If you are an enthousiastic skier like I am, one of the things people like us enjoy is makes nice skiing routes all around. This used to almost be an obsession to me to make these really long routes and not do the same part twice which is actually kind of dumb because there are so many nice spots to gather in.
So I let this go after skiing a bit more in relatively small areas, but last week it was time again to make a gigantic skiing route throughout the whole area of Ischgl. And the best part?
The have even set out the route, called the 'Smugglers route' because it crosses the border.
History
A bit of history and geography is set in here as the Austrian town of Ischgl has a connected area with the Swiss village Samnaun, which calls itself the taxfree town.
The funny thing is that the Swiss government knows this is happening but they have the vibe in there of 'you guys live so far in the valley, if people reach it..you can have you tax free haven', which I find awkward but hilarious.
So now if you decide to ski to Samnaun, there are just a lot of signs where you can do all this kind of tax free shopping, and take it back with you in the skiing lift back to the town of Ischgl.
I would be surprised if a lot of people actually did this, but hey the gimmick is nice right?
The route itself
Most people who are actually skiing this Smugglers route will most likely not remember the taxfree fest of the hot chocolate, but more the beautiful descent into the valley of Samnaum ending up in a a half flat part where some cross country skills have to be put in there to reach the connection gondola again.
And even though the flat part absolutely sucks, the valley descent is totally stunning and very often really quite with hardly any people around in there.
Did I mention the steep cliffs next to you keeping an eye ou if everyone is okay? Well, they are with you!
The Gold Route
But the entire smugglers route is not only about the descent to Samnaun, it is this whole tour througout the skiiing area of Ischgl. Before you go you can check out on the website if you want to do the gold, silver or bronze route, which ofcourse has something to do with how extensive you want to make your route, and also about the difficulty of it.
The bronze one is more of a starters route in the area with friendly slopes. The gold one that we did had enough black in there and enough challenging parts which were very doable with the quality of the snow actually. If you are a fan of decently groomed steeps slopes, the Palinkopf mountain has a couple of them waiting for you next to each other.
Don't get confused, this part was towards the 'Gampenbahn' where there was a choice of where to go to
So deciding on what and how far you want to go you choose your route, and literally on all the signs in Ischgl you can easily find which lift and which slope you have to take. Super easy!
Also some maps and the app can help you along with finding you route.
If you would go today a lot would be closed due to storm as you can see on the wintermap. Choose your days wisely!
I actually had a lot of fun doing this skiing route as it was a really nice ride throught the whole area. As you can see in the stats down here it will take you a couple of hours, and taking a wrong route here and there also doesn't help, but it also doesn't hurt because the area is good.
And after that??
Well, I guess you have deserved some schnaps or a beer after getting this whole thing done right? I mean... time for a high five and chillmode after!