It has been a great Christmas week in the chalet with families Gower, Ferguson and Adams. Very cozy times with a nicely decorated tree, lots of presents, great food and the continuation of fabulous skiing.  The sun has shown itself for a change and we have enjoyed taking in the scenery of the gorgeous and awfully white peaks that surround us.  Santa certainly has lots of happy children (like me!) in these parts after delivering steady snow since the 5th.  The base at Galzig reached 276cm and has now settled at 252cm after a couple of sunny days. More snow is forecast starting Thursday so it is looking like we will bring in 2012 with a bang!  All the best for a Merry Christmas and happy new year from us here at Chalet Rafalt!

Breakfast with Santa soft boiled eggs!

Galzig looking very filled in for the 26th of December!

This guy told me he had parked in Stuben on the 14th. Time to dig out!!

Since the last update the snow has continued on and off but mostly on.  The base at the top of Galzig was at 255cm when we came down today and the snow is piling up in the valley as well.  It has been a gorgeous week with St. Anton looking much like the inside of a snow globe.  There has been a lot of snow shovelling going on!  The skiing continues to be fantastic and our Christmas guests have been having some of the best powder skiing of their  lives.  Our fingers are crossed that this will be a theme for the season!!  All pistes and transport routes are in fine shape so the skiing is looking great for weeks and months ahead for skiers of all ability levels.

We have three weeks available in March so book your trip soon and get in on this incredible winter!!

Shovelling out the balcony which has been filled over the last 2 weeks.

The back garden of the Chalet. Hard to believe it was grass just over two weeks ago!

A car that has been parked for a few days in Stuben.

We are in the midst of a classic St. Anton snowfall.  As the locals explain it to me this is caused when a warm moist flow of air originating over Iceland gains moisture over Scotland and Ireland and then collides with a cool mass of air originating in Russia.  This creates a stable low pressure system in the Arlberg and massive amounts of dry power snow.  This is the weather pattern that makes St. Anton a major snow centre in the Alps.  Our fingers are crossed that it will determine our weather for the season like other big winters in the past!!

It is hard to say how much snow has fallen in the last 48 hrs but I can say the following:  The base has gone from 107cm to 196cm, I have measured 86cm in our car park, and bottomless is understating how deep the skiing is.  This storm is leaving a great base behind and we are grateful for this incredible turn around over the last 11 days.  Here are a few photos from the last couple of days.

12 hr count from 8-8 on the 17th of December in the car park!

Le dip

Still snowing!!

It is hard to believe that 10 short days ago the mountains were green and I was wondering if winter would come to the Alps this year.  It has been an incredible turn around over this period and safe to say St. Anton is certainly recovering from the warmest November on record.  There has been snow almost every night and powder to be skied every day since opening!  Today was fantastic skiing as mother nature added 15-20cm in the morning to a bit of snow overnight and provided a clearing at mid day for great visibility.  The base is currently at 125cm of settled snow at mid mountain and is drifting to 2m deep in some places.

It is looking like things are going to continue to improve with the snow picking back up in the late afternoon and lots forecast for the upcoming days!

We look forward to the winter ahead and to the guests that have their trip booked at the chalet.  We have the final three weeks in March available so please come and experience St. Anton!

December 4th, 2011

December 7th, 2011

December 10th, 2011

December 14, 2011

Maaike and I returned to St. Anton on November 24th.  We arrived to green grass and the warmest weather Austria had experienced in 50 years.  We made great use of our time painting the chalet, cleaning it from top to bottom and putting new linen on the beds.  It is looking great!  In our spare time we did a couple of walks up the Rodel Track and down past the Krazy Kanguruh through the meadows.

The good news is that it started snowing on Dec 5th and has not stopped.  Last night was particularly heavy with 70cm piling up in the alpine and 40 in the back yard.  Galzig weather plot has gone from a modest 15cm to 120cm since the beginning of the storm.  The meadows we walked down are a distant memory and the skiing will get started tomorrow!  The following is a series of photos shot by our Finnish friend Oula showing the transformation to the winter resort recreational skiers know and love.  There is one bonus pic of a couple turns had today.

With our first group from Denmark arriving on Friday the timing couldn’t be better!

We have availability from Dec 11-17 so if you are within the neighbourhood feel free to contact us as we would love to host you!

Coming down the Icefall part of the men's down hill.

St. Anton had its first major snowfall this weekend it it was a biggie.  Here is a great picture to get you excited for the upcoming winter!  The propensity for big snow falls in St. Anton never ceases to amaze  us.

Bookings for the winter are filling up and it is looking like a busy winter ahead!!  Please let us know if we can provide any assistance in organizing your trip.  We look forward to hosting you!

Kind Regards,

Ross and Maaike

Toasting you, our guests!!

Maaike and I wanted to say a heart felt thank you to all of our guests for helping make our first season at Chalet Rafalt a success.  All the groups we hosted were extremely kind that had different qualities that made them memorable to us.  We hope you enjoyed your stay as much as we enjoyed hosting you!

We are excited to announce that we will be returning next winter and would welcome the opportunity to host you again.  Please feel free to contact us if you have plans to visit St. Anton again next winter.

All the best for a nice summer and thank you again for your business.

Kind Regards,

Ross

The finish line

Racers collapsing after negotiating 1500m of vertical

The last weekend of skiing in St. Anton is always celebrated with a big race called the Wiesse Rausch.  This is a race unique to the area and involved over 550 competitors this year.  The men’s category had 383 alone.  The 9km race down 1500m of vertical begins at five o’clock pm sharp from the top of the mountain at Valluga.  The race is divided into two heats; first men less than 35 years of age, and second men older than 35, all women, telemarkers and snow boarders. 

It is quite the spectacle watching 383 people in the first heat start a race simultaneously onto a piste that has not been groomed which narrows quickly so there is not enough room for all the skiers.  There are big crashes every year with the lucky ones making it first to a 100m hike before dropping off the back of Schindler down more bumpy piste towards happy valley. 

The race continues down happy valley and leads the racers towards the final pitch where about 1000 spectators cheer on the madness.  To add insult to injury there is an obstacle course that the racers must pass through while carrying their skis to make it to the finish.  This years race was won yet again by Paul Scharwzacher in a time of 8:14.  It was his 7th title on skis.

Here is a link to some fottage of this year’s race.  If you can make it to watch it in person you’ll certainly gain a fuller appreciate of this awesome race. http://www.stantonamarlberg.com/de/winter/events/der-weisse-rausch-2011-das-video.html

View towards the Nasserine bahn

Easter week and the end of the skiing season is upon us here in St. Anton.  These photos do a great job of capturing the flavour of the last couple weeks which has been summer in the valley and winter in the alpine.  We received 35cm of snow during the Taps race on the 12th and the temperatures up high have remained cold enough to preserve the powder snow for the last week.  The pistes have been spring like and the mountain staff has done an amazing job of keeping top to bottom skiing intact despite the warm weather.  Down low people have been sporting shorts and t shirts, eating ice cream and enjoying the patios!  The green grass leading up to the white peaks and up again to the blue skies has had us singing “the hills are alive with sound of music”!  It has been a great mix of seasons.

We have rooms available for our last week so please feel free to come and stay at the chalet!

Kind Regards,

Ross and Maaike

Winter up high, summer in the valley

Our most important Clients of the winter....our moms!!

Tired lil' apres skier

Spring has arrived in the Arlberg and it has been very nice weather!  We are almost getting an early dose of summer in the valley while the snow coverage remains great up in the alpine.  We had 20cm of new snow on the 4th which made for some excellent winter skiing.  We are back into spring snow now and it is perfect weather for dinning out doors at lunch and enjoying beers in sun chairs at the end of the day!

St. Anton has a lot more coming down the pipeline this month with the Taps race on the 12th and the Wiesse Rauch on the 23rd.  Both races provide an excellent atmosphere for the village and are thoroughly enjoyed by those who partake.  Sadly The Funky Chicken, Platzl and Pompodoro (which are three of the core businesses in the village) will be closing their doors permanently on the 25th and will be hosting a party to commemorate many winters to remember.  Come down and be a part of it all!