Austria Vacation - Skiing

Like I said a couple of times earlier this year was definitely different but still a lot of fun. The first day we just stayed at Kirchdorf to be near the kids.

On the second day we went to Feiberbrunn, a resort about 20km from Kirchdorf. It was at a higher elevation so had a bit more snow. I rode my first gondola. However it didn't have seats and you needed to stand the entire time. After lunch, Darren and I took a 2nd gondola to a higher peak to ski an intermediate slow. However, due to lack of snow, many trails were closed. We couldn't make it back to the mid point and ended up skiing to the bottom of the mountain. It took forever and we went down trails that at some parts had more rocks the snow. Our legs were killing us.

Day 3 found us heading to Steinplatte also very near to Kirchdorf. Natalie's ski class also went there that day. We had to take a gondola from the parking lot up to the top of the mountain. On the far side of the mountain was the skiiing. When we got off of the gondola we felt the wind and the sting of the snow/ice of the storm that was coming in. On our first trip down the hill Jennifer's hair pretty much froze because of the ice. Luckily the chair lifts to the top of the mountain had plexiglass covers so we didn't feel the wind too much.

After a few trips we were freezing and the weather was getting worse. Earlier I had noticed Natalie's class heading down a trail to a restaurant. We decide to make our way there, too. The storm seemed to intensify. On a particular ridge it was so bad I couldn't see about 20 feet in front of me. I inched along until I could see a little better. While shielding my eyes I made it across a flat-ish ice patch and heading down the trail to the same restaurant. We get to the restaurant and started to take off our hats, gloves, etc.

It was then we were told that the mountain was closing because of the storm and we had to make our way down to the bottom. The wind was so bad that it was dangerous to use the chairlifts. We got everything back on and made it down. There was a lot of snow (rather than ice) down here and it was sheltered a bit from the wind. The resort was shuttling people down the rest of the mountain back to the car park. While waiting we see Natalie's class make it down. We drive in an Audi mini-SUV down a winding road in the snow with other vehicles coming up to get the rest of the people.

This was the only snow that we got the entire week but it changed everything. We got back, picked up the kids and proceeded to make snowmen and snow forts. Snowballs were flying. Even Pinot, the Mayr's dog seemed to perk up while playing in the snow.

The timing of the snow was perfect for the Ski Show where the instructors come down with the flags of all the countries with people at the school. The 5 levels of the school are Eggy Sneggy, Funny Bunny, Wanda Panda (Rachel and Colin were here), Bino Dino (Natalie was here), and Fast Tiger. During the show one of the instructors dresses up as Wanda Panda and all the kids in that level can ski down the slop behind the panda in front of a couple of hundred people. Only 3 kids did. Two were Rachel and her friend, Brenna. It was so cute.