With all the effort around moving last year, we missed the
ski season in the Alps. So this season, I
made it a top priority to hit the slopes as soon as possible.
The Friday before Christmas break I took a day off and went
snowboarding with a colleague. We set off
for a small resort just on the edge of Austria called Seefeld. There we were - while many others labored
away at the office the day before Christmas break - amongst the fresh alpine
air home to some of the world’s greatest winter athletes. This was really the perfect skiing condition-
fresh snow and empty slopes. In fact it
was so empty that I would expect the resort probably lost money this day. I started the day slow, adjusting to the new
board, and I was feeling like a real professional out there- perhaps because
nobody was around to see my falls.
Eventually my ego got the best of me though, because after a few hours I
began attempting jumps (if you can call it that) and maneuvers that were
outside my ability and taking some pretty rough falls. In the end, a half day was enough, considering
there were no lines for the lift.
We set off early Sunday morning and 2 hours later we were at
the base lift and rental shop. Eager to
hit the slopes we rushed renting my board and Julie’s skis, and after boarding
the first gondola Julie realized she left her poles back in the lobby. I guess it goes without saying she is still
VERY NEW to skiing. But no worries, us
guys took a quick run back down the mountain to get warmed up and retrieve the
poles, and we were all reunited in no time.
After wearing Julie out on the baby slopes, I spent the rest
of the day trying to keep up with Zsolt on the rest of the mountain (who grew
up in Canada and is a very good snowboarder).
At one point we ended up on the steepest part of the mountain, which in
my opinion deserves a color beyond black, where I managed to slowly
slide/roll/tumble my way down to the bottom (while Zsolt rode down pretty much
flawlessly). Later I learned this trail is known as
“Kandahar” which is the downhill speed course used for the Olympics in 1936 and
other world cup competitions. At least
the views were beautiful up here, and thanks to Zsolt’s new Intel phone, we
have some pictures.
One of the surprises of Garmisch was the vast number of
English speakers we heard. It really
felt like we were at a ski resort in Colorado and there happened to be just a
few German tourists….a very strange feeling.
In fact during our lunch break, I think we heard more English than
German!
After some lunch on the mountain and a long break to recover
from my Olympic tumble, I joined Julie on some smaller slopes which were
serviced by T-bar lifts. These are the
lifts (less common in America) where a T-bar suspended from a running cable
drags you up the mountain while the skis/snowboard remains in contact with the
ground. I think this kind of lift is
unpleasant for all, but especially worse for snowboarders who must straddle it
between the legs and ride up with one foot unclipped from the bindings. As I was riding it for the first time I
encountered a very steep hill when the lift was stopped, which left my
straddling this T-bar, dangling from one leg as my back leg was unclipped from
the binding, for what felt like 30 minutes at on a 45 degree uphill slope. Needless to say, I’m not the biggest fan of
T-bar lifts after this.
As we were leaving we
stopped in a lodge near the base to kill some time before our return
train. We were shocked to see all these
random American brands/products and one section was stocked just like a
Walgreens or CVS from the States. Ecstatic
that I found David Sunflower Seeds, I rushed in line to purchase them, noticing
that the prices were even marked in $USD!
And that is when the cashier politely
explained that this was an American military operation, and only those with
valid military I.D. could make purchases (or enter the building, but somehow we
escaped that notice). It finally made sense why we heard so many Americans on
the slopes: we were in the vicinity of a large US military service. Sadly, I was not able to purchase my
sunflower seeds, but I’m just glad the troops aren’t deprived of them (thanks
for your service!).
That was our first (hopefully not last) time skiing in
Germany! We both paid the price the next
day, and Julie’s grapefruit size bruise on her leg gave us weeks to remember
just how much fun we had.
