Arrival
I think sitting in an airplane at 35,000 feet, and feeling somewhat deprived of oxygen, really brings out the best and the worst of me. As I sit on this Monarch Airlines flight (AKA bargain basement travel) from London to Salzburg, all I can think about is all the screaming babies that just won't stop, the incontinent kids who seem to need a trip to the bathroom every 3 minutes, and the fact that the parents of these snotty little kids seem to be under the misapprehension that I like them just as much as they do. How wrong they are. I guess I have to admit though that I'm not being at all charitable to my fellow passengers who, of course, have every right to be on the same plane as me even though they are hacking me off every time they so much as move a muscle. If I'm honest most of my fellow passengers are OK and do not bother me one bit even though many unwittingly do give me a huge amount of enjoyment as I watch them struggle with the most simple of things. And there's nothing quite like looking at the expression on the face of a seasoned air hostess as another stupid passenger complains endlessly because they didn't get their vegitarian or vegan meal despite having ordered it 11 months ago, when she clearly doesn't give a monkeys.
I also said this brings out the best of me, because, for some reason, I seem to be in a position to think more clearly, and cynically, about everything that's happening around me, and I like that.
We arrived in Salzburg after almost two hours on what felt like a flight through hell.
Day One
We fell out of the hotel at an amazing 9:30 and slid off down the road to the bridge across main road and onto the main piste. After a relatively straight forward run down towards the gondola we were faced with having to pole along for the last 200 meters – not a great start to the day but hey ho. Having arrived at the top of the gondola we were greeted with a white-out with little idea of where we were going, either mentally or in reality. The map wasn't much help. It was a case of aiming down hill, not going too fast, and keeping our fingers crossed. We arrived safely at the bottom with no incidents whatsoever and headed off to meet up with our ski guide who would show us all round the resort for most of the day. His name was Alex, he was from Southport, and was in Obertauern for his first season as a ski instructor after being made redundant at home. Anyway he was a nice guy and took us round the entire Tauernrunde and had lunch with us too. It was a great day despite the weather not really being as nice as we'd hoped, but for the main part it was clear, sometimes bright, and not too cold. Best of all we didn't have to stand in line once all day. Sheila had skied enough at about 3:30 but I couldn't resist one more run down from the top of the gondola – it was still just as foggy as it was first thing!
Met up with some others in the the Tyroller Keller for a beer and a chat at 5:00pm. Cor (the Inghams rep) gave us a load of information about the place that we may, or may not, need during our stay.
Day two
I started the day by realizing that I'd broken my ski glasses yesterday! I must have done it when I fell, but I was still pretty hacked off. I would have just skied in my regular sunglasses but they were pretty expensive and have metal frames so I didn't want to take the chance, but luckily Sheila's regular sunglasses fitted the bill and she was happy for me to use them. We got out of the hotel at a planned 9.45 and met Keith (a fellow Ingham's guest) at the top of the run down to the gondola. Sheila waited at the bottom while we went up the gondola and skied down before we all headed off up the chairlift to all the south facing slopes. We basically spent the day doing the same runs as yesterday plus many of the ones we missed out on because the weather wasn't so great. No such problems today as the weather was absolutely perfect. Cobalt blue sky, about -6 or -6 degrees and no wind, and even better, still no lines anywhere. Stopped for lunch at the same place as yesterday and realized we'd broken another pair of glasses - this time readers. Spent the last part of the afternoon working our way back to the hotel and called it a day at about 3:30.
Went out for a hot chocolate and apple strudel and scoured the sports shops for a new pair of ski glasses. Managed to find a nice pair at the last place we stopped at; mission accomplished.
On the third day
No breakages, that we're aware of today, just very sore muscles and too many early starts. But you've got to make the most of the time and so once again we got out of the hotel at a planned 9.45 and didn't meet Keith (fellow Ingham's guest) at the top of the run down to the gondola. He wasn't there at 10:00 so we headed off without him. So that meant that Sheila and I would probably have the day to ourselves and that's exactly how it was. We skied together most of the time except for lunchtime when she wanted to stop, so I did a few runs on my own – I think I went all the way up and back down 3 times and a couple of half ways as well, so I really crammed it in. Didn't really have lunch as such but we did make a couple of stops for drinks and snacks. We skied a bit more together before completing the circuit and coming back to the hotel just before 4pm. The weather was pretty idyllic again today – same cobalt blue skies, but a much cooler -9 or -10 with a bit of wind that really did start feeling cold after about 2:30pm. The new ski glasses were good except I'm not sure I had them on right – I think my hat was trying to push them off my nose so I'll try to sort that out for tomorrow.
Superb meal in the hotel, too much to drink, and early to bed.
Day four
The weather wasn't looking so good today. It was overcast and the light looked very flat, but it was bright, and it wasn't snowing. We got out on time again and Keith was waiting for us at the bridge across the road, so we quickly headed off and started by going up the Sonnenbahn lift that took us up to the wide open area that Sheila likes. We decided that she would ski on her own for an hour and we'd go off and get to do some difficult reds and blacks, which we did and a lot of fun they were too. As the weather wasn't so great it seemed generally quieter today so the snow was holding up very well. We stopped for a drink well ahead of the pack and we were back out again just as the ski schools were stopping – perfect timing! By now though it had started snowing and it was steadily falling harder as the afternoon went on. Sheila quit after we'd all skied down from the top of the Zehnnerbahn but I, despite the rapidly deteriorating weather, carried on for another hour. This may not have been one of my best ideas because it really was snowing heavily by now and the light was so flat that at times it was almost impossible to see what I was skiing into and across, as a consequence I must have looked like a complete idiot on one of the first run down as I lurched from one disastrous mistake to another. Luckily we ended the day with a really nice cruisey blue run all the way from the top of the mountain that flattered our skiing and made up for the previous near catastrophes.
Day five
Got out on time again, although more easily today for some reason, and met Keith as before. The weather was looking a bit changeable with snow coming down and the light very flat, but the sun didn't look too far away and there was a chance things might improve; the temperature was about -11. We followed pretty much the same route as yesterday and headed off up the Sonnenbahn and then up to the Treff 2000 restaurant. The snow was very variable. There had clearly been a lot of new snow overnight and most of it didn't look as if it had been pisted so it was quite difficult to know what you were skiing on until you were actually on it. Coupled with the very flat light it was difficult to ski very confidently at all, although after about 11:00 the light did start to improve significantly to the point where it was pretty good and gave us all a lot more confidence. We stopped in the Hockalm for a hot chocolate at 11:30 and when we came out it really was getting good and we were all skiing much better so decided to stay out for another run down from the top of the gondola. That was both good and bad. Good because it's a nice long run but bad because the conditions were quite tough – both snow and light. Anyway it can't have been so bad because as soon as we got to the bottom I did it all over again, but that was it, my legs were done and I had to call it quits for the day.
I met Sheila back at the hotel before we got the bus that would take us to Mauterndorf about 20 minutes away. It was a nice little place with a lot of very nice old buildings, some modern but traditional style hotels, and some small shops. Had a massive lunch of Weiner schnitzel and a beer before a stroll around town and finally getting the bus back at 4:00 (precisely).
Last day
Got out a little earlier today – must be that last day mentality that says I've got to make the most of it! The weather didn't actually look that great. It was very cold, snowing a bit, and there was a lot of low cloud. We headed up the Sonnenbahn lift but actually by the time we got to the top everything was looking a lot better, the sun was trying really hard to peep through and the snow had stopped falling. The snow was in great shape and must have been bashed down well the previous night. The pistes were very flat with just a few centimetres of fresh snow on top – perfect. Strangely it seemed quieter today than yesterday so that coupled with such good conditions made for an excellent day. We skied together all day and made a couple of stops for drinks and food. On the second stop we just couldn't resist sharing a Tyroller Grostl for the first time this week - fantastic. At the end of the afternoon we headed back to the gondola as we wanted to ski down the Gamsleiten 1 run that'd we've skied so many times in the past. Unfortunately it had turned really cold and windy by the time we got there so to be honest it was more like and endurance test than the fun experience we'd hoped for. That was our cue to call it a day and so we headed on down to bridge 5, took off our skis for the last time, and hit the Qubar. A couple of Glueweins later we went over to the bar in the hotel and polished of a plateful of kiesserschmarn each before heading up to the room to think about doing some packing.
Conclusion
After a short debate, we decided that while the USA may have a better lift system and organisation, France the big resorts and great food, and Switzerland those picture perfect looks, there really isn't anywhere that can put it all together and do a ski vacation quite like Austria.
