Vacation Recap - St. Anton

I tried to read a book during the train ride from Zurich to St. Anton but I wasn't able to focus on that since I spent most of my time just staring out the window.  The view was spectacular, starting with the stretch alongside the Lake Zurich and then winding through the mountains in both Switzerland and Austria.  The Switzerland half was quite a bit greener than I expected as it had been a mild winter with lots of warm weather that melted away the snow.  Once we crossed into Austria everything turned white.  They had been receiving much more snow which was boding well for the ski trip.

Lake Zurich

Crossing into Austria

Austria - Near Destination

I was meeting a group of people from the UK, a couple of them were friends but the rest I had never met but through the power of beer we managed to bond well.  We all stayed in the Chalet Gertrud, seen underneath the snow below. Gertrude Gabl was an Austrian Olympic Skier, born in St. Anton, and was killed in an Avalanche.  After winning one of her competitions, instead of receiving money from her country, they gave her a piece of land in St. Anton.  After her passing her family then managed it and rents it out to guests (such as us).

Chalet Gertrude Gabl

The night of the day we had arrived there a storm came in.  The storm was expected to bring in 2m of snow in 2 days.  This meant we were going to see plenty of fresh powder to ski in so we were all excited despite the fact that visibility was going to be affected.  The 2m in 2 days was not accurate.  The storm lasted 5 days and brought in way more than 2m of fresh snow.  For a few of the days the roads and train lines in and out of St. Anton were shut down due to avalanches in the area.  Nearby towns that were not part of the ski resort were evacuated, some by military, due to the copious and record breaking snow fall.  For those of us with accommodations are the resort we were safe and in heaven.  Riding on these trails felt like floating on a cloud and the occasional fall was more fun (and funny) than painful.  The only tough part was trying to get yourself out of the waist deep snow. 

One of the Piste Markers covered

The Downside of Amazing Powder

There were many good stories from this trip but I've chosen to use censorship so no one gets in trouble.  It was a great ski trip and I can't wait for next year's with the same crew.  Below is an article from one of our fellow chalet guests who is a write for a magazine in the UK describing in a much grammatically correct and properly written experience at St. Anton.