Other ski resorts have gone into meltdown, but not St Anton. Here we keep rolling until the end of April. Admittedly, the snow isn’t at its best, but with temperatures hitting 20 degrees – the sun is bloody lovely.
Mid-season blues. I’d heard about them, but never actually witnessed them. Four years ago, I did a winter in Kitzbuhel and, yes, the seasonnaires got a bit fed-up, but not at the same time or in numbers.Fast forward to St Anton, 2010.
St Anton has a reputation for riding. That’s why many seasonnaires here are on something ridiculous like their 13th season. And then there are stories like Joan’s. Joan is an inspirational lady who runs a fantastic restaurant called Underground On The Piste here.
Snow and sun cannot be guaranteed. Fact. Take this week, for example. Blue skies and fresh powder for transfer day, when everyone was working their arses off. Then howling gales and white-outs for days on end when we actually had some time to enjoy the mountain. So what's a girl to do?
We’re all a bit partial to some smash-up time after a cruise around the mountain. And in St Anton it’s all too easy to get on the train to Smash-up Central. There are so many choices that, after nearly two months in resort, I’ve probably visited fewer than half of them. The good thing is that they’re generally really different.
Given its propensity for attracting big groups of blokes, St Anton has somewhat unfairly earned the moniker ‘Manton’.But for three weeks in January, women will be taking back the power thanks to an ingenious initiative called Ladies First. Basically, this entitles us to heaps of discounts and deals while the men pay usual prices. I like it.
