St Anton Am Arlberg
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Sankt Anton am Arlberg, commonly referred to as St Anton, is a village and
ski resort A ski resort is a resort developed for skiing, snowboarding, and other winter sports. In Europe, most ski resorts are towns or villages in or adjacent to a ski area–a mountainous area with pistes (ski trails) and a ski lift system. In North Am ...
in the Austrian state of
Tyrol Tyrol ( ; historically the Tyrole; ; ) is a historical region in the Alps of Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Empire and Austria-Hungary, f ...
. It lies in the Tyrolean Alps, with
aerial tramway An aerial tramway, aerial tram, sky tram, cable car or aerial cablecar, aerial cableway, ropeway, téléphérique (French), or Seilbahn (German) is a type of aerial lift which uses one or two stationary cables for support, with a third movin ...
s and
chairlift An elevated passenger ropeway, or chairlift, is a type of aerial lift, which consists of a continuously circulating steel wire rope loop strung between two end terminals and usually over intermediate towers. They are the primary on-hill tran ...
s up to , yielding a vertical drop of . It is also a popular summer resort among trekkers and
mountaineers Mountaineering, mountain climbing, or alpinism is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas that have become sports ...
. Skiing has a long history in St. Anton: ski instructors from the area emigrated to the United States in the 1930s, helping to popularise the sport. St. Anton was the host of the
Alpine World Ski Championships The FIS Alpine World Ski Championships is an alpine skiing competition organized by the International Ski Federation (FIS). History The inaugural world championships in alpine skiing were held in 1931. It consisted of Downhill (ski competition), ...
in
2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...
, and is frequently listed as one of the world's top skiing resorts both in terms of skiing available and après-ski entertainment.


Geography

St Anton lies on the Rosanna River and is in 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 is a pedestrian zone.


Activities


Skiing

St Anton is part of the Arlberg area of ski resorts – a region that includes 94 cable cars and ski lifts, of groomed pistes and 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 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 (). 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; 43% are for beginners (blue), 41% for intermediate skiers (red) and 16% are for the more advanced (black). There are also of deep snow runs in the area. Expert terrain includes less-frequently groomed ski routes such as Schindlerkar and Mattun, and the backside of Valluga () down to
Zürs Zürs (1716 meters above sea level) is one of the most renowned winter sports resorts in the Alps. Located in the westernmost Austrian state of Vorarlberg, almost directly on the border to North Tyrol, near the Flexenpass, Zürs is part of the A ...
, 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 St Christoph am Arlberg, 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, Stuben, Lech, Zürs, Warth-Schröcken and Klösterle/Sonnenkopf.


Transportation


Road

St Anton is easily reached by car on the A14 motorway, which runs from Vorarlberg (Austria's westernmost state, which borders Liechtenstein and Switzerland) and then follows the spine of the Tyrol. Alternatively, St Anton, Langen am Arlberg, and Kloesterle (all located in the Arlberg ski region) have railway stations. Both St Anton and Langen am Arlberg are stops on international train services between Zurich and Budapest. St Anton and the surrounding villages/resorts are served by a network of bus routes. In the town itself, there are two hubs known as the "Terminal Ost" and the "Terminal West". "Terminal Ost" gives access to the Nassereinbahn Gondola and the "Terminal West" to the Galzigbahn/ Rendlbahn gondolas as well as the town's railway station. There is a route with frequent, year-round services between St Anton and Landeck, the latter being a town located at the entrance to the main valley (Stanzertal, as it is known in the local area). Frequent free bus services also operate between different parts of St Anton as well as from Pettneu, Schnann, and Flirsch.


Rail

is a
railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...
on the
Arlberg railway The Arlberg Railway (), which connects the Austrian cities Innsbruck and Bludenz, is Austria's only ''east-west'' mountain railway. It is one of the highest standard gauge railways in Europe and the second highest in Austria, after the Brenner ...
line between and Innsbruck Hauptbahnhof. The station is served by
RailJet Railjet is a high-speed rail service in Europe operated by Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) and Czech Railways (ČD). Branded as ''Railjet Express'' (RJX category) for the fastest services and as ''Railjet'' (RJ) for services with additional s ...
,
EuroCity EuroCity (EC) is an international Train categories in Europe, train category and brand for European inter-city rail, inter-city trains that cross international borders and meet criteria covering comfort, speed, food service, and cleanliness. E ...
,
InterCity InterCity (commonly abbreviated ''IC'' on timetables and tickets) is the train categories in Europe, classification applied to certain long-distance passenger train services in Europe. Such trains (in contrast to InterRegio, regional train, r ...
,
EuroNight EuroNight, abbreviated EN, is a European train category that denotes many mainline national and international night train services within the Western and Central European inter-city rail network. Overview The classification and name were brough ...
and
NightJet Nightjet (stylised as nightjet) is a brand name given by the ÖBB, Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) to its overnight passenger train services. ''Nightjet'' operates in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland and Switze ...
trains of
Austrian Federal Railways The Austrian Federal Railways ( , formally or () and formerly the or ''BBÖ'' ), now commonly known as ÖBB (), is the national railway company of Austria, and the administrator of Liechtenstein's railways. The ÖBB group i ...
(ÖBB) and services of WESTbahn.


Climate


In popular culture

St. Anton was the setting for the film '' The White Ecstasy'', starring
Leni Riefenstahl Helene Bertha Amalie "Leni" Riefenstahl (; 22 August 1902 – 8 September 2003) was a German film director, Film producer, producer, screenwriter, Film editing, editor, photographer, and actress. She is considered one of the most controversial ...
and local ski instructor
Hannes Schneider Johann "Hannes" Schneider (24 June 1890 – 26 April 1955) was an Austrian ski instructor of the first half of the 20th century, famous for pioneering the Arlberg technique of instruction. Many consider him the Father of Modern Day Skiing. ...
. 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 Propaganda was a tool of the Nazi Party in Germany from its earliest days to the end of the regime in May 1945 at the end of World War II. As the party gained power, the scope and efficacy of its propaganda grew and permeated an increasing amou ...
films and, post-war, subsequently lived in
Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...
. After the war, Schneider developed the downhill skiing method known as the "
Arlberg technique The Arlberg technique is a structured teaching system for skiing that guides beginners from the basic snowplough turn—where skis form a wedge to control speed and direction—to the parallel stem christie, a turn blending a slight wedge with para ...
". St. Anton was shown in the
1969 1969 ( MCMLXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1969th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 969th year of the 2nd millennium, the 69th year of the 20th century, and the ...
film ''
Downhill Racer ''Downhill Racer'' is a 1969 American sports drama film starring Robert Redford, Gene Hackman, and Camilla Sparv; it was the directorial debut of Michael Ritchie. Written by James Salter, based on the 1963 novel ''The Downhill Racers'' ...
'', starring
Robert Redford Charles Robert Redford Jr. (born August 18, 1936) is an American actor and filmmaker. He has received numerous accolades such as an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, and two Golden Globe Awards, as well as the Cecil B. DeMille Award in 1994, the ...
and
Gene Hackman Eugene Allen Hackman (January 30, 1930 – ) was an American actor. Hackman made his credited film debut in the drama ''Lilith (film), Lilith'' (1964). He later won two Academy Awards, his first for Academy Award for Best Actor, Best Actor for ...
. The resort was featured extensively in the
2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...
film '' Chalet Girl'', a romantic comedy starring
Felicity Jones Felicity Rose Hadley Jones (born 17 October 1983) is an English actress. She began her professional acting career as a child, appearing in '' The Treasure Seekers'' (1996) at age 12. She went on to play Ethel Hallow for one series of the tele ...
,
Ed Westwick Edward Jack Peter Westwick (born 27 June 1987) is an English actor and musician best known for his role as Chuck Bass on The CW's ''Gossip Girl'' as well as Vincent Swan in the TV series ''White Gold''. He made his feature film debut in '' Chi ...
and
Bill Nighy William Francis Nighy (; born 12 December 1949) is an English actor. Known for his work in numerous stage, television and film productions, he has received several awards including a British Academy Film Award and a Golden Globe Award, and ...
. The resort of
Garmisch-Partenkirchen Garmisch-Partenkirchen (; ) is an Northern Limestone Alps, Alpine mountain resort, ski town in Bavaria, southern Germany. It is the seat of government of the Garmisch-Partenkirchen (district), district of Garmisch-Partenkirchen (abbreviated ...
in
Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
was also used for some interior shots.


Statistics

* Elevation: village: ; top: . * Vertical: . * Longest run: , Valluga to St. Anton. * Lifts: 94 (Ski*Arlberg); 11
gondolas The gondola (, ; , ) is a traditional, flat-bottomed Venetian rowing boat, well suited to the conditions of the Venetian lagoon. It is typically propelled by a gondolier, who uses a rowing oar, which is not fastened to the hull, in a sculli ...
; 51
chairlifts An elevated passenger ropeway, or chairlift, is a type of aerial lift, which consists of a continuously circulating steel wire rope loop strung between two end terminals and usually over intermediate towers. They are the primary on-hill tr ...
(one 10-passenger, one 8-passenger, fifteen 6-passenger, 15 quads, 1 triples, 18 doubles); 32 T-bars lifts. * Lift capacity: 151,010 per hour."Sankt Anton Winter", ''www.stantonamarlberg.com'', 2011 ; Web page
www.stantonamarlberg.com/winter/ViewPage.asp?Site=STANTON2-WINTER&PageID=206&lang=201
.
* Ski season: early December to late April. * Cross country: total: Stanzertal , Verwall , St Christoph , Ganderau , Reit , Pofel * Mountain restaurants: 18. * Après-ski: ski museum; 15 cafés, 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'', .
John Darrell Sherwood, "Going Further Afield: St. Anton, Austria", 23 February 2003


* 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

*
Arlberger Bergbahnen AG (cable car company)

Weather, webcams, videos, etc. from Sankt Anton am Arlberg
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sankt Anton am Arlberg Cities and towns in Landeck District Ski areas and resorts in Austria Verwall Alps