SpotCheck | Ski touring in the mountaineering village of St. Antönien

Cookies 🍪

This site uses cookies that need consent.

Functional First party cookies needed for the website to function. These can't be turned off. Video embeds Third party cookies used for embedded video's that can possibly track you.

Rumour has it that St. Antönien is one of the most beautiful ski touring areas in Switzerland. Over the centuries, the many forest clearings have often been the village's fate as they are prone for avalanches. To this day, the cleared areas pose a challenge for the local avalanche commission in extreme snow conditions. The positive side: there are many marvellous and open slopes for ski touring.

Diverse touring destinations

We spend a few days in St. Antönien to get to know the area. The first tour leads up to Chrüz, 2196 metres. After a short forest passage, we reach Alpe Valpun and the pristine summit slopes lie before us. We enjoy this sunny winter's day at the summit and then glide over wide slopes back to St. Antönien. From Chrüz there is a magnificent view in all directions. Of course, the close-up view of the mighty rock walls of the Rätikon is particularly impressive.

SpotChecks

presented by

The next morning we walk along the Schanielabach stream to Alp Untersäss. Minus 13 degrees make the snow crunch and our fingers get cold. Ahead of us lies a 35 degree steep ridge with an altitude difference of 400 metres, nestled between two stream valleys. This tour involves a lot of creek cuts and therefore requires some foresight when making tracks. The ridge steepens further towards the top. After crossing a 40-degree passage, a fantastic view of beautiful alpine terrain opens up before us. However, our destination, the Schafberg at 2455 metres, is still far in the background. We only reach the summit after another long hike. The magnificent descent rewards the effort: obstacle-free slopes with a gradient of 30 to 35 degrees, incredibly beautiful.

Shortly after St. Antönien is the hamlet of Rüti, the starting point for touring in the Alpetitälli. We also want to have a look around here. We leave the summit destinations to the left and right, in the truest sense of the word, and climb up to the St. Antönier mountain pass. From here we swing along the east side to the Alp Rinderhütte. We then have to put on our skins again and return to the yoke, but the detour is worth the little extra effort.

View of the Schafberg, 2,455 m, in Partnun

Robert Hartl

Also recommended: the selection of cakes!

The locals are very friendly and the small Swiss-Austrian language barrier make for funny situations. After the tour, we order an apricot cake from the innkeeper. "Unfortunately we don't have any apricot cake" is the friendly reply, but they do have an apricot tart, which is highly recommended. The almond-nut summit turns out to be just as worthwhile, preferably in combination with a Café Crema. The rest of the catering also leaves nothing to be desired. Afternoons can be enjoyed in a relaxed manner on the sun terrace with a view of the Fideris mountains.

St. Antönien - one of the most beautiful ski touring areas in Switzerland? After our stay (in February 2022), we wholeheartedly agree with this statement. There's just one problem: one week is not enough time to make the most of all the possibilities and to experience and enjoy the fantastic downhill slopes.