Carving Some Fresh Powder

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.

 Having conquered one alpine mountain, I was anxious to take Julie out to the slopes so she could test out some skiing herself.  The other weekend we were invited by one of Julie’s colleagues to join him on a trip to Garmisch (home of the 1936 winter Olympics).  We purchased the Garmisch Ski Express ticket, which includes a round trip train ride plus an all-day ski lift ticket for just 42 EUR- a very reasonable deal I might say.   

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.