Ellmau & St Anton

Words: Yvonne Verstandig

March is a perfect time to ski in Austria with its spring sunshine and blue skies. Lucky for the Ski Buzz group, it snowed in the 24 hours prior to our arrival. So the Ski Buzz brother/sister team managed to deliver, by the stroke of luck, the perfect combination of sun and fresh snow!! We were already stars (in our own minds anyway) and our inaugural tour had just begun.

Our first destination, Ellmau, was chosen to provide our skiers the opportunity to find their ski legs and prepare for the more difficult terrain in St Anton. Ellmau, is one of seven quaint towns that make up one of the largest linked ski areas in Austria, the Tirolean SkiWelt Wilder Kaiser. This is the area where true Austrian culture is on display with small lunch stubes (taverns) offering authentic local cuisine, skiing through the charming farming towns of the SkiWelt area and popping into the huts to enjoy a ‘schnapper-run’ at the end of the day on the way down to our beautiful hotel, The Hotel der Bar. This area offers such genuine local magic as you ski past farms with cows staring at you from their barn under the farm house.

The last 24 hours in Ellmau were very special indeed. Our dear friend Angela created a mystical Schnapps evening in the quaint neighbouring village of Hopfgarten. Our last skiing day in the SkiWelt was in blizzard conditions, but we all braved it and had a brilliant day in some fresh powder...spills abound, but fun regardless.

For our departure from Ellmau we arranged a snow shoe experience through Kelchsau National Park. It was interesting to hear that not one of us fellow ski bums had tried snow shoeing before, but all were eager to have the opportunity to try something different. What a magical morning we had. Everybody had a smile on their face for those very special couple of hours trying something new and then heading off to lunch in a typical Tirolian stube set amongst snow-covered pine trees in the national park.

St Anton, our next destination, was a complete contrast to the quaint Tirolean village, as it is a buzzy and very popular international ski resort. This resort is known to attract adventure skiers, free-riders or those who love to ‘aprés’. 

We had a fantastic week of hard core skiing in perfect sunshine.  Nothing more majestic than skiing down the slopes surrounded by an awe inspiring mountain range on a perfect ‘bluebird’ day. Our terrific private guides introduced us to their mountain and covered some decent ground on the pistes, the routes and some incredible off-piste terrain.  

Our off-piste and ski touring activities were only permitted if we undertook a short training introduction to the avalanche equipment and what to do should we be caught in an avalanche. Connie, our guide from the neighbouring town of Flirsch, taught us how to dig people out of an avalanche. Both off-piste skiing and ski touring can be dangerous if not taken seriously and performed by the novice without a guide, or by heading to areas of snow instability, which St Anton is known for. In this potentially explosive off-piste terrain, too many accidents happen when skiers head off-piste without a guide or the right equipment. Hence the guides take it very seriously.

The training and subsequently ‘suiting up’ with transponder and back pack (with shovel and probe) created an element of apprehension, intrigue and excitement when getting ready to embark on our off-piste adventures; heading out of the resort boundaries and passing the roped off area.

We had two brilliant days attempting these activities but not without a bit of excitement. Steve was trying to execute a difficult ski-touring uphill kick turn on a very steep slope and didn't quite get it right. He slid 100 metres down the face of the mountain. Luckily he missed a rock on the way down but broke his binding in the process. The hero of the day, our Austrian ski guide, Daniel managed the complexity of being stuck in a remote and isolated mountain range with one ski broken. He surrendered his skis to Steve and descended a 1350 metre vertical drop skiing 10kms down a very difficult off-piste slope on one ski. Truly remarkable and a joy to watch!

For those looking for a different experience, we offered the option to try cross-country skiing, a popular form of exercise in the European Alps.  Connie took her eager participants on a cross country adventure in the Verwall Valley which also ended in spills a plenty, but an enjoyable way to spend a stunning morning adventure building up a sweat with the beautiful lake and stunning mountains as a back drop.

St Anton is known for its aprés fun and there is an aprés bar to suit everyone. The Heustadl with its live bands, Sennhütte, Taps and Krazy Kanguruh; all appealing to the young ski bum, or the infamous Mooserwirt that draws in hundreds listening to the Austrian hoopla and current hits while downing beers and Jägerbombs! Fortunately there is also Griabli for the slightly more mature ski bum, where rock music is played from 3:30pm until dinner time. And on the other side of the valley there is Rendl Beach, perched up high on Rendl mountain offering stunning views into the valley from the deck chairs which are planted firmly in the snow - perfect for the sophisticated ski bum who is often found sipping an Aperol while watching the sun set over the snowy alps.  After aprés, hit the sauna back at your hotel the Austrian way, completely naked! It's great to be exposed (literally speaking) to different cultures around the globe.  I must admit, for some of us Aussies a little culture was enough; and a private shower sufficient.

One of the highlights of our second week was the day spent skiing the Weißer Ring (White Ring), the ski race course that makes a loop from Zürs to Zug and then on to Lech, before arriving back at Zürs.  We didn't make the complete round trip as we stopped for a late lunch in the beautiful village of Lech, a few more runs there and then some of the group hit the very exclusive shops while others went in search of the much needed end of day Aperol in one of the popular bars that flank the main street in Lech. Sipping schnapps, Aperol or Glühwein, all while watching the horse and carriages that take the weary skier on a short tour of this picture perfect village.

Driving back from Lech to St Anton was truly beautiful. Our driver had the perfect collection of songs playing in the taxi, while we sang along (very cheery from our aprés drinks) watching the moonlight shine over the mountains. Such a surreal moment I had to pinch myself to ensure I really was in the Arlberg mountains and running our very unique, first and successful Ski Buzz Tour.