Arlberg (St. Anton / Lech)

(part of my guide to skiing the alps)

The Arlberg region of western Austria is a vast interconnected maze of 86 lifts and trams, including 174 miles (280 km) of marked runs. The region is divided by a steep ridge, which effectively partitions it into two separate areas. On the south side lies St. Anton, which is conveniently on a major train route, 2:20 east of Zürich. Lech is the central hub of the north side, and has no Bahnhof; take a bus from the train station in Langen am Arlberg, one stop west of St. Anton.

St. Anton

St. Anton is a mixture of quaint Austrian charm and drunk British tourists. Many buildings and hotels seem classically Tirolean, perched on narrow, hilly roads in the Oberdorf part of town. Taxis are more useful and prevalent here than in places like Davos. Bars like the Funky Chicken mostly cater to the obnoxious fratboy crowd, but the town abounds with great après ski: don't be surprised to see a few hundred pairs of skis and boards outside the Mooserwirt at 3pm.

Take two trams up from the town (1304m) to the summit of Vallugagrat (2650m) for a phenomenal 4400' descent through Schindler Kar or Mattunjoch. These aren't just a pair of ordinary runs: they surround an enormous, consistently steep face with enough room for a hundred pairs of fresh tracks. If the upper lifts are closed, you can still reach the lower part of Mattunjoch from the nearby Kapall lift.

When high winds and avy danger kept the upper mountain closed, we found great powder under the top of the Arlenmähder lift and all the way down the Valfagehr, both of which are closer to the town of St. Christoph but easily reached from St. Anton.

In such a vast area as Arlberg, the weather varies considerably from peak to peak. A good refuge from the crowds and weather is the small Rendl area opposite the main St. Anton slopes. By "small", I mean more than 4000 vertical feet of wide open bowls and rock gardens. We spent a sunny afternoon making laps on the Riffel lift (actually two back-to-back lifts) while most of Arlberg was shrouded in fog (see photo). Watch out for massive rocks: the powder looks soft, but an errant jump resulted in Kyle planting his ass on a hidden rock, causing an impressive hematoma.

Lech

On the other side of the divide, Lech seems quiet by comparison, perhaps catering to an older crowd. Decent après ski, but the streets were completely dead after dark. We had a fun evening at Schneggarei, a cool raw wood and cement Skihütte with decent modern food and a younger twentysomething crowd. We were convinced the town lacked anything in the way of cute ski bunnies until we saw a fantastic ski instructors' calendar put together by the local ski school, which we immediately purchased (because the proceeds benefit local avalanche rescues, of course...)

Snow was suspiciously lacking during the February weekend when we hit Lech, which forced us to stay entirely on-piste. However, like St. Anton, the vast terrain seems like it would support plenty of fresh tracks after a big storm. The four towns of Lech, Oberlech, Zürs, and Zug are well-connected by various ski lifts, so the region advertises a route called Der Weiße Ring ("the white ring") that links the towns. Their Flash website (despite the retarded soundtrack) has a good animation describing the various components of the route: click on "Die Strecke" to watch it. At a minimum, a loop around the ring involves 16,000' vertical feet and 12 miles of ski lifts, but you'll want to stop and explore the various slopes along the way, including a fun descent from Muggengrat down the Zürser Täli to Zürs.

None of the marked runs in Lech are advanced, so unless you're hitting the powder, it's all mellow groomers. Which, on a bluebird sunny day, is just fine... you can't have powder all the time. Whipping giant slalom turns around "der weiße Ring" was plenty of fun, at least until Alex literally broke his binding in half. Don't forget to stop for a Radler (lager beer mixed with Sprite) at the lively Bergrestaurant Palmenalpe (see photo below), located at the summit of the Zugerberg lift.