Stuben am Arlberg Advanced & Off-Piste

The off-piste skiing and freeriding on the Albona mountain above Stuben is world class. The better you are, the better it gets, but be prepared to hire a guide to reach the best terrain. Stuben is also near the centre of the Arlberg ski area, giving advanced skiers easy access to the challenging pistes, ungroomed ski routes and even more off-piste in the other lift-liked resorts.

Photo: Copyright © Stuben am Arlberg Tourismusbüro | Alex Kaiser

A cursory glance at Stuben’s piste map warns you of what to expect. Compared to the much busier ski areas of St Anton and Lech-Zurs, which are criss-crossed with pistes and official ski routes, the 1000m vertical Albona mountain above Stuben has only a few marked runs, leaving most of it as a powder heaven for off-piste skiers, ski tourers and freeriders to explore. 

Stuben off-piste and freeriding

From the Albona to Langen and Sonnenkopf

There are several highly recommended itineraries from the top of the Albona down to Langen. The starting point is the ridge line to the left of the Albona Bergrestaurant as you ski to it from the top of the Albonagrat chair. Some require only a little side-stepping up the mountain or a brief hike, others are accessible only to ski tourers with skins. All are best skied with a guide. The Stuben ski school mountain guides will know which descents have the best snow, and can select routes with easy ascents for first time ski tourers. When you reach Langen, you can take a train from the station to St Anton or a bus back to Stuben, but a taxi back to Stuben is the quickest option – it’s a 5 minute journey.

You also don’t have to stop at Langen, because instead of returning to Stuben your bus or  taxi can take you 10 minutes’ further down the road to the Arlberg ski area’s most remote outpost, Sonnenkopf. There is great off-piste at Sonnenkopf – both between-the-piste freeriding in the main North-facing bowl around the Glalttingrad and Obermuri lifts, and genuine ‘off the back’ intineraries which can take you all the way back to Langen railway station via a beautiful descent across an open powder bowl, followed by a steep chute through the woods (there are several to choose) and a winding snow-covered footpath through the forest. The route is not obvious though, and it’s easy to get into trouble, so you are strongly advised to hire a guide who knows the area well, such as those from the Stuben ski school.

Albona North Face: the Mulde

There is excellent between-the-piste freeriding and off-piste skiing on the Albona North face. The main bowl (or “Mulde”) is best accessed from the ridge to the left of the Albona Bergrestaurant. (You can see the top half of the descent from the restaurant’s windows.). There are several entry-points: the ones furthest along the ridge point you towards Langen Forest. You can also access most of the Albona North face from slightly lower down, by taking the Albonabahn II lift, skiing down piste 105 for a short way, and when the piste swings around to the right, come off it and traverse left.

Off-piste skiing is always potentially dangerous so hiring a guide is recommended. If you don’t hire one, there are three extra hazards to look out for at Stuben: firstly Stuben can be very windy, so look out for unstable wind-affected snowpacks; secondly there is a band of rocks encircling almost the entire North face of the Albona about a quarter of the way down, and whilst there are plenty of ways through, some are much steeper and narrower than others; and thirdly, don’t try to descend off-piste all the way to the bottom of the Albona 1 lift in Stuben, because there are some very dangerous precipices and a half-frozen river to cross. Instead, before you get too low, either traverse across to the right and exit onto piste 104 and use that to enter the village; or stay to skiers’ left of the village (head towards the lower of the two car parks below Stuben) and only swing back towards the village when you’re almost level with it and can see the bridge over the river. 

Another descent from the top of the Albona, is on the North East shoulder of the mountain, to skier’s right of piste 106 and accessed from the Albonabahn II lift. From here you traverse to the right then head towards the strange isolated concrete building in the middle of the mountainside. (It’s sometimes nicknamed “Stavros’ Lair” because it looks a bit like a James Bond villain’s hideout although it’s really just a tunnel access shaft to the railway deep below the Albona.) Once you have passed this, you return onto Piste 103 allowing you to ski down to Alpe Rauz and repeat the experience. Most of the route is visible from the Albona II lift so you can plot your descent as you ride the lift up but there are cliffs and avalanche risks, so check the conditions carefully before proceeding and always take a transceiver, shovel and probe (and preferably a guide as well).

Albona South Face

On the South-face of the Albona there is plenty of between-the-piste skiing and freeriding on all sides of the pistes. Because it is South-facing it should be skied as quickly as possible after a fresh dump of snow before it turns to crud. Without a guide you should not ski below the bottom of the Albonagrat chair, because there are no other lifts to return you to the ski area. However with a guide, you can make the Milchboden descent towards St Anton, which is largely East facing.

Advanced piste and marked ski routes in the Arlberg 

Stuben itself does not have any particularly tough pistes or official marked ungroomed ski routes but there are plenty at St Anton and St Christoph, in Lech and Zurs, and in Warth and Schroecken, which can all be reached from Stuben through the Arlberg lift syetem. About the closest is the Pfannenköpfe ski route (101) which is rated extreme, and is near the Valfagehr chair going up from Alpe Rauz. As you descend, it is bordered on the left by very scary cliffs so don’t attempt it in bad visibility or if it is closed.

Off-piste, ski touring and heliskiing in the Arlberg

Apart from Stuben’s off-piste, there’s plenty more freeriding opportunities in the Arlberg including St. Anton’s ‘Back of the Valluga’ descent to Zürs, Rendl North Face, Hinter Rendl, Malfontal and steep couloir descents from Schindler. Similarly there is some excellent off-piste skiing in Lech and Zurs, including Gams route, Trittkopf, Ertzburg, Rufikopf and the steep Flexenmulde route back from Zurs to Stuben, which is for experts only.

There is also heliskiing at Lech-Zurs which can be accessed via moutain guides based at Stuben.