Sankt Anton am Arlberg

St. Anton am Arlberg
St. Anton am Arlberg
Country	Austria
State	Tyrol
District	Landeck
Mayor	Helmut Mall (ÖVP)
Area	165.81 km2 (64 sq mi)
Elevation	1,304 m  (4278 ft)
Population	2,548 (1 January 2011)
- Density	15 /km2 (40 /sq mi)
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Licence plate	LA
Postal code	6580
Area code	05446
Website	stantonamarlberg.com

Sankt Anton am Arlberg, commonly referred to as St. Anton, is a village and ski resort in Tyrol, western Austria, with a permanent population of approximately 2,548. It is situated at 1,304 metres (4,278 ft) above sea level in the Tyrolean Alps, with Aerial tramways and chairlifts up to 2,811 metres (9,222 ft). It is also a popular summer resort among trekkers and mountaineers.

Skiing has a long history in St. Anton: ski instructors from the area emigrated to America in the 1930s, helping to popularise the sport. St. Anton was the host of the Alpine World Ski Championships in 2001.

St. Anton is frequently listed as one of the world's top skiing resorts both in terms of skiing available and aprés-ski entertainment.

St. Anton seen from the main piste into the centre of town.

Geography

St. Anton lies on the Rosanna River and is on the main east-west rail line between Austria and Switzerland. There are many airports that serve St. Anton by way of train and car that include Munich, Zürich, Innsbruck and Friedrichshafen.

The centre of St. Anton is a pedestrian zone which allows tourists and residents to move about the town freely.

Skiing

St. Anton is part of the Arlberg area of ski resorts—a region that includes 82 cable cars and ski lifts, 260 km (160 mi) of groomed pistes and 184 km (114 mi) of deep-snow runs, all of which are covered under one liftpass.

On the western edge of village is the "Galzigbahn" which has been replaced by a Funitel gondola. The new gondola also includes a first-ever "Ferris wheel": enabling passengers to board the gondolas on ground level, then rotating the gondolas up to the main high-speed cables. The Funitel accesses the Galzig slopes and connects to Schindler and Valluga peaks. On the eastern edge of town, the Nassereinbahn rises to the Nasserein area with connections to the Kapall peak. The Kapall, Valluga, and Schindler peaks provide skiers with close to 1,500 vertical metres skiing (4,920 ft). Slope-side après-ski bars can be found on the Steissbachtal trail just above St. Anton.

The groomed runs in the region cater to all levels; 36% are for beginners (blue), 42% for intermediate skiiers (red) and 22% are for the more advanced (black). There are also 184 km (114 mi) of deep snow runs in the area.

The view over the Galzig as seen from the Kapall.

Expert terrain includes less-frequently groomed ski routes such as Schindlerkar and Mattun, and the backside of Valluga (2,811 metres or 9,222 feet) down to Zürs, which is for experts only if accompanied by a guide. There are also a large number of off-piste routes in the area that experts can explore with the help of a guide.

Other ski areas are Lech, Stuben and St. Christoph, a hamlet where in the 14th century the shepherd Heinrich Findelkind built a hospice as a shelter for travellers crossing the Arlberg pass to the Vorarlberg province.

Activities

There are many other non-snowsports related activities available in St. Anton. There are many sightseeing spots around the village, cycle tracks and a sports centre with pools, whirlpools and a water slide.

During the summer months, many tourists come to hike the mountain and one can even go cross-country on segways.

In Popular Culture

The resort was featured extensively in the 2011 film Chalet Girl, a romantic comedy starring Felicity Jones, Ed Westwick and Bill Nighy. The resort of Garmisch-Partenkirchen in Germany was also used for some interior shots.

St. Anton was shown in the 1969 film Downhill Racer, starring Robert Redford and Gene Hackman.

St. Anton was also the setting for the film "Der Weisse Rausch", starring Leni Riefenstahl and local ski instructor Hannes Schneider. Made in 1931, the comedy film was a fictional account of the skiing exploits of a young village girl, played by Riefenstahl, and her attempts to master the sport of skiing and ski-jumping aided by the local ski expert Hannes Schneider. The film was one of the first to use and develop outdoor film-making techniques and featured several innovative action-skiing scenes. Riefenstahl went on to make Nazi propaganda films and, post-war, subsequently lived in Africa where she continued film-making, but now of life in the African bush. She survived two fatal crashes, a helicopter and a road accident, in the process. Hannes Schneider, post-war, became the world-famous ski instructor of the downhill skiing method known as the "Arlberg technique".

Statistics

• Elevation: Village: 1,304 m (4,278 ft); Top: 2,811 m (9,222 ft)
• Vertical: 1,507 m (4,944 ft).
• Longest run: 10.2 km (6.3 mi), Valluga to St. Anton

• Lifts: 120+ (Arlberg ski area); 10 gondolas; 38 chairlifts (one 8-passenger, seven 6-passenger, 11 quads, 4 triples, 15 doubles); 34 T-bars
• Lift capacity: 123,600 persons p/h
• Ski season: Late November to late April or beginning of May
• Cross country: 37.5 km (23.3 mi) total: Stanzertal 22 km (14 mi), Ferwall 10 km, St. Christoph 2.5 km, Ganderau 3 km (1.9 mi); 65 km (40 mi) in the region.
• Mountain restaurants: 18
• Après-Ski: Ski museum; 15 cafes, 8 ice bars, 3 discos, 7 bars
• Lodging: 8,900 beds; hotels, gasthof, apartments, private pensions in St. Anton, St. Jakob and St. Christoph.

References

Sources

• Chris Gill and Dave Watts, Where to Ski and Snowboard 2007, ISBN 0-9536371-8-2.
• John Darrell Sherwood, "Going Further Afield: At. Anton Austria," 23 February 2003
• Ski-Europe Article on St. Anton
• Jacqueline McGibbon, The Business of Alpine Tourism in a Globalising World – an anthropological study of international tourism in the village of St. Anton am Arlberg in the Tirolean Alps.

External links

• St. Anton Tourist Office Website
• Weather, Webcams, Videos, etc. from St. Anton am Arlberg
• Krazy Kanguruh apres ski bar
• St Anton am Arlberg, Austria
• Panoramic virtual tours of St Anton
• Information on Skiing in St Anton