I paid my money and went with Francis to get a rental snowboard. The place that CIEE recommended was more of a ski shop and the boards we got were terrible quality. The boots were all worn out and had to be tied incredibly tight to get any sort of stability. The board was so-so and the bindings were shifting all over the place. Regardless, they entire rental was pretty cheap and there wasn't any other option so I went with it.
We left for Italy that Thursday at around 10. The plan was to sleep on the bus, arrive early in the morning, ski all day and then check into the hotel. However, skiing is an exerting activity and a nights sleep on a bus isn't exactly good rest. Luckily my sister brought all sorts of sleep inducing drugs from the States and two nyquil's and one benadryl later, I was passed out for the duration. We woke up in the morning in the beautiful Alps. There was a quick pit stop at a gas station to get cleaned up. Walking to and from the bus I took in the scenery. Now, I don't know where Hannibal crossed the Alps, or if he did it in the Summer of Winter, but if he did it anywhere near where I was, that is an incredible feat. The entire landscape was snowy crags with the highway carving its way through the low points of the mountains. In contrast to the Rockies, the Alps are much older mountains and therefore have been weathered to a greater extent. The result is jagged, sharp mountains that are distinctly different from younger mountain ranges.
I've also mentioned that we were in Italy for most of the ski trip. This is true but was not apparent for a good portion of the trip. Upon arrival there were signs in Italian and German while the population spoke German almost exclusively. It was pretty confusing especially when we asked a waiter where we were. The dialogue went like this.
Us: Excuse me, what country are we in?
Waiter: Italy.
Us: Then why does everyone speak German?
Waiter: Because... it's German.
Eventually the mystery was solved when our tour guide explained that we were in Tyrol. Tyrol, apparently, was originally part of the Ausro-Hungarian Empire so they made everyone speak German. After World War I it became part of Italy but it's still in a state of flux. The population speaks mostly German and there is even a small portion that speaks a modern incarnation of Latin. There is also an independence movement based in Tyrol but it doesn't seem too militant. Overall, the area is tourist destination for skiiers in the Winter and hikers/climbers in the Summer months.
Over the weekend we went to three different ski resorts. The first resort had very few trails and almost felt family. The mountaintop restaurant was just a small cabin with a few drinks on sale and what felt seemed home cooked food. The place was also strangely religious with an unusually large amount of crucifixes around.
That night we checked into our pension a few towns away and it was very nice. It had a homey feel and was also a vineyard. The food there was very good and my only complaint was that the shower in our room was broken. After the day of skiing I went to bed at around 9:30 because we had to be up at 7:00 the next morning.
The second resort was called Kronplatz and blew the first place (Jochtal) out of the water. Kronplatz must have been 10 times larger with longer runs and more difficult slopes. On the front face there were several long (20 minute run) black (difficult) slopes. They didn't have any moguls and were just steep, winding runs. I spent the better part of the morning just flying down the steep drops and winding turns. As the day went on it started to get very hot and ice started to develop which, in conjunction with my crappy board, made it a lot harder to stay on my feet. The lift tickets were also electronically monitored so you could check the internet to see how far you travelled that day. I went 50km!
After the day's skiing we had a seat at the bottom of the mountain where we basked in the sun and drank beer. It was really warm, the sun was out and they had a type of beer called Weissbier which is basically wheat beer but it was delicious. It was all I drank during the ski trip.
The next stop was an "aquatic center" with state of the art magnetic strip technology. When you paid to get in you got a magnetic wristband. Then, in the locker room, you just touched your wristband to an open locker after you put your things in and it would lock. When you came back to get your things you just put your wristband on the locker and it would open! Very high-tech stuff. The center had various pools like a hot bath outside in the cold. They also had a water slide called the Cronsplash that told you how fast you went on the way down. I think I made it to about 16km/hr.
The final day we got up at 6:00 to drive into Austria and ski at the Stubaier Glacier. This was the highest place we were going to ski and apparently they have year round skiing. When we got there we had to take a Gondola up to the glacier and then go up other lifts for the runs.
This place was incredible. It was basically a gigantic crater, completely surrounded by mountains. You would take a lift up to one of the mountains and ski back down toward the center. It was relatively calm and sunny in the center of the crater but on the other sides of the mountains it was a damn tempest. Earlier in the day I bought a pair of children's goggles because it was snowing a little and they were crucial! Looking over the edge of the mountainside you couldn't see a meter into the distance because it was whited out by the wind and snow. There was also no semblance of ski patrol and large portion of the glacier was unmarked bowls with 3 feet of powder. I've never skiied like that before in my life. For the better part of the day we would just go off the marked trails and glide through 3 feet of powder. The feel was more like surfing than snowboarding and many times you would find yourself completely alone, dwarfed by the massive white mountains, cruising in the sun on a glacier.
One bowl in particular had a large (about 4 or 5 foot) drop over a lip. Every time we would jump off of it and I had some pretty nasty falls. But, because there was about 5 feet of powder at the bottom of the jump I was completely fine every time. It was great.
After the entire day of skiing (I also ate a really good pretzel), we had some more weissbier and then took the bus ride back to Prague. Once again, the drugs gave me a delightful sleep and I woke up rested in Prague.
Being from Maryland, I don't get to ski in good conditions very often and recently I haven't made ventures to any nearby slopes. I had a shitty trip to roundtop earlier over winter break and that's pretty much been it. I guess my motivation to snowboard is pretty low because I wasn't even too motivated to go on the ski trip. But, after going, I had a great time. I forgot how much I miss snowboarding and the conditions were some of the best I've ever had.
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