and Jimmy Heuga earned silver and bronze in slalom. A dozen years later Austria’s Franz Klammer stirred skiers around the world with his careening, sometimes out-of-control downhill race for the gold, a run that has been seen hundreds of times on TV.

The Patscherkofel mountain, above the village of Igls, is a big ice cream cone that looms over Innsbruck.

It has the number one downhill course in the region and when not closed for a race, the trail is popular with recreational skiers who play at being Klammer. The mountain also contains the bobsled run, where thrill seekers can reach high speeds while sitting down.

Innsbruck has several other ski areas. On the north side of the city is Seegrube-Nordkette, with steep snowfields that intimidate many visitors. More comfortable are the slopes at Glungezer and Mutterer Alm. But the busiest areas are Axamer Lizum and the Stubai Glacier. Axamer Lizum was the Olympic venue for the women’s downhill. The course is wide and offers a delightful cruise for anyone not trying to schuss it. Rated blue, it can be studied by intermediates while they ride up the mountain on a funicular railcar. Jagged rocky peaks rim the area and provide a spectacular backdrop.

The Stubai is more than 10,000 feet high and the snow is likely to be better on the glacier than elsewhere in the region. In winter long runs of several miles are possible all the way back down to the parking lot. In summer one can ski the Stubai in the morning, and when the sun turns snow into Slurpee, go whitewater rafting on the Inn River.

(For anyone susceptible to altitude illness Innsbruck is a blessing. Less than 2,000 feet above sea level, the city offers welcome relief to skiers who get headaches or become nauseated and weak when oxygen decreases at high altitude. A person who cannot sleep at night in Breckenridge, Colorado, where the town is 9,600 feet high, finds all of Austria comfortable because of lower elevations of towns and villages.  Skiing in the Alps is also warmer.)

Innsbruck is not a ski in / ski out resort. The various ski areas are 30 to 45 minutes away from center city by car or the free ski bus. A longer and also scenic drive puts skiers into Seefeld, a resort on the road to Garmisch. Seefeld has several interesting downhill runs, but it is better known for its cross-country loops, which were Nordic venues in the two Olympics.

Innsbruck is often recommended to mismatched couples, i.e., partners who do not need to match each other in the number of vertical feet skied in a day. Or for those who feel there is a life after skiing. Other outdoor adventures abound, including ice skating, sledding, sleigh riding, and tobogganing. The more casual skier can drop out to sample the city’s considerable indoor attractions: palaces from the heydays of Habsburg rulers, folk museums, art galleries, magnificent churches, and hundreds of shops where cash registers can scoop up euros faster than a croupier’s rake in the casino.

A walk around the Old City is a hug by history. Narrow, cobble-stoned streets where kings and queens have trod, renaissance buildings with the patina of centuries, quaint restaurants where famous authors and composers have compared notes over coffee.

The après-ski scene in Innsbruck goes beyond the conviviality of a typical ski resort. Small talk still shuttles across a dinner table, but it stops during a concert or an aria at the opera in this culturally rich city.

St. Anton am Arlberg

If Innsbruck is cosmopolitan, St. Anton is a paradise for those whose great passion is skiing.

One Austrian matron, stopping for a breather on the slopes of the Galzig mountain above the village, sweeps her hand around the panorama: “You know, we don’t have anything to compare with this in all of Austria.”

Aficionados of other areas may quarrel with her local pride. But they cannot challenge statistics. St. Anton has a vertical drop nearly a mile high. The run from the top of the Valluga peak, which dominates the area, down to the village is five miles long, mostly through open snowfields. And once the skier has done that and looks for another excursion, he or she can go back up, change sights a couple of clicks and make the long run over to tiny St. Christoph, the highest resort in the Arlberg.

               Photo: Fred McKinney
It is an ideal place for a leisurely lunch on a sunlit deck, where the menu challenges:
Bratwurst? Rösti? Gulasch soup? Tafelspitz? Bier? And for dessert--a plate of pancake strips-- Kaiserschmarren that everybody can dip into? Or a Germknödel, a huge dumpling smothered with poppyseed and vanilla sauce?

Maybe there is time after lunch for a quick look at the 14th-century hospice that is centerpiece of this romantic village. But certainly more skiing before the next opportunity for Gemütlichkeit, the all-embracing German word that says fun and fellowship and good feeling. For some skiers that means a stop on the final run home, in a mountain hut to watch the sun go down, while they sip from a mug of hot wine.

Most skiers, however, hurry back to St. Anton to join the après-ski scene. The pedestrian zone becomes Grand Central Station at commuter time, but happy people carry skis instead of briefcases. They head for their favorite pub or today’s “in” place.  Animated conversations are mostly in German, but a surprising amount of English is heard, both in broad British accents or American twangs. After the happy hour and a shower, it’s out to dinner in one of the resort’s many fine restaurants.

Somewhere along the line, skiers without partners hope to make connections.  Perhaps there is serendipity in lift lines and cafes. But most romance in the Alps is intramural, a continuation of friendships that began back in Berlin or Philadelphia.  There just aren’t enough German barons or French countesses to go around.

For those already connected, one charming place that can be recommended is the candlelit dining room of the Heimat Museum. A cozy fireplace and a good chef make this former private home a quiet and different way to end the day. In the second-floor museum drawings and photographs depict the history of the village and St. Anton’s place in the history of skiing. The sport was already big business way back in 1922.  And Hannes Schneider developed here the Arlberg technique that revolutionized the sport by showing people that it really was easy to turn awkward pieces of wood in the snow.

St. Anton has been home to Olympic and World Cup heroes. The town hosted the World
Alpine Championships in 2,001.

A look at Lech

Although the focus here is on the state of Tyrol, a few words should be added about Lech, an important ski resort in the Arlberg region. Just outside the Tyrolean border, Lech is in the westernmost state of Vorarlberg. But it is promoted with St. Anton and St. Christoph in the Tyrol as well as Stuben and Zürs—other villages in Vorarlberg.  They share a common ski pass that allows access to 83 lifts, 160 miles of prepared runs, and boundless ungroomed terrain.

Some adventurous skiers drop off the top of the Valluga for a backcountry trek through deep snow toward Zürs and Lech, but that’s a one-way journey that calls for a bus or cab ride back. It is more likely that skiers who choose St. Anton over Lech as their base in the Arlberg will spend at least a day in Lech. One popular ski tour is to follow the sun around the mountains, skiing the circus that connects Lech and Zürs.

Lech’s bed base is almost as large as St. Anton’s. The village’s chalets, mostly intermediate slopes and lively après-ski scene are the stuff of mouth-watering brochures.

Both Lech and St. Anton are members of the “exclusive” group of 11 resorts that market themselves as “The Best of the Alps.” Two others in Austria are Seefeld and Kitzbühel.  Switzerland also has four—Davos, Grindelwald, St. Moritz, and Zermatt.  Germany has Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Only two are in non-German speaking sections of the Alps—Chamonix in France and Cortina in Italy.

If you go

The nearest gateway for the Arlberg is Zurich, Switzerland, where Swiss International Airline is the major carrier. The airport is about 2–1/2 hours away by car or bus.  International trains stop in the new station along the main road through St. Anton.

Munich’s airport is an hour farther from the Arlberg, but less than two hours from Innsbruck. Easy rail connections there, too. Lufthansa has the most international flights to Munich.

For more information contact the Austrian Tourist Office in New York City, Tel.: (212)
944–6880. Fax: (212) 730–4568. Also see the websites of Innsbruck and the Tyrol at
www.innsbruck-tourism.at and www.winter.tyrol.com.