La Loupe St. Anton, St. Christoph & Stuben am Arlberg No. 6

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Being a skiing instructor
is a tradition in Franz
Klimmer’s family, both
his father and uncle
did it, too. As a skiing
instructor he has worked
at Skiclub Arlberg but
also in Australia and the
US. Until 2003 he was in
charge of his own skiing
school in St. Anton, today
he imparts his knowledge
and technique as a private
skiguide to pupils from all
over the world.
L.L. Mr. Klimmer, you’re a proper skiing legend
from St. Anton. How old were you when you first
stood on skis?
F.K. Three or four years. Just outside our house we
had the Nasserein lift and that’s where I first started
to ski.
L.L. After your training to become a certified skiing
instructor and ski guide you went to Australia to
train a group of young ski racers. Now, let’s be honest,
can the Snowy Mountains between Sydney and
Melbourne keep up with the Arlberg?
F.K. No, you really can’t compare the two. In Australia
the mountains are very low and because the sea
is close by the snow is quite wet. If you look at them
from an Arlberg perspective the Snowy Mountains really are
hills, even though the infrastructure has been improved in
the past years. Thredbo is a tolerable ski resort now, but in no
way does it compare to the Alps. What is special about Australia
though is that the people are really passionate about
mountaineering. The ski resorts don’t actually have any big