Fabulous skiing in Lech-Zürs

25th March 2014, by Alex Gill

The view from Trittkopf early on Tuesday

Tuesday started like any other day, with my aching muscles hardly able to take an additional 8+ hours of mixed skiing and “refreshment”. Being a fresh-faced 25 year old – and having finished a season in the Three Valleys not two years ago – I had foolishly thought that I could sneak under the fitness radar and exert my somewhat aggressive slope technique upon the unsuspecting pistes around St. Anton.

Alas, it appears that my pre-season warmup, consisting of a daily five-minute walk to Greggs, was woefully inadequate. Lesson learned. All fitness-related bitterness aside, today was a fabulous day of fine weather, fine pistes and fine lunch spots.

With the sun shining after two days of steady snowfall, we drove over to Zürs in anticipation of some well-groomed pistes. We were not disappointed. As the early morning sun caught the eastward-facing slopes we cruised our way between lifts, enjoying a combination of fresh snow, perfect visibility and well-maintained runs. The Trittkopf cable-car and Zürsersee chair and their smooth, powdery red runs were enough to keep all parties amused for the morning, regardless of physical ability.

Then it was time to shoulder our exploratory duties and make our way to Lech via Zug. Having set out to run a lap of the Madloch chair, the slow, slow speed of the chair made that option less than appealing. We spent much of the ample time on the chair observing a solo struggling novice away on our right, who had skied across a fresh avalanche path to reach some virgin powder – which he then snowploughed through, all the way back on to run 12. He made it; he was lucky.

The itinerary from Madloch to Zug was in excellent shape, with deep and impressively light powder at the margins. Having passed through Zug, we paused for a LMBB (Late Morning Beer Break) at the cool Balmalp at the top of another slow chair. With prices that compete with those 1000m downhill and a breathtaking view of the surrounding vista, it’s hard to pinpoint any flaws in their outfit. Certainly we were enticed by the enjoyable chillout vibes coming from the jukebox, encouraging us to stay for Just One More…

But it was not to be! We found our self-restraint and set off for an early lunch at the Editor’s Choice restaurant in these parts – Rud Alpe, low down on the home slopes of Lech.

After some confusion about which 34a to take (there are three entirely separate runs with the same number, in addition to the three labelled 34 above Lech) we managed to plant ourselves on the terrace, where we enjoyed excellent goulash and spätzle.

By this point we had been joined by some Lech-based friends and were now fully focused on scoping out the scene above Lech. With spirits (and more importantly, visibility) high, they led us around the pistes below Kriegerhorn and Zuger Hochlicht. Reports from group members suggest both snow quality and overall enjoyment were at a maximum.

Eventually our minds turned to the MABB (Mid Afternoon Beer Break), and we sought out the Kriegeralpe mountain restaurant on the basis of its near-legendary Kaiserschmarren. Without wishing to dedicate too many column inches to this delicacy, I can only say that I encourage every reader to try it when they have the chance. (One portion will feed two or three.)

As our meteorological luck ran out and the sun turned in, the rest of the afternoon was primarily comprised of picking our way around Piste 34 in slightly flat light – still all good fun but hardly comparable to the morning’s shredding. The afternoon’s end saw the juniors of the group indulging in a little traditional apres-ski entertainment at the Hotel Krone, which is where this blog ends…

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