I was in the Mooserwirt in St. Anton, Austria, the high decibel cathedral of après ski, when an Arlberg ski instructor told me that I had earned black diamond status. Dancing on a table in his ski boots in a frenzy of après ski bacchanalia, his ninth or 10th Red Bull and Jagermeister in his hand, he was talking about my après ski endurance, not my ability on the slopes.
For many a skier, après ski is the most important part of the day. But where you après ski is critical. If you want to start an argument, ask a diehard skier about the best après ski bar in the world. The fact is that there are too many opinions and too many contenders. So I’ve narrowed it down to 10 outstanding spots.
What’s the formula for a classic après ski bar? Proximity to the slopes, for starters. If it’s actually on the slopes, like the Mooserwirt in St. Anton, so much the better. By 4 p.m. on any afternoon, there’s usually a thousand pairs of skis stuck in the snow outside the Mooserwirt, a place notorious for its high octane combination of Fohrenburg beer, earsplitting rock ‘n’ roll and dancing on the tabletops in ski boots. This suits the hard-partying St. Anton, but frankly, every good après ski bar should reflect its location.
“In Europe, it tends to be a little more on the sophisticated side,” says Chips Lindenmeyr, president of Lindenmeyr Travel, which specializes in high-end European ski vacations. “The Mooserwirt is an exception. I like Elsie’s, which is such a neat little place. And where else can you get fresh oysters in the Alps?”
By Everett Potter
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Courtesy of msnbc.com
