Snowboarding in Sankt Anton (Tyrol, Austria)

Spring is back to the city of Vienna & it's probably high time to somehow give credit for a beautiful, albeit brief, winter season. My snowboarding experience this year included only two escapades: a one-day trip to Stuhleck (in ski region Semmering) & a week in Tyrolean Sankt Anton am Arlberg.

Well, Stuhleck is a nice place for a short getaway with 1-day ski-passes ranging between 15-18€ (depending on how early you arrive), but St.Anton without doubt is a much more spectacular place & probably deserves a bit more credit in the story.

So let's begin: well, after lengthy e-mail communication with various hotels the base for this year's trip was chosen - a 3* pension with a sunny address "Sonnenwiese 2" Haus Battisti:

A couple of  noteworthy things about a winter holiday in Sankt Anton:

1. book LONG in advance (at least 2 weeks, otherwise: stressful limbo of not knowing, whether or not you have a roof over your head);
2. 'St.Antonian' prices "bite": costs of food & accomodation are generally higher (even if compared with other Tyrolean resorts, for instance Sölden);
3. check the weather forecast before booking :-) The challenges of a winter holiday can be extremely nice (like discovering new pistes or hidden detours), they don't necessarily have to involve fighting hurricane wind with rain in complete absence of a single ray of sun & getting lost because one can't see further than 2 meters from the tip of one's nose :-( 

High-season "grown-up" ski-pass for 5 days costs 185€ & includes access to the whole Ski Arlberg area (Lech, Zürs, Stuben, St. Anton & St. Christoph), which means approx. 280 km of marked pistes & ca. 180 km of  free-ride areas!!! So, although a bit pricey, St.Anton is still a snowboarder's paradise:)

Some stuff I've en passant learned about the equipment this season:) If you're going to the 'serious'Tyrolean  mountains, you will most probably need: 

1. a facemask (à la that) to protect you from the wind while smoothly flitting down the hill / to save you from the cold if despite all your weather-research efforts you still get caught in bad weather up on a mountain.

2. scraper snowboard mat (à la this) in order to stabilze the 'free' leg on the T-bar lift or during short-distance rides when you don't want to lock the bindings.

3. snowboard web leash (à la that) in order not to loose your board on a steep slope. 

Well, all in all the holiday turned out to be awesome & I hope you enjoyed browsing a bit through pictures & tips :-) 

Ahja, maybe the last concluding piece of advice for your visit to Tyrol: Aqua Dome in Längenfeld! Last year we 'accidentally' discovered it & ... one does not easily forget floating outside in a thermal bath while listening to underwater music & watching snowy peaks of the Alps (additional tip: try it out at night☾☆).  

View from the 'Raststation' near Mondsee, Salzkammergut.

Panorama of Mondsee, Salzkammergut.

Well,come2Linz in Upper Austria

Hello everybody!

The lucky reason to write the next post is the publication of my picture of Stubnerkogel in the pocket guide "Well,come2Linz in Upper Austria!" 

The picture was taken in Hohe Tauern National Park during a snowboarding vacation in Bad Gastein. 

Well, a good reason for a short recap of some shots from the bygone 2008:

Happy snowboarding/skiing to all of you this season!

Publication-related links:

• Pocket guide Website 
• Official video from the book presentation
• Info folder as PDF

Snowboarding in Sölden

Hello, everybody!

Here comes my first blogpost in English. I've just spontaneously decided to do a "tribute" to a friend of mine, who says she feels somewhat left out because my blog is only in Russian :) Hopefully, she won't be the only one happy about me venturing into new 'linguistic' territories & carrying out this little "writing-in-a-foreign-language" experiment! This post won't probably be able to boast the eloquence of its Russian "predecessors" (*chuckles modestly*) & i'd better try to follow the principle "more pictures & less chit-chat":)

Austria has a perplexingly high number of wonderful places for snowboarding & my poor Austrian friends had to be interviewed for hours before me & Sergey were able to pick out  Sölden (a ski resort town in the municipality of Imst in Tyrolean Ötztal valley) as THE destination for this winter's trip.
By the usual way of trial & error (as none of the good hotels had free rooms already a week before our arrival) we've figured out that the best way to yet get a reservation was to make an inquiry at Ötztal Tourismus website (which is, btw, a good tip if you're planning to visit that region any time in the future). The speed (approx. 1 hour) of their reply was just as surprising as the number of propositions from different hotels (around 15, i believe) & so we even had the luxury of choosing the best "Angebot". It happened to be from a tiny family-run bed & breakfast "GARNI CARMEN" with a very reasonable price for a double + free use of a local fitness center, sauna & swimming pool FREIZEIT ARENA. Just a 5 minute walk from the Gaislachkogl ski lift our b&b turned out to be an excellent "base" & also an amazingly cosy place to stay at.

The whole Ötztal skiing region is a snowboarer's paradise with over 70 skilifts, 300 km of ski track & over 3000 meters of height. "Pisten" of different complexity offer a challenge no matter how advanced (or not:) you are in your snowbroarding/skiing abilities.
Although the whole trip turned out to be an awesome adventure, the real highlight to be mentioned separately was the visit to "Aqua Dome" spa in a nearby town of Längenfeld. Those of you who occasionally read my Twitter might know already that "gazing at the moon, stars & snowy peaks while floating in a hot tub of an outdoor thermal spa" proved to be the favourite activity of the week.

Another really cool thing to do if you're in Ötztal is "BIG 3 Rallye". "BIG 3" refers to three "Dreitausender" (mountains higher than 3000 meters): Gaislachkogl (3.058 m), Tiefenbachkogl (3.250 m) & Schwarze Schneide (3.340 m) & "BIG 3 Rallye" is the skiing/snowboaring route which allows you to visit all the peaks at one go & enjoy unforgettable 360° valley panoramas from viewing platforms as well as amazing views of the Tiefenbach Glacier & of Tirol's hightest (3,776 m) peak Wildspitze. The regional website says "you can be proud of your skiing abilities if you've mastered that route in one day". Well, not only have we mastered that particular route in one day, but i've done it with a relatively weighty camera in my hands :) Needless to say that i was the only crazy person "up there" snowboarding around with a DSLR :P

While writing this post i've gradually realized that snowboarding vacations are not meant to be analyzed & reported about, but much rather to be actively enjoyed to their fullest & then keenly be looked forward to after they are over! Can't wait till the next "Winterurlaub"!

P.S. 

Tja, just read the post again & had to sorrowfully admit to myself that writing in English is not exactly my thing :( I should really better stick to writing in Russian in order to maintain a better quality of the blog. Well, it was worth a try :P