Skiing in Vorarlberg - Austria

Contributed by Melanie Grey, Zürich (thanks Melanie for your article to Chandlers Ford community website)

Skiing is clearly not everyone’s cup of tea, but for those souls who are passionate about the sport, and who live for the weekends or the odd weeks in winter when they can click snap into their ski boots and hoist the skis over their shoulder, you will find some magical and diverse ski havens tucked away in the western tip of Austria.

I live in Zürich which means that not only do I have the pickings of  Swiss ski playgrounds to choose from, but can get myself to the Vorarlberg province in the very west of Austria in a few hours` drive . For most people the best known and glitziest ski resorts in this province are Lech, Zürs and St Anton.

I am a total devotee of skiing in the Montafon Alpine Valley in the south of the province which is home to  the less well known resorts of Schruns (the biggest), Tschagguns, Gaschurn, Gargellen, Partenen, St. Gallenkirch, Gortipohl, Sibertal, Bartholomäberg (longest sunshine hours), St. Anton in Montafon. and Vandans. In order of altitude these gorgeous traditional villages start at Vandans at 600 m up to the tiny village of Gargellen at 1430 m, and together offer 222 km of piste and 62 lift systems.

The pistes in the Montafon valley have something for the smallest apprentice to the seasoned pro but if you don`t want to consider the whizz rush of the downhill skis, there is ample snowboarding, mono-skiing, Big Foot skiing, cross country skiing, snow shoeing and ski touring in most of these resorts. Indeed, one of the major enticements for me is the serious possibility of ski tours. Assuming you are in reasonable shape and can handle off piste with aplomb, a Gargellen ski tourer can guide you from Gargellen over the border to Klosters Madrisa in Switzerland, where you have lunch and ski back the same way.

The Montafon ski schools are small enough to be highly personal and yet sizeable enough to offer a diverse choice of classes. If you are a ski school addict there is nothing more comforting than having your local instructor kindly remind you that for yet another ski week you must remember  “pleeze no you poke your bottom out” or “tink wiz your heart and not wiz your brain”.

My skis are parked by the back door as, with an intermittent glance at the ski slope web cams, I await the first whiff of snow and the official opening of the cable cars. I have discovered that if I`m on the ball, I can get going  in December when the prices are lower, the pistes are relatively person free, accommodation is bountiful and the snow is usually good enough to get a few days in before, or instead of  the Christmas shopping!

Montafon  is not for wild après-ski animals but more for individual ski freaks, families and anyone who is after a resort where Dior ski glasses are not a pre-requisite, where the children are as safe as houses in the fabulous ski schools and where you can completely chill out and enjoy the magnificent Austrian mountain cuisine and whatever local liquid refreshments accompany the meal.

By marvellous coincidence, the Swiss school ski fortnight in February usually coincides with English private school week, giving rise to an eclectic mixture of  ski individuals and families from Austria, Switzerland, Germany and Holland and a merry band of English skiers, who have come over to Vorarlberg under their own steam. There are regular British guests who come back year after year but who never tell their friends their exact destination.

I met a retired British pilot who has been coming to Gargellen for over 25 years who  makes me promise each time not to tell anyone else.

With a little bit of research, you will find that you don`t always have to book an all inclusive ski break in Austria, but instead can sort out a very individual week`s skiing in a particularly special little ski area in Montafon, and where you never know...you may be back next year.

General information

montafon at www.vorarlberg.travel

Closest airport hubs

Ryanair for flights into Friedrichshafen in Germany.

UK flights into Zürich airport.

Often a pre-booked taxi from Zürich airport is a pleasant alternative to a week’s car hire.

www.chandlersford.org.uk