The Arlberg – The cradle of skiing

January 30th, 2014


Pretty good looking cradle, eh? Image:: Elliss

Chillfactor | Reggae Elliss 

“It’s absolutely massive, and distinctively European.  Chalets litter the slopes, huge trams span the highest peaks, and heated chair lifts take up to eight people at a time.  Some areas are incredibly luxurious while other spots are more modest, like centre bar two-person chair lifts and such.  I like the Arlberg very much. But then again I love skiing in Austria.”

That is the response I got from American pro skier Eric Pollard when I asked him his thoughts on skiing in the Arlberg, one of Europe’s premier ski regions, after a trip he made there last year. Pollard has skied all of the world’s major ski areas and he rates the Arlberg as one of the world’s great ski destinations and after my first trip there, I can only agree.

The place has it all.

The Arlberg takes in a number of villages – St Anton, Lech, Zurs, St Christophe and Stuben and one pass gives you access to all of them. The lowest base altitude is at 1300 metres and with many lifted points above 2000 metres, the highest being St Anton’s Valluga 2 at 2800 metres, that’s a lot of vertical. Throw in an average winter snowfall of seven metres, and you have a destination everyone should place on their must do list, more so because of the terrain. That’s what really hits you when you’re skiing the Arlberg, amazing views everywhere you look, incredible variety for all types of skiers and it is huge. Not surprisingly in a country where ski racing is the national sport, the on-piste options are vast and well groomed, but it is the off piste that really captures the imagination. Hundreds of hectares of seemingly boundless lines from steep cliff-band laden faces to perfect fall-line bowls, natural half pipes and hits and powder stashes galore. It is a free skiing paradise.

Then there is the atmosphere, not just the heritage and history – but the fact skiing seems to run through the veins of the locals. The Cradle of Alpine skiing would be a big call if it came from somewhere other than the Arlberg. Many of the pioneers of modern skiing came from the region with one, Stuben’s Hans Schneider, is credited with inventing the modern alpine skiing technique and it is also where some of the world’s first ski lifts were built.


The Hotel Kristberg in Lech, where Austrian ski legend Ergon Zimmerman is the perfect host. Image:: Elliss

My first few days were spent in Lech, staying at the Hotel Kristberg, owned and operated by Egon Zimmerman, downhill champion at the 1964 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck and Austrian skiing legend. Lech has a reputation as the Austrian resort of choice for Europe’s rich and famous, favoured by royalty including princess Diana who had the paparazzi in a feeding frenzy when she stayed there in the mid-90s. But to think of Lech as just a resort for the rich with long cruisey groomed runs does the village and the surrounding mountains a disservice. As opposed to the purpose built hotel-based resort at Zurs, Lech is a genuine town with a long history and heritage. The locals are proud of their town and many of the businesses are in the hands of second and third generations. This pride has led to strict development guidelines, the result being low-rise traditional buildings and a fairy tale charm.

Lech is regarded as more family-oriented town, lively but much quieter to what you’ll find in St Anton. There’s plenty of good restaurants and shops while the outdoor apres bars are a good venue for a relaxed afternoon beer.

After the first day’s skiing I noticed 10 or 12 wider, high performance all-mountain skis in the skis racks. Unusual, I thought, as most of the skiers I’d seen that day were content to stay on piste.  It turned out the Kristberg was the base for a women’s’ freeski/yoga program being run that week by local pro skier Lorraine Huber. Lorraine is not only currently ranked number eight on the Freeride World Tour, but she’s half Australian. She was born in Austria and lived in Lech, where her father’s family have lived for generations, until she was eight when she moved to Australia with her Melbourne-born mother, living in Torquay until she was 18.

Lorraine did the typical trips to Buller and skied in the interschools when she was growing up, but her skiing and love for the mountains developed with annual trips back to Lech to visit her dad.

“My family have been living in Lech for the past 200 years and I returned to Lech for six to eight weeks in December/January every year during my summer holidays to visit my Dad and ski. After VCE I wanted to do a year abroad, working as a ski instructor in Lech for a season and learning French in Paris during the summer. I loved it so much that I decided to stay and study business in Vienna. During my studies I worked as a ski instructor in Lech and skied as much as I could with a bunch of mates, mostly snowboarders. I really started getting into freeriding at the age of 18, and here I am.”


Lorraine Huber, finding perfect snow and terrain at Stuben. Image:: Mallaun

 

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As her technique developed through here progression as a ski instructor, so did Lorraine’s freeskiing. She also did guiding and avalanche courses, her love of the mountains, especially those close to home, directing her life over the past decade to her current position as one of the world’s best big mountain freeskiers.
Lorraine knows the mountains around Lech and Zurs better than anyone and when I told here I’d read online that Lech has mainly intermediate terrain she just laughed. I suggested the writer rarely skied off piste, as there are plenty of steep expert lines you can see just from the lifts.

“Yes Lech and especially Zürs offer amazing possibilities not only for the experts, but also for good on-piste skiers wanting to learn how to ski off-piste. That’s what we’ve been doing this week with the program. Everyone has pushed themselves a little out of their comfort zone, but all the girls have improved a lot. It’s the perfect terrain for progressing.  The Alberg terrain definitely has shaped the skier I am – I prefer skiing faster, open lines with big cliff drops.”

We all like fast open lines – admittedly, for me, with out big cliff drops – and our guide at Lech pointed me into a classic after lunch on our first day. Called the “Furkanwang”, it’s long steep bowl directly below the Balmap restaurant.

The snow was fresh ; 20cm of light dry powder, and surprisingly, it was still largely untracked two days after the last snowfall.  The pitch was perfect, a steep consistent line before it opened up into a second bowl with fun rollovers and drop offs. No one else was skiing in there and the excitement grew with each turn – I couldn’t believe I had it all to myself at one in the afternoon.

This lead to a groomed run which accesses the Steinmahder lift, the top station of which is at 2377 metres. From there it is open access to all sorts of terrain, much of it like a natural terrain park, and again there was plenty of untracked lines off piste.


The view from the top of the Valuuga cable car in St Anton. Image:: Elliss

This turned out to be a regular occurrence, while skiing around Lech and Zurs as we were there in the quieter period before the mid-February school holidays.
The crowds when they are there are easily dispersed, as Lech is interlinked via lifts and runs to the ski areas in Zur, Stubenbach and Zug. The Rufikoph cable cars from the village offer access into some open backcountry and a cruisey drop into the Zurs terrain.  There are plenty of options here with some good steep terrain accessed from the top of the Trittkopf cable car and the Muggengrat lift on the other side of the valley. The groomed runs are long and open and you can ski back to Lech via Zug and then Oberlech, the small car-free village above Lech. The full return route from Lech is called the White Ring. The White Ring is also the name of prestigious long distance ski race, which follows the route, attracting 1000 competitors each year.

One of the great things about a trip to the Arlberg is the proximity of the other towns and the ease you can use the “access all areas” ski pass. St Anton is a quick drive or bus trip from Lech and from there you can access the smaller villages of St Chistophe and Stuben on your skis. While St Anton has a well-deserved reputation as one of the prime party towns in Europe, St Christophe and Stuben are the opposite. Stuben hasn’t changed in 100 years with small hotels and B&Bs lining the narrow streets offering cheaper, quieter accommodation. St Christophe, higher than St Anton at 1800 metres, is more a small hamlet made up of exclusive hotels and is also the of the Austrian Ski Academy, training centre for those who aspire to be a top ski instructor.

We were staying at The Hospice St Christophe a renowned hotel that apparently houses one of the biggest wine cellars in Europe. The Hotel is regarded as one of the best in Austria, something confirmed not only by the standard of the rooms and common areas, but also by photos of previous guests, one of who was Pope Benedict. The main chairlift is across the road from the hotel and form here we could easily access the linking runs and lifts to St Anton and Stuben. Once again it was the terrain that caught my attention as we rode the lift out of St Christophe – it is just so big with incredible variety. While St Anton can get crowded, particularly on the main groomed runs, the off piste options are huge and when the snow’s good it’s just a matter of being adventurous.

Heading over to Stuben is also a good way to dodge the crowds, with some great skiing off the Albonoagrat lift with some pretty amazing views as well. Skiing in Stuben is also a great way to get amongst some old world charm, dropping into the traditional alpine village for lunch, a classic European experience. The lift out of the village is a slow old double, but it is worth it – not just for the lunch – but more so the variety of terrain that drops into the village. Once again it is a story of fun rollovers, avalanche fences, drop offs and wind-lips.

St Anton itself is huge, and the 1500 metres vertical means there’s always good snow somewhere on the mountain. We discovered this one morning after a night of rain in St Anton (1340 metres) and wet snow falling at St Christoph (1800 metres). Our first run from the top of the St Christoph chair down into St Anton was sheet ice, an overnight freeze turning the snow bulletproof. However when we skied off from the top station of the Valluga cable car at 2800 metres the snow was light, dry powder with a layer of windblown on top. It was just a matter of staying high, not difficult with a number of lifts above 1900 metres.
While St Anton in particular is something of a freeriding Mecca, the Arlberg as a whole has a reputation for challenging off piste skiing and St Anton it attracts some of the world’s best skiers. Eric Pollard and Pep Fujas were there last year filming one of their Nimbus episodes and both rate the area as some of the best in Europe.

“I think the terrain in Arlberg is amazing,” said Pollard. “There’s quite a diverse range of terrain as well; great trees, avalanche barriers, wind features, cliffs, small and large lines.  A bit of everything for someone who wants to ski powder.”

While much of the terrain is high alpine, the St Anton area does have some great tree runs on the lower slopes and in the place to go in a snow storm. A storm came through on the last day I was there, snowing heavily in the afternoon with 20cms dropping in the last couple of hours of light. While visibility was terrible up high, the definition was fine below 1800 metres, the runs off the Gampen, offering some fun variable terrain, including some good tree skiing. The Rendyl area, another mountain n the other side of the town also offers protection and better visibility when it’s snowing with good on and off piste runs back into town.

St Anton is the largest of the villages in the Arlberg and has a vast array of shops, bars, restaurants, pools and indoor sports centre. The accommodation options range from five-star to family run B&B’s and while the village centre is bright and noisy, it still maintains its alpine flavour.


Skiing into Lech for lunch and a chance to mix it up with the rich and famous. Image:: Elliss

There’s plenty of nightlife and the apres scene is pumping and two of the world’s most infamous apres bars, the Krazy Kanguruh and the Mooserwirt, have well deserved reputations. While the Kangurah was relatively calm when we were there – no girls dancing topless in return for free champagne – the Moosewirt was off its head. At 4pm the place was packed, inside and out, hundreds of revelers getting into the loud Euro dance pop at what seemed like a 1000 decibles and thy were going off. No fun police here, no security and when I was there, no problems. It reminded me of the halcyon days of the early ’90s in Thredbo’s Keller bar or the Snowbird at Hotham. A great experience, and one they seems to be unique in ski resorts, although it’s not something you’ll experience in North America and Japan.
Sure, it’s a long way, but if time’s not an issue or you are travelling with kids, you can break it up with an overnight stop in Asia or Dubai. Even the long haul flight I did was OK, flying Emirates from Sydney to Zurich and with the one stopover in Dubai makes it was pretty easy. Throw in the fact you have a 30kg baggage allowance that means you have no excess issues, even with skis, and it is the way to go.


Lorraine Huber runs freeskiing camps in Lech/Zurs and this is the terrain she has in her back yard. Image:: Mallaun

While Japan, Canada and the US are the northern hemisphere snow destinations of choice for many Australians a ski trip to Austria is multi-layered and offers experiences on different levels. While the most obvious is the size of the mountains and variety of terrain where any skier can challenge themselves, there’s also plenty happening off the mountain and the cultural side is a huge attraction.
There is also something special about skiing in real towns and villages where skiing is such an integral part of the lifestyle and the people. There’s a depth you don’t find in purpose built ski resorts.

“I love the mountains here in the Arlberg and the fact that we get some of the biggest snowfalls in the Alps,” Lorraine told me over a quiet beer in the Hotel Kristberg’s bar at the start of my trip. “The terrain is super playful with a ton of variety, and I have a lot of good friends here to ride with who love skiing as much as I do. The skiing culture and heritage is also very strong.

“It’s in our blood and a part of who we are.”