Regarded as the cradle of modern Alpine skiing, Sankt Anton is established as one of Austria’s big-name ski resorts. And for a good reason: it combines proper skiing with a bustling apres-ski. Sitting in a narrow valley at the foot of the Arlberg pass Sankt Anton is a long, sprawling place, with some traditional character.  Bustling with activity throughout the day and late into the night. The vast Ski Arlberg ski area is serviced by several modern cable cars, all of them within walking distance. The cable cars will bring you into the heart of the vast Sankt Anton ski area.

Lot’s of variety in slopes

Sankt Anton’s slopes fall into three main sectors, two of them linked: the south facing Galzig / Valluga area pistes accessed mainly by the modern Galzig bahn, and the Kapall area accessed by the Gampen chairlift or the Nasserein bahn. Rendl is a separate mountain, reached by a gondola from the centre of town.

Sankt Anton has 2 lift linked ski sectors: St Christoph and Stuben, and the up-market skiresorts Lech – Zürs and Schrocken Warth.

Sankt Anton is especially attractive for advanced skiers, although there are very few black runs on-piste. Most of the expert terrain is off-piste. With most of the resort above the tree line, there’s a nice range of off-piste areas to be consumed by experts at Sankt Anton. The runs in the huge bowls below the Valluga are justifiably world-famous. Lower down, there are some moderate challenging runs in many directions from both Galzig and Kapall-Gampen. In general, under good snow conditions the off-piste skiing is quite good, but unfortunately due to the south-facing aspect, these quickly become sun affected. For some serious off-piste skiing and better snow quality head over to neighboring Zürs.

For intermediates there is great skiing in any conditions due to good grooming and snowmaking facilities, and there’s a huge range of runs to choose from. You could easily master them in a week. Intermediates will find plenty of friendly runs across Gampen, Rendl and Sankt Christoph. The run from Schindler Spitze to Rauz is long, varied and ideal for good intermediates. Alternatively, turn off from this part-way down and take the Steissbachtal to the lifts back to Galzig or Gampen. The Kapall-Gampen section is also interesting, with sporty bumps among trees on the lower half. Good intermediates may enjoy the men’s downhill run from the top of this sector to the town.

There are few easy cruising pistes; most blue runs here would be red in most other European skiresorts. The beginners runs are relatively challenging, and as Sankt Anton has a tendency to be crowded, these green runs can quickly become mogulled making them even more difficult. Beginners will most likely head up Galzig chairlift towards St Christoph where the gentler blue slopes are more prominent and make up roughly a quarter of all the slopes in the resort. The gentlest cruisers are the short blues on Galzig and the Steissbachtal, but they get extremely crowded. The blue from Kapall to Gampen is wide and easy to cruise. The best bet for beginners is to start at Nasserein, where the nursery slope is less steep than the one close to the main lifts. There are further slopes up at Gampen and a short, gentle blue run at Rendl, served by an easy draglift. But there are no other easy, uncrowded runs for beginners to progress to.

The Sankt Anton has one a good snow depth track record. Unfortunately, this can’t be said of the town itself; it is shielded by from most serious weather systems. If the weather is coming from the west or north-west (as it often is), the Ski Arlberg region gets a full load, and as a result the Sankt Anton ski area receives over 7m of snow – neighbouring Lech and Zürs and Schrocken Warth get even a staggering 10m! These resorts often have much better conditions than other resorts of a similar height, and we see great fresh powder here as late as mid-April. But many slopes face south or south-east, causing icy or heavy conditions at times.

Legendary après ski

The apres ski in St Anton is legendary and centres around several piste side mountain restaurants until the early evening. All the après ski takes place above the Galzig, starting with the Heustadl which you will encounter as you head down Blue 1. This bar is more family friendly and tame compared to a lot of the other bars. The Krazy Kanguruh is one of the oldest après ski bars on the mountain and used to be the wildest. However in more recent times the Mooserwirt, on the other side of the piste, has become more popular. This plays traditional German folk music mainly and is pumping by mid afternoon. Be warned it will be absolutely rammed. The ski back to town (they both close at 8pm) is a snow cannon slalom, short but often performed imperfectly.

For more information on Sankt Anton am Arlberg please visit the website of the tourist office: www.stantonamarlberg.com

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The Stubai Glacier is the largest glacier ski area in Austria, and the most popular one in the Innsbruck region. The Stubai Glacier has 25 modern ski lifts, and over 110 kilometers of gorgeous ski-runs. The Stubai Glacier reaches an altitude of 3300m and therefore enjoys an exceptionally long ski season; from October through to June beautiful and well prepared slopes are at your disposal. The snow is usually of very high quality throughout the Winter, and the better part of Spring. The Stubai Glacier invites you to practice any of your desired disciplines: skiing, (freestyle) snowboarding, carving, telemark skiing, cross country skiing and even ice-climbing.

Top destination

Stubai’s ski slopes are some of the best available to learn on

The Stubai Glacier is divided in three main sectors: the mid-station and above, the Gamsgarten and the Eisgrat. All three areas are served by a gondola, with the rest of the lift system being modern and extensive. The glacier has a large variety of slopes, mostly blues and reds. There are also fabulous free-nature runs.

The skiing is best suited for beginners and intermediate skiers. The ski slopes are all wide and forgiving. For beginners and lower intermediates the ski slopes are some of the best available to learn on, the width and gradient being ideal to improve techniques. For more advanced intermediates there are a number of wide red slopes that are popular with skiteams as well as carvers looking for consistent snow conditions and wide slopes to wind across. Steep skiing on the Stubai Glacier is limited to a few areas but those with good local knowledge and experience can tackle the free-nature and off-piste areas. If you want to make the most out of your free-nature adventures consider hiring an experienced guide.

Stubaital Top familie destination

As opposed to many other glacier ski areas in the Alps the Stubai Glacier is particularly appealing because it has three serious advantages. One, it has an extensive high-altitude free-nature ski area which is great for both off-piste skiers and snowboarders. Two, skiing on the Stubai Glacier can be done in a closed-circuit “the Skikarussell Schaufelspitze”. That means you can make beautiful tours and enjoy different scenery all-day round. Three, a beautiful ski route which starts near the Schaufelspitze (3300m) leads you straight to the valley station at 1700m. This route is called the “Wilde Grub’n” and is well over 10km(!) long. The route is rather sheltered so even during bad weather you can safely enjoy skiing.

Most family-friendly glacier in the Alps

The Stubai Glacier offers superb kids ski facilities both indoors and on the snow. The principal kids facility ‘The BIG Family Ski-Camp’ is situated on a flat and secure area, right next to the Gamsgarten cable car mountain station. Children from 3 to 15 years old receive top-notch instruction and supervision from expert instructors all day long.

The BIG Family Ski-Camp offers facilities and services like: conveyer belts, moving carpets, glacier huts, various activities, and supervised lunch at a dedicated kids restuarant. Moreover, in the Gamsgarten complex you will find a crèche and play area. Adjoining the Gamsgarten station there is a large sun terrace from where you have a good sight over the kids learning area.

Stubai offers everything needed by children and parents for perfect ski enjoyment – this was the conclusion of the ADAC SkiGuide 2012, who awarded the Stubai Valley the title of ‘most family friendly ski area in the Alps’ for the third time.

The Stubai Super Ski Pass is probably the best budget deal for families and offers you access to several other family friendly skiresorts in the Stubai Valley: Schlick 2000, Serles and Telfes. Please note that on the Stubai Glacier, and at Stubai Schlick 2000, it’s free for children up to 10 years when accompanied by a fully paying adult.

Top cuisine combined with amazing scenery

There are numerous mountain restaurants offering high-quality local dishes and – international cuisine. The largest restaurant is the one at the Gamsgarten gondola station. It has a self-service restaurant, as well as an excellent a-la-carte restaurant. For fresh homemade pasta please don’t miss the Eisgrat Market restuarant (2900m). Top Austrian cuisine (in every sense of the word) is offered in the exclusive full-service Schaufelspitz restaurant at 3000m. In both the Eisgrat and Schaufelspitz restaurant the scenery is amazing!

Breath-taking
Wine and dine

Getting there
The Stubai Glacier is served mainly by the ski holiday resort of Neustift. There are good facilities in Neustift as well as its own ski area and good links to Innsbruck.

The Stubai Glacier is the closest glacier skiing to Innsbruck and Innsbruck Airport or Innsbruck central station are by far the best way to get to the Stubai Glacier

Several low-cost airlines operate to Innsbruck. Dutch airline Transavia provides frequent flights to Innsbruck from Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Eindhoven and Groningen. AirBerlin operates from Berlin. EasyJet is based on London Gatwick. TUI Airways services Innsbruck from Dublin.

Innsbruck’s Hauptbahnhof is a major hub for international trains. From the train station you can hop on the Stubaitalbahn.

Link suggestions
For more information on the Stubai Gletscher please visit the official website of the Stubai Valley.

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