Think St Anton, think super fast skiers/boarders; lots of long, crazy off-piste descents; views atop the Valluga; and apres-ski party central.

Well, FamilySkiNews has found another side to this fabled resort of 97 lifts and 250kms of pistes – a smaller, more personal ski area, right in the centre of St Anton, just perfect for family skiing – Rendl mountain.

Even though it’s pint-sized, Rendl has everything you could possibly want in a ski area… it has a couple of black runs, half-a-dozen reds, half-a-dozen blues, a couple of fabulous restaurants, a permanent racing track (The Rendl Race), a speed-measurement run (The Stanton Speed) and a jump park (Stanton Park) – with jumps and rails for beginners, intermediates and pros, serviced by its own mini practice lift.  What more could anyone ask for on a mountain?  Perfect for dad, perfect for mum, perfect for racey kids, competitive teens and learners big and small…

We also had the best snow in the whole of the Arlberg region when we were skiing here in early April.  We skied St Anton, Lech, Zurs, St Christoph, Stuben, Zug… but we kept returning to Rendl for the snow on it’s north-facing slopes.

For hardcore freeriders, there’s also a permanent training area on the Rendl, with five buried transmitters, where you can get some free safety training to prepare you, in case of emergency, before you venture off-piste.

The mountain is accessed by the Rendl gondola (just across the road below the Galzigbahn), and you can even hire skis/boards and boots etc at the top of the gondola as there’s an Intersport hireshop there.

At the end of the day, you can either ride the gondola back down again or enjoy a 5km red run (which is not very challenging at all) back to the bottom of the mountain, where you’ll find yourself right back in the centre of St Anton.

There are a couple of excellent restaurants on Rendl too.  At the top of the gondola, there’s a self-service restaurant with an excellent choice of soups, salads, stir-fries, strudels and a huge tub of Kaiserschmarrn, a traditional Austrian pancake dessert (click HERE for the recipe).  On the terrace overlooking the jump park, the trendy Rendl Beach drinks, snacks and barbecued chicken on Thursdays and Fridays.

Our favourite restaurant, however, is three-quarters of the way down the home run – the characterful Bifang Alm serves scrumptious schnitzels for lunch on the sun terrace beside the ice bar; and fondues and hot-stone meat specialities by the open fire in the evenings, with a pick-up service after dinner by piste-basher.

The end to a perfect day on the Rendl.

 

Lift passes are combined with the Arlberg pass: €51/30 (adult/child) for one day; €252/151 for six days. Children born in 2008 and after pay just €10 for a special ‘Snowman’ pass (valid all season).