Arlberg Ski Resorts, Austria: St. Anton, Lech, Zürs and Ski History

The Arlberg, on the border of Tyrol and Vorarlberg, is where modern Alpine skiing grew up. Today its villages, from St. Anton to Lech and Zürs, form Ski Arlberg, Austria’s largest ski resort, with deep snow, legendary off-piste and a century of ski history.

Ski Arlberg: villages, pistes and lifts

The official Ski Arlberg site lists about 301 km of ski runs and 85 cable cars and lifts, linking three groups of villages:

• St. Anton, St. Christoph and Stuben on the Tyrolean side, with St. Anton as the lively main base.
• Lech, Oberlech and Zürs in Vorarlberg, the Vorarlberg half of the resort.
• Warth-Schröcken further north.

The area averages around 9 metres of snowfall a season. Its showpiece tour is the Run of Fame, an 85 km circuit across the whole resort, while the 22 km Weißer Ring (White Ring) around Lech and Zürs has hosted an annual race since the 2005–06 season.

The Arlberg Pass and the Hospiz of St. Christoph

The Arlberg Pass crosses the Alps at about 1,793 m. Mule caravans carried salt over it by the 14th century, and in 1386 the Arlberg Hospiz was built at St. Christoph to shelter travellers. It still welcomes guests more than 600 years later.

Today most traffic passes underneath: the 10.25 km Arlberg railway tunnel links St. Anton with Langen, and a toll road tunnel of about 14 km, opened on 1 December 1978, runs alongside. The old pass road stays open as a free scenic route.

Hannes Schneider and the birth of ski schools

Ski Club Arlberg was founded in 1901 and held its first race in 1904. The region’s great name is Hannes Schneider (1890–1955), born in Stuben. Teaching at the Hotel Post in St. Anton, he developed the Arlberg technique, a systematic way to teach downhill skiing that still underpins ski instruction. The Ski School Arlberg, founded in 1921, was the region’s first.

Schneider starred in Arnold Fanck’s ski films, which spread the Arlberg style worldwide. An outspoken opponent of the Nazis, he was imprisoned after the annexation of Austria in 1938. In 1939 he was released and moved to North Conway, New Hampshire, where he ran the ski school at Cranmore Mountain until his death. The first Arlberg lifts opened in St. Anton and Zürs in 1937.

Planning a ski trip to the Arlberg

• Getting there: St. Anton is a stop on the Arlberg railway, so you can arrive by train.
• Choosing a base: St. Anton is the biggest and busiest village; Lech, Oberlech and Zürs are smaller villages; Warth-Schröcken is the snowy northern outpost.
• Season: lifts usually open in early December; the 2026–27 season starts on 2 December 2026.
• Off-piste: much of the Arlberg’s fame comes from deep-snow runs. Ski them with a certified mountain guide and full avalanche equipment.

For more Austria, explore Innsbruck, or see the country in motion in A Taste of Austria.

Related reading

• Hallstatt – Idyllic Village of Plenty of Fun Activities, Austria
• Schlegeis Reservoir: Mountain Views and Alpine Engineering
• The Barn in Going am Wilden Kaiser: Timber, Concrete and Alpine Views
• Eisriesenwelt: The Ice Cavern inside an Austrian Mountain

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