St Anton am Aarlberg (St. Anton)

Member Name: CC4England

Product:	St. Anton
Date:	18/06/08 (228 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great Advanced/Intermediate Skiing, Superb Apres-Ski

Disadvantages: Poor for complete beginners, Expensive

For a 17 year old i think i have done a fair amount of skiing, i have skiied at least 1 week per year since I was 5, and have spent roughly 4 and a half months of my life on ski's, visiting 10 resorts it total, including France, Austria, Switzerland and Canada. However, the resort which sticks out most is St Anton, a beautiful resort, part of the Aarlberg ski area in the Tyrolean Alps.
The resort is perfect for intermediates and more advanced skiiers alike, with miles of reds and blacks. The high-speed lifts, including a state of the art gondola to galzig, allow you to gain height quickly (before rushing back down). There are some great, well established mogul gullies for the adventurous, as well as alternative blue and red routes from almost every lift. The powder hunters are advised to head to Rendl early in the morning for some great back-country off-piste. However if you head to the other side of the mountain you will find a small area called Stuben. It is not as well known, but it is north-facing and so there is great powder to be found, and pistes near-by mean you are never really out of site of saftey, although it is better not to head too far to the right, or you will arrive at the edge of a cliff and face a long traverse. Total beginners could spend time at the base of the Nasserein gondola, or even better, could head over to Lech. There is a free bus service, but it is unreliable and very, very cramped. Instead it is advisable to book a Taxi, Taxi Freddy is usually the best for these short distances.
As for the nightlife, there is a great mix of bars and clubs. I would to suggest for anyone about 30 or under heads to Scotty's, followed by Bar Cuba, with a club called Kandahar to finish.
The apres-ski is world famous, the renowned Krazy Kanguruh and the Mooservirt are the places to be, with the later holing the record for the bar which sells the most beer in the whole of Europe

Summary: Great all-round resort