Soelden

Soelden este o statiune dragutza, destul de maricica pentru Austria cu cei 150km de partii, un loc superb pentru a veni la ski cu familia o saptamana. Inaltimile care depasesc 3000m garanteaza calitatea zapezii. Exista destule posibilitati de free-ride si am fost surprins sa gasesc la zile bune dupa ultimele ninsori zapada neatinsa in locuri destul de accesibile. Aceasta poate pentru ca vasta majoritate a turistiilor din statiune sunt skiori veniti special pentru a se da pe partie, foarte rar vezi pe cineva cu skiuri late. Iar cu placa erau foarte-foarte putini. Eu nu am prins zapada proaspata decat in ultima zi, dar am gasit ceva variante offpiste si niste culoare superbe de dat care ne-au facut zilele frumoase.

De remarcat ca exista site-ul http://www.skiline.cc unde introducand numarul ski-passului poti avea graficul fiecarei zile de ski, cu ora si denivelarea urcata/coborata. Astfel desi in general ajungeam in varful partiilor la 3000m pe la 10.30 au fost zile in care am reusit sa fac aproape 10000m denivelare skiind pana la ultimul scaun din telescaun :)))

In ultimele trei zile a fost ceatza, uneori de iti bagai degetele in ochi, asa ca singurele poze au fost desenele noastre rupestre, pe geamul gondolei :D

St. Anton Rider !

we don't know him, but this a typical free rider for St. Anton .

We were soooo many ...

...Even for my wide angle lenses !

For more photos and comments on Arlberg:

Here you can find Lucian's web page:

http://poze.uplink.ro/main.php?g2_view=core.ShowItem&g2_itemId=29898

And here Bogdan Coman's blog:

http://bcoman.wordpress.com/2007/02/22/poveste-de-arlberg-ii/

and photos:

http://picasaweb.google.com/pozecoman/StAnton

A cigar makes u (look) smarter !

Specially blended with the grass, the air and the snow of St. Anton.

Blow in the wind ....

heeey ! what a strong wind we had ! It couldn't move mountains, but surely it had moved all the snow away !

Fairy-tale snow

In the first 5 day of our holllyday in St. Anton it was snowing like in a spellbound.

The falling angels !

It is nice to jump, but unfortunatelly you also have to land :( Here you can see how did our heros managed to "gently" touch the ground.

The day of the jumps !

Some of us enjoyed to jump. Here we have a nice collection of them (more of them or on the films). 10x to Coman, Lucian, Mitza, Lupu, Saqe & co.... Enjoy ! (and wait ot see the landings :))))

Where is the North ?

Did we land on the moon, momma ?!?

Each morning, in order to arrive to St. Anton we had to take the chairlift from Stuben. For most poeple it was a too difficult exercise, at that early morning hour. Here you can see some "happy" landings (for the people which are looking at), a very little portion compared to the actual number of stunts. In the next days our ators tried to "avoid" the camera eye :)

Back from a great snowboarding week in St. Anton am Arlberg

And now we're back form the great winter hollyday in St. Anton (snif snif...).
Here there is my personal oppinion about this resort, and the first photos:

on the + side:

It is trully one of the best skiresorts of Europe, which has its place in the http://www.bestofthealps.com
Great ski runs, in number and length.
Excelent groomed.
Modern fast lifts.
Many options for free riding.
Nice village.
Very close to Lech-Zurs another great winter resort.

on the - side:

Too many people which tend to crowd on few slopes, the ones which give acces to the lifts. This leads to very fast damage of the most popular runs.
Free ride trade-off: either it is forbidden and you might risk your life, but you have a suuuperb snow, either it is allowed and then in less than one hour all the great snow dissapears ridden in all directions by a ravageous horde of enthusiastic tourists.
It is very expensive to ski in St. Anton.
Too many flat portions linking the ski runs (for snowboarders this really sucks !).

After being in St. Anton some questions have arised: what is trully "free ride" ? and how to do it ?

In this moment I think that a pure free ride experience is about going up by foot (or by hellycopter - if you are reach or supported by some company) and the going down in some remote, untouched mountains and valleys. Mandatory are the ARVA, ABS and digging tools. And the satisfaction will be limiteless.

keep riding !

L.