- Joined
- Dec 3, 2015
- Posts
- 174
We arrived the Saturday before Easter, early morning and were off to St. Anton. It was zero visibility but we lucked out as the skies opened up briefly in St. Anton with Sun poking through - skied Galzig, Rendl, and Valluga I all on piste as it was day 1. Next day was blizzard central, whiteout, gale force winds with lift-closures most afternoon and we skied almost every run in Warth, again riding blind with guide leading most patiently (Dad was the slowdown-factor in the equation).
Kid learnt in upstate NY, but really came into his own in the Arlberg in 2009, Dad was a rank beginner on skis, just 2nd season on skis, then. Both are better now so more terrain became accessible. And we skied St. Anton and Warth, a lot, and he skied off-piste terrain all over the area.
Some comments on the Arlberg:
- Skier now 15, was 6 when he first came to Lech-Zurs, and this time, was inducted as a member of the storied Ski Club of Arlberg : Short clip capturing the beauty of the occasion. American boy from Manhattan, New York City no less (of steel, glass and concrete towers fame!-) ) earned the respect of the Austrian coaches. It's quite a cheerful, touching club, reputedly oldest ski club in the world from which has spawned many a great ski racer and free-rider.The clip is 2 minutes long:
- Now the main clip : it's a family and friends video at the tail end, but this is city kid with a GoPro on his chest skiing Arlberg off-piste : St. Anton's legendary Valluga and many others with incredibly nice, young and old, genuinely friendly, uber-chill mountain guides who really had great chemistry with the young lad. The observations said with typical quiet teutonic understatement to Dad " he has very good snow sense, skis with feel of the snow" , "fast, on his edges and very good balance", "very good skier". Makes a dad get emotional. (note Dad was unable to do much of the off-piste as Day 1 was Fog-whiteout, and day 2 was blizzard gale day! Dad kept getting 'back' and toppling over in powder, intermediate he remains, but enthusiastic energetic one) and then it was bluebird skies...anyway enjoy, it's footage shot by the lad from New York: This clip is 16 minutes long, but recommend watch on big screen or full screen to get a real good feel for the terrain. It was a blast:
Kid learnt in upstate NY, but really came into his own in the Arlberg in 2009, Dad was a rank beginner on skis, just 2nd season on skis, then. Both are better now so more terrain became accessible. And we skied St. Anton and Warth, a lot, and he skied off-piste terrain all over the area.
Some comments on the Arlberg:
- The Flexenbahn is a huge positive, saves a drive, dealing with road conditions, and it is incredibly convenient, we used it, and it's really easy to get to St. Anton from Lech and to return back.
- Warth is definitely worth skiing, nice runs, and the off-piste is extensive
- There is a cat-track road sort of at the lower part of the Madloch route into Zug, where instead of veering left to get to the famous two-pack lift Zugerberg hoisting one up to Lech, one can go straight and that track lets you ride right into the main thoroughfare of Lech. This is a huge benefit as in Spring the main run into Lech is a ACL-killer, with soft spring corn and slush and mush.
- Lunch at the Hirlanda in Zurs and the Montana in Lech are just too good.