Ski areas as numerous as the stars

We purchased a seasonal ski pass that gets us into a bunch of ski resorts in Austria to hopefully make the most of the experience. The “real” snow doesn’t arrive here until January I am told, so they are just beginning to open up around here. It seems to me every little village has it’s own ski hill and numerous ski teams of all sorts and ages. Race, Freestyle, and even something that looks like a sort of synchronized skiing that is pretty entertaining to watch. I’m going to gather all of our adult friends back in Durango, get matching ski jumpsuits and start an American team that practices while all of our kids are in lessons.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

About a week ago, we made it out to a really cool village called Seefeld. It was a great mountain. They had quite a few of their runs open and actually have a cable car that takes you from peak to peak. It was quite the walk from the train station there but luckily, once we figure out the ski bus, we won’t have to do that again. The food was really good and the lodges were really beautiful. A great place to work on carving with it’s wide open groomers. The boys closed down every lift and we walked back to the train station an incredible moon rise over the mountain. It was the day I was introduced to Jagatee which turned out not to help my skiing but made it just as fun for me as it was for those watching. Most of the pictures are from our day out there.

We’ve been up to the glacier twice. Even though Stubaier Glecher is the most robust in terms of terrain with lots of runs open and a really nice terrain park, the smaller places offer some really terrific long groomers that are nothing but a leg burn when you get to the bottom.

Sunday we visited our closest hill, Patscherkofel which if we knew what we were doing, would only take us a 20 min bus ride from town. Turns out we misunderstood the connection and although we managed to finally make it, we made three bus changes and it took closer to an hour to finally get there. It had basically one top to bottom run open. And a sweet little wooden cottage that served drinks and sausages. It reminded me a lot of that little warming hut bar next to Corrono’s in Telluride. From the top you could see no less than 10 ski areas all looking down over Innsbruck. How do they all stay open?!? Crazy!

Wednesday night we went to another area on the outskirts of Innsbruck called Bergeralm that offers night skiing. A tram to central station, a train ride and a 1 km walk and we were there. We are getting really good at packing our stuff. But a huge thanks to JP, our pack horse, for schlepping the majority of it. Another 2 runs open and completely lit from top to bottom that was nothing but a burn. It was fun and late and dark and we were all exhausted by the time we got home. Not to mention it is still a school night for the boys. Their break doesn’t start until Christmas Eve! When we get the snow, they actually offer a completely lit toboggan run that is over 7 km long! We will be back.

#family #fun #skiing #views