Weekend Ski Trip: Après and Adventure in Tirol
Night 1: Pfunds
After searching the best flights and relentlessly asking my Dutch clients about their favorite ski destinations, we settled on our first Euro ski holiday. Innsbruck, Austria would lead us to the Alps of Tirol – where spätzle and schnapps are joyfully consumed by all, and we join approximately 5 other snowboarders on the mountain.
Thankfully, our biggest hiccup came at the start of the trip, when we landed at the Innsbruck Airport to find we forgot to book our rental car. We took a little too long to admit defeat, jump on Kayak, wait in line behind every other passenger on our plane, find that our Fiat 500 was too small (shocker), then finally get on the road in the sexiest rental car we’ve ever driven. #blessed
Square van beauty!
So, 2 hours later, we were finally on our way to Pfunds. After too much candy and an unfortunate detour (sorry, Luke), we arrived at our boutique hotel. The resort accommodations book up quickly, so we had to look to outside towns, and this worked out perfectly for us! Pension Fuchs had everything we needed and was in an easy spot to get to the main highway leading to the popular resorts: St Anton am Arlberg and Ischgl. You also have the option to ski at the smaller resort of Nauders, which is just 12km away.
Hanger was running rampant, so as soon as we dropped our bags, we walked into the quaint mountain town and dined at Pizzeria Va Bene. We carb loaded, devoured a shockingly delicious caprese salad, and drank a bottle of local red wine. At this point, it was 6pm and we were ready for bed. So, in attempt to stay awake, we hit the sauna and chatted up a nude Dutch guy until I almost passed out and had to leave. Naturally.
Day 2: St Anton am Arlberg
Tips
Getting There: The drive was only 45 minutes, so we were grateful for the car, considering public transportation would have been a 2 hour trip.
Parking: Parking was super easy and abundant. We parked in the Rendl lot for 7 euros/day. Had we known how simple it was to get from town to town, we would have left the car at the free lot at St Cristoph. Ours ended up working well since we enjoyed après ski at St Anton, and it was nice to be able to get back to the car quickly in the cold.
Lift Tickets: There was an office to purchase lift tickets at the Rendl Gondola by where we parked, but there were many places to buy them. No one orders the passes online ahead of time.
Slopes
This was truly one of our favorite ski days together! Excellent weather, and surprisingly decent snow for how warm it was. It was just the two of us on most runs, which are all intermediate to advanced (blue, red, or black), and were so much longer than we’ve experienced.
Lunch
About 1.5 hours in, we stopped for lunch at a bbq hut that was calling our name as soon as we left the gondola. We learned that all of the huts are different and independently run, which explained the quaint and cosy ambiance.
After chatting with a few Canadians from Whistler who visit St Anton every year, we finished lunch and planned to board another couple of hours before a glühwein break. Turns out the mountain had other plans for us, as 2 hours quickly turned into 4…
The Mountain
A client assured me the ride into Lech is “lovely” and, more importantly, where the Dutch Royal family has a residence. So, being the unapologetic fan girl I am, I forced Luke to navigate us there. The mountain is so massive that we ended up on a few detours before finding the red that would supposedly take us where we wanted to go. At first, this run was an absolute blast!! Untouched powder and no one else around – to the point of feeling ominous, but there was no turning back.
Evidently, there was a reason we were alone. After about an hour on this run, we literally dead-ended at a main highway. Cars speeding past, splashing slushy snow towards our faces. The run just stopped. So, we unstrapped our boards and walked along the side of the road like hobos until we found a path through the trees. Lech was still 1.8km away. We trudged through the snow with our gear…continued walking…then, 500 hours later, we made it.
Lech
It was 2:30pm at this point and we began our post lunch journey at 11:45am…We had to hop on a lift immediately if we were going to make it back before the lifts closed at 4pm
Lech actually ended up having one of our favorite runs of the day, encouraging us to enjoy our whiskey flask as the sun set behind the peaks. (Trust me, we earned it.)
We forgave and forgot the journey to Lech until we were forced against our will onto a lift that nearly killed me (cue Luke rolling his eyes). I somehow survived in a death grip up the mountainside, and we began our final run through a blanket of powder into the village of Stubenbach. It was 4pm and we were still nowhere close to St Anton. In fact, 2 runs (and 2 tries on that damn lift) literally took us 1.5 hours in the opposite direction of our home base.
Satan’s Lift.
Stubenbach
Getting Around
Like I said before, this mountain is massive! The app was helpful in navigating, but still a little difficult to understand since we weren’t yet comfortable with the run and lift structure. Thankfully, the 92 bus was easy to find and running often at just 4 euros per person. We made it back just in time to change into dry clothes and join the après ski!
Après Ski
The term “après ski” is French for after ski, which basically just means ending your long day on the slopes with live music and beverages. If you’re Austrian, this heavily includes schnapps consumption. St Anton is one of the top resorts for the full experience, a main selling point in our destination decision, obviously.
Where to go
We had beers and wings at a piano bar called Underground on the Piste, listening to live music and recapping our day with schnapps. But the party was at Das Basecamp, filled with Europeans of all ages, enjoying the DJ and drinking too much, you guessed it, schnapps. The “bouncer” turned us away because he assumed my water bottle was full of booze (which it should have been), and instead we were lured into a small bar inside of a hut.
Benches were lined with fur pelts and music played at a level that actually allowed us to have a conversation. These were our people. They appeared to be locals, all seemingly knowing the bartenders, telling stories of their day with beers and more schnapps. Schnapps schnapps schnapps. I may have our first child’s name…
Dinner
Once we arrived back in Pfunds, we strolled down the road to Florian’s Restaurant for some Austrian fare. There was literally one other couple, along with the owner pouring draft beers behind the bar. Slightly skeptical, we sat down and ordered anyway. I’m so glad we did because the food was exactly what we wanted after our long ski day.
A couple of cats snoozed in a booth nearby and the owner sent us off with local schnapps (can’t stop) to keep us warm on our evening walk back in the cold.
Day 3: Innsbruck
We debated spending our last morning back on the mountain, but decided to sleep in then take our time exploring Innsbruck before our flight. Hands down the best decision!
As the river got deeper, the color transformed into an icy blue
On the drive between Pfunds and Innsbruck, there is a river a color so vibrant it looks radioactive.
Old Town
Parking in Innsbruck is free on Sundays, and we had no problem finding street parking on the edge of old town. We went to Ottoburg for one last Austrian meal, crushing goulash and roast pork.
Strolling along the river, we enjoyed the quaint and colorful houses. Then, once coffee was calling our name, we popped into Cafe Bar Moustache. Here, we sipped on flat whites and soaked in the youthful buzz of the cafe. All the while staring at a majestic painting of Tom Selleck.
We walked around the old town a bit more, purchased a couple of souvenirs, then ended our trip at Strudel Café Kröll. Espresso shots and apple marzipan and sour cherry and cheese strudels bid us farewell, and I wish I could have controlled myself enough to save some for the flight.
The airport was an easy 12 minute drive away – we dropped off the rental car and made our way back to Amsterdam full of free, lounge Aperol Spritz a la bartender Luke.
