The Inghams Ski Holiday Experience

We’re also fans of chalet holidays and we opted for an ‘Inghams Choice’ chalet in the Austrian resort of St Anton.

Chalet Albona is one of four 10-person chalets in the Mountain Lodge building.

The chalets share a spa with a small pool, sauna, steam room and relaxation area.

The accommodation is just over half a mile up the hill from the centre of the town.

Far enough from party central in this legendary après ski resort if you’re after a bit of peace and quiet.

Close enough to walk or hop on the free bus to the many bars, restaurants and ski lifts.

St Anton is in the west of Austria and part of Arlberg, the biggest lift-linked ski area in the country.

Ski Arlberg includes:

• St Anton
• St Christoph
• Lech
• Stuben
• Zürs 
• Warth -Schröcken

It’s also one of Austria’s most snowsure areas.

With winters becoming increasingly unpredictable, snow reliability is one of the key criteria I consider when I’m booking a trip well in advance of my travel date.

But if the white stuff is severely lacking, Inghams offer a snow guarantee.

If less than 25% of a resort’s planned runs are open, they’ll take their guests to a nearby resort to ski.

No need for that on my March holiday, I’m glad to say.

A few weeks earlier, there’d been a big dump of snow here and across the Alps.

While the temperatures had shot up since – and it stayed warm and largely sunny during our week’s stay – the coverage on the pistes in the whole area was more than adequate.

Yes, some of the lower runs could be heavy, mogully and porridge-like…

…..but there was plenty of excellent skiing to be found.

On piste, at least.

Not difficult for a ski area with 300km of marked runs.

We covered a huge amount of terrain in six days.

From one end of the piste map to the other.

Choosing where to go – and when – was made super easy, thanks to the Inghams ‘Destination Experts’.

The one who’s looking after guests in the Mountain Lodge chalets this season is Aaron Carloss, a friendly and knowledgeable Aussie.

Every morning, before breakfast, Aaron or one of the other Destination Experts, sends a detailed message via WhatsApp to all Inghams guests in resort.

It gives the weather forecast, advice on where to go for the best skiing or snowboarding of the day and how to get there.

Right down to which lifts and runs you’ll need to take and recommendations for routes, depending on your chosen difficulty of slopes.

Favourite lunch spots.

And so much more.

Even walking routes and ideas for other activities for non-skiers.

“I’d say my key role is to make sure you guys get the most of your holiday and you don’t miss out on anything,” Aaron tells me.

“We go hard on learning as much of the piste map and all the information as we can.

“We know it can be a little bit overwhelming, especially with such a big ski area.

“People spend heaps of money getting here and we don’t want them just skiing the local area because they don’t know their way around.”

I’ve never come across anything like the Inghams WhatsApp Community before.

Over our bacon and eggs, we avidly devoured the Destination Experts’ latest suggestions.

We followed them every day and were not once disappointed.

It’s not a surprise to hear from the Inghams’ Resort Manager, Neil Murphy, that the WhatsApp Community is a big hit with customers.

Neil has been based in St Anton for 10 years and looks after Inghams guests in resort in both winter and summer.

“We’ve been doing it here for at least four years,” he tells me.

“The feedback has been very good. It does take up a bit of time but it’s time well spent.”

Next season, the Mountain Lodge chalets will no longer be offered by Inghams as the owners have sold the building.

Details on any new properties aren’t yet available.

But Inghams have two other chalets in St Anton (as well as places in four hotels in the town).

Their chalets have always been popular.

“Our hosts get a lot of credit for that, they’re one of our big wins,” Neil says.

“Most are aged 18 to 26 and, since Brexit, we’ve had a lot from Australia, New Zealand and Ireland.”

Like Ashlee, a Kiwi who looks after us in Chalet Albona, with help from one of the Inghams ‘flexi-hosts’ who move from chalet to chalet.

The hosts provide cooked breakfast (continental on their day off), homemade cake for afternoon tea and four-course dinners six days a week.

Not to mention pre-dinner apéritifs and a selection of good quality wines or beer on demand throughout your meal.

Those with healthy appetites will not go wanting.

I particularly enjoyed the starters……

And the cheese course….

Being fed in the informal and relaxed environment of a chalet, rather than a hotel, is one of the reasons I love this type of holiday.

Another is meeting people from all walks of life.

Among the Chalet Albona guests were a wildlife TV series producer, a former NHS commissioner, a software engineer, a former headteacher, a fly-fishing instructor and a man hoping to get his first novel published.

Three had been to St Anton with Inghams before – one as recently as December.

Returning guests are a sure sign that they’re doing something right.

We’ve had a lot of great chalet holidays over the years but the people we shared this one with were exceptionally good company.

Finally, I can’t end this article without mentioning ski hire.

You can order your rental skis through Inghams but I booked mine online directly with Intersport which offers big discounts to PlanetSKI readers.

There are several Intersport stores in St Anton.

I used Intersport at Galzigbahn, conveniently located right next to the Galzig lift at the foot of blue run 50.

I booked top-end ‘superior’ skis.

I chose Nordica Santa Ana 92 all-mountain skis, knowing I could change them as often as I wanted if they didn’t suit the conditions.

I took advantage of the ski and boot storage at the shop so I didn’t have to haul everything back to the chalet at the end of the ski day.

As it turned out, I didn’t need to change my skis.

The Nordicas were perfect on grippy, groomed pistes, on heavy, bumpy snow and on wet slush.

Thanks Inghams, thanks Intersport and thanks to all the new friends James and I made in Chalet Albona.

MORE INFORMATION

Inghams has been providing ski and outdoor holidays since 1934.

• Inghams Ski runs winter holidays in more than 80 resorts across 8 countries.
• Inghams Walking has stay-and-walk holidays in 75 resorts in 8 countries.
• Inghams Lapland offers trips to explore Finnish Lapland.

Travel with Inghams to St Anton is from a variety of UK airports with coach transfers from Innsbruck airport included (apx 1hr 30 mins).  You can also opt to travel by train from London St Pancras to St Anton (with transfer to your accommodation included) or arrange a self-drive package inclusive of ferry crossings.

Intersport rental equipment:

• INTERSPORT Arlberg 
• INTERSPORT Rent (for all locations)

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