22 March: Auf Wiedersehen, Österreich!

It was with some melancholy that we got up this morning and started packing up our things. On the bright side, it was snowing again, so at least we weren’t yearning to get out on the slopes! We had a relaxed breakfast and checked out just after 10 am. We had a nice conversation with Herr Traxl – half in German and half in English – as we waited for the porter to retrieve our car from wherever they’ve been hiding it in the bowels of the hotel for the past four days. I told him how much we had enjoyed our stay and that we would be going back to the U.S. at the end of the year, but hopefully we will return someday, maybe with our children, who will of course need to practice their German. (Who knows, we might even find that it’s cheaper to fly to Austria and ski in the Arlberg than it is to go to Colorado!)

The weather wasn’t getting any better when we hit the road around 10:30. We immediately ran into a long stau because of some maintenance work inside a tunnel, but otherwise our trip went smoothly despite the snow. What a difference a few days make – now there was snow all the way down to the base of the Alps, as far as the German border and even a ways into Germany. It didn’t stop snowing until we neared Ulm. We got home around 2 pm, unloaded and partially unpacked, did a quick grocery trip to Neukauf, and went to pick up the pets at 5:00. Cody didn’t seem to need a walk, so we just heated up a frozen pizza for dinner and had a relaxing evening.

21 March: One Glorious Day

We were pretty disappointed to wake up to another windy, snowy view out the window. I was worried it was going to be as bad as yesterday. I didn’t think it could get any worse than the whiteout we experienced last year, but I was wrong. Once again the lift didn’t open until right before we were ready to go. We got to the top at 10:10 and had to go up and down run 5 three times because we literally couldn’t go anywhere else – all of our usual routes and lifts were closed. They never even opened the Schindlergratbahn today, so we didn’t get to go up to the “tippy top” again.

Fortunately, a little bit of luck was on our side: after an hour or so, the sun started to peek through the clouds and I could actually make out the contours of the snow in front of me. Finally run 4 opened and we decided to go all the way down to St. Anton and check out the east side. By this point the sun was positively shining and we even tried an advanced run on the way down. The snow was quite nice and we managed okay even in the steep bumps. We were surprised to see that there was significantly less snow on the St. Anton side of the mountain, and it was a bit icy at the bottom. We took the Galpen lift and then Kappall all the way to the top and skied runs 36/37 a couple of times (including a section of the World Championship run). After a quick bathroom break around noon we decided to keep going for a couple of runs because we weren’t sure the weather would hold. Finally we decided to have lunch at the small lodge at the top of Kappall, which had a cozy non-smoking section upstairs. John had sausages and kartoffelsalat and I had a big plate of spaghetti Bolognese. We shared our table with a very nice older Austrian gentleman, who figured out that we spoke some German and ended up talking with us all through lunch. He was surprised to meet Americans who spoke “such good German” (his words, not mine!). He asked us about skiing in the U.S. and was very interested in how long it took to fly from Michigan to Europe and from Michigan to California. He said it was hard to imagine the size of the United States. He was from a small town near Salzburg and was spending the week in the Arlberg with his wife, who doesn’t ski. He left shortly before we finished, wishing us a pleasant end to our trip.

We decided to forego the heisse Schokolade today because the sun was out and the slopes were calling to us, and we only had two hours left in the day! We made our way back over to the St. Christoph side via Zammermoos. Finally runs 11 and 17 and their respective lifts were open, so we went over and enjoyed several fabulous runs in full sunshine. That is, except for the large cloud pushed into run 17’s valley that refused to move, creating a foggy zone of several hundred meters in length. All in all it was a great end to our last day and we felt really lucky. It was incredibly dramatic to see the jagged peaks pushing through the clouds all around us, with the sun sparkling off the slopes. We arrived at the top of run 17 at 3:36 pm and realized we wouldn’t make it down again so we went over to run 4 and came up the Zammermoos lift at 3:55 pm. Then we took our final “home run,” stopping at the pizza restaurant half-way down to prop our camera on a table for our requisite self-portrait. We had the last bit of the run almost completely to ourselves, and the view of St. Christoph nestled in its little valley was quite stunning (see photo).

I was very sad to end the day since I it occurred to be that I just might possibly be pregnant next winter and won’t be able to go skiing…I probably shouldn’t jinx myself like that! We returned my skis and took some pictures around St. Christoph before heading back to the room to clean up for dinner. Our last meal (with a French Burgundy) was excellent: Venison carpaccio with parmesan (I could have eaten three times as much!), herb cream soup, the salad buffet, John had Zwiebelrostbraten (steak with onions) with roasted potatoes and Brussels sprouts, which he said was fantastic, I had scampi with avocado-tomato relish and saffron-garlic rice (very good, nice and light), and Wachauer Hefebuchteln (a sort of yeast dumpling) with vanilla sauce for dessert.

20 March: Noch Mehr Schnee (Still More Snow)

We woke up to – you guessed it – more snow. They were shoveling it off the roof of the breakfast room while we ate. It was blowing like crazy out the window and the visibility looked even worse than yesterday. They hadn’t started running the St. Christophbahn lift even after we finished breakfast, so we had to ask at the front desk about where we could ski if the lift wasn’t open. It turned out that they were doing avalanche control up top and would be opening the lift shortly. Sure enough, by the time we went down to put on our boots, the lift was running. We had to pick up John’s skis so we didn’t get going until about 10:30. Not that it mattered much: we couldn’t see a thing. We did our warmup on run 5 a couple of times and then went over to runs 11 and 17, which, being a little sheltered, we thought might be better. It wasn’t. We realized very quickly how much you depend upon visual topographic details to gauge when to make your turns. We did learn how to turn “on demand” without knowing what the heck we were skiing through. On the bright side, the snow was fairly soft and forgiving. On the other hand, skiing over bumps you can’t see at high speeds is a rather terrifying experience. At one point, as I skied through the fresh powder, I got this very strange sensation of floating along above the snow. I couldn’t feel my skis at all or see them in front of me. Basically all attempts at style went out the window and I just hoped I could get down each run in one piece. I was very happy to be on my 153-cm K2s at least, which turned when I asked them to. I feel like I have to lug my old skis around every turn.

It was very slow going and we were pretty tired to boot. We went in for lunch at the Ulmerhütte around 12:30 and stayed there for quite a long time. We got a nice bench seat and enjoyed bowls of steaming hot speckknödelsuppe (beef broth with ham dumplings). I asked for zwei (two) soups but the waiter apparently didn’t hear me because only one soup showed up. I was halfway through mine before we could flag down the waiter again and order another soup. We were joined by three English guys who were quite awed by the germknödel that I ordered for dessert. It was delicious…a warm steamed dumpling filled with plum jam and covered with melted butter and sweet poppyseed paste. I had to explain what it was to the English guys; they laughed and said, “Oh, so no calories or cholesterol in that, eh?” I said I needed my energy. They admitted that they’d be consuming a lot more calories (of the brewed variety) tonight in St. Anton. We also had hot chocolate again (which is advertised on the menu as the “house drink in Grandma’s mug”). Two of the English guys left before we finished but the third one took his time, saying his buddies were going out to smoke. He said he lived in Scotland and was happy that they had made smoking illegal in restaurants. I told him we are planning a trip to Scotland in June and we talked a bit about the area around Glen Coe and the Great Glen, which I really want to visit.

After lunch we only skied for another hour or so…it just wasn’t that fun anymore. We decided to try run 17 one more time, although John was skeptical that it would be any better. We could barely make out the lights of a snowcat groomer coming up the hill below us as we started down, and we soon realized we had accidentally made a brilliant choice – we had found a freshly-groomed run! We could just barely make out the grooves left by the snowcat, and enjoyed a few minutes of effortless skiing. Later on we went down run 4, which curves down a narrow valley, bottlenecking into a crazy-narrow chute, and spits you out at the Zammermoos lift (you gotta love the names here). We did run 5 a couple more times before finally deciding to call it an early day. We got back around 3:30, so we still put in about four hours of skiing despite the weather. We had some time to kill before dinner so we decided to watch a movie, which we had brought along for just such circumstances. (We watch our American DVDs on our laptop, using headphones.) We watched Platoon, which I had never seen before. I’m glad I saw it but I don’t need to see it again any time soon.

Dinner (with the house-recommended Moulin à Vent Cru Beaujolais, which was excellent): Beef broth with “frittaten” (a sort of herbed crèpe cut into thin strips), tortelini with ricotta-spinach filling and leek-shrimp sauce (this was to die for!), the salad buffet, John had Gekochter Tafelspitz which was disappointing –a fatty cut of beef served with horseradish sauce and mixed shredded vegetables, I had the turkey cordon bleu with parsley potatoes and cranberry sauce, which was simple but delicious (John was jealous), and dessert was Nusspalatschinken with chocolate sauce, which was divine – crèpes filled with a not-too-sweet nutty filling, topped with a generous portion of chocolate sauce. I told the waiter I wanted the recipe and he said he would ask about it, but we never heard back from him. When he left he was talking to a pretty girl at the bar, so I decided not to bug him.

19 March: A Winter Wonderland (Sort of)

We awoke to a couple of inches of fresh snow on the ground and more coming down fast. We were in no hurry to get going, so we took our time at breakfast. I had decided to ski on my antique, 184-centimeter Atomics for one more day, especially considering that we weren’t sure we would even put in a full day. We got bundled up, expecting colder temperatures and stinging snow, and sure enough, it was quite miserable for the first hour or two. Visibility was terrible and I was not a happy camper. Skiing is hard enough when you can see all the bumps and subtle terrain changes; it’s downright depressing when you are out of practice and can’t see a thing except a great big sheet of white! It’s times like these that I have to try to remember why we do this by choice – it is supposed to be fun, after all. I have to admit that for me, the experience of skiing can fluctuate from sheer exhilaration to excrutiating pain, sometimes in the space of the same minute.

Fortunately we found the conditions on run 17 to be tolerable – it’s the lowest run on the mountain and takes you down into a sheltered valley, so there was no wind, it was out of the blowing snow, and the temperature was several degrees warmer. On our way down 17 the first time, my tips crossed and I performed my first faceplant in many a year. I ended up facing uphill with my legs crossed at an awkward angle behind me. John was worried that I had broken a leg, but I wasn’t really hurt – mostly just upset with myself. I determined that I had jammed my forehead into the snow and mashed my thumb, but hadn’t broken anything. Upon putting myself back together, I discovered that I had cracked the lens of my goggles right down the middle. I really love those goggles. I recovered after a few minutes but was not very confident for some time after that. We stayed on 17 for several more runs, then, once it looked like the sky was clearing up a bit, tried going up the Schindlergratbahn again. Unfortunately it was just as icy as ever – only now with a thin layer of fresh powder on top!

We went into the Ulmerhütte at 12:30 for a nice long lunch – John had the Tiroler G’röstl (fried potatoes, smoked ham, and onion with a fried egg on top….healthy!) and I had their fabulous Käsespätzle, which tasted a bit like fondue, topped with crispy fried onions. We shared a table with a quiet German couple; once they left we were joined by four German-speaking kids who could have been Swiss, Austrian, or German, for all we could tell. They ordered coffee and apfelschorle (apple juice mixed with sparkling water); only one of them ordered anything to eat and I had a feeling they didn’t have much money to spend. John and I ordered hot chocolate and the kids stared wide-eyed when it was delivered to us in big mugs mounded with whipped cream. One of the boys asked me if it was good. I said yes and he said he would have gotten some but it was 4 Euro. The kids were very friendly and I had to laugh when one of them asked us point-blank why we spoke such good German.

After our lazy lunch we took run 17 several more times before calling it a day. The sun peeked through for a few seconds and all of a sudden I could see the topography again. We got back to the hotel at about 3:45, showered and cleaned up, and then went over to rent skis for me. I got the same K2 Motos as last year. John also took his skis in to be waxed and sharpened. The guy took one look at them, grimaced, and muttered “full service” under his breath, as if it wasn’t even a question. I guess we probably should have thought about servicing our skis before the trip.

Back in our room we watched various BBC and CNN special reports about the 4-year anniversary of the Iraq war. Bush made a speech and said it would be a mistake to “pack up and go home.” Meanwhile support for the war has dropped to 30-something percent, down from a high of 72% in 2003. Which reminds me, yesterday we saw an interview with Donald Trump and he said Bush was the worst president in history. I hate that guy but he isn’t afraid to speak his mind.

Dinner tonight had an Italian theme (we picked out an Italian wine to go with it, but I can’t remember what it was) and was unanimously delicious: Antipasti buffet (with every kind of roasted vegetable you can imagine, calamari salad with sundried tomatoes, fruit de mer salad, stuffed mushrooms, stuffed peperocini peppers, tomato & mozzarella salad, smoked mussels, goat cheese wrapped in proscuitto, olives, etc. etc.), cream of zucchini soup, the salad buffet, roasted pork medallions with gorgonzola cream sauce, steamed spinach, and creamy polenta, and strawberry mascarpone cream.

18 March: The Sun Comes Out

The sun was out, the sky was blue,
The temperature read 42.
The snow was fresh and clean and white;
To view the slopes was quite a sight.

I was in Lake Tahoe with my family and friends when I penned these first lines of a poem for my 8^th grade creative writing class. This description fit today’s conditions to a “T.” We saw Herr Traxl this morning on the way to breakfast (we hadn’t had a chance to introduce ourselves last night) and he greeted us like old friends. We enjoyed the lovely breakfast buffet (cheese, cold cuts, smoked salmon, eggs made to order, croissants, cereals and breads, fresh fruit, assorted juices, homemade jams, and delicious coffee), picked up our lift pass cards at the front desk, and hit the slopes at 10 am. It was warm (5° C) and brilliantly sunny; the sky was an absurdly deep periwinkle blue (as viewed through my polarized sunglasses). The snow quality was rather mixed – slushy and slow in places, a bit icy in others, with a few spots of reasonably good powder here and there. It was disconcerting to look down into the drab brown St. Anton valley, starved of snow.

We took it easy most of the day, looking for the easier runs. Unfortunately our favorite run from last year, accessed by taking the Schindlergratbahn lift to the “tippy top” as we call it, had some seriously icy stretches now and was not much fun at all. We stopped often to take pictures and enjoy the views – I kept telling John this might be the only day we could see the surrounding mountains! We took a lunch break outside at the Ulmerhütte, where we ate wurst and kartoffelsalat and soaked up a few rays. Later in the afternoon, when we were getting tired, we took the tram up to Valuga and then the little 6-person cable car up to the very highest peak in the area. (I insisted that we go today because it could be our only clear day.) The view was exhilarating, although the lack of snow in the valleys was even more evident from that high vantage point. On the way back we had to take the dreaded T-bar to get out of the dead-end crook of mountain where you are deposited upon leaving the Valuga lodge. We actually took another T-bar twice today, which was equally steep but not so hard to get on and off. We feel like we actually have the hang of it now, and I’ll almost admit that it is sort of fun to slide along uphill. Despite John’s boots giving him a lot of trouble (I thought we might have to amputate), we stuck it out and were among the last off the mountain, returning to the hotel at 4:30 pm.

After refreshing hot showers, we watched the first Formula 1 race of the season (Melbourne); Kimi Raikkonen won his first race for Ferrari. Alonso and rookie Hamilton made an impressive 2-3 showing for Mercedes. After the race we went down for dinner, stopping at the bar for a couple of kir royales. We tried to observe whether anyone was tipping the bartender because we can’t quite figure out how any of the waitstaff here get tips. We didn’t see anyone tip him and there was no tip jar.

Dinner (accompanied by a nice Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon) was lovely: Fresh white asparagus with pepper-garlic vinaigrette (quite good, but was served with half of a whole boiled crayfish that had been split right down the middle, which was slightly gruesome), chicken bouillon with tomato and chives, the salad buffet, steak with baby vegetables (leek, squash, corn, tomato) and pommes macaire (a mashed potato cake with bits of smoked ham), and chocolate mousse with fruit sauce. By the time we went to bed, the wind had picked up and it had started snowing. The long-awaited storm was moving in!

17 March: In Search of Snow

It’s time now for our return visit to Austria for four days of skiing. We’ve been really nervous about this trip because the snow has been terrible this year. Apparently none of the snow that fell on Germany at the end of February made it to the Alps. The good (and potentially bad) news is that there is a storm in the forecast for the Arlberg starting on Monday (today is Saturday). I just hope that it doesn’t snow so much that we have whiteout conditions the whole time. After some discussion we decided to return to the Hotel Maiensee because we had such a good time there last year. It seemed like a good idea to go back to something that was familiar, and even if the snow is terrible, at least we know we’ll enjoy the food!

We took Cody and Scotty to the Tierhotel in the morning, where Prinz Ratibor told us they were always happy to see Cody because he gets along so well with everyone. We did most of our packing once we got back home, since we didn’t need to leave until early afternoon. Plus, Cody is starting to get really good at stressing out when he knows we are getting ready for a trip, so this way we were able to do our packing without his incessant whining.

We ate all of the leftovers in the fridge for lunch and left the house around 2 pm. This was our first road trip in the E-Class and it was quite comfortable. It was a smooth drive and, unlike last year, we ran into no traffic jams on the Autobahn. We crossed the border into Austria around 3:30, buying our vignette (highway toll sticker) at the same Shell station as last time. Once again we were amazed at the sight of the Alps rearing up into the sky just over the border – there are hardly any foothills to speak of.

The lack of snow was painfully obvious as we headed into the mountains. Last year we saw snow almost as soon as we entered Austria. Today the snow was virtually nonexistent until we were less than 20 km from the Arlberg. But once we got close, there was actually more snow than I expected, so that was a good sign.

We pulled up the steep driveway to the Hotel Maiensee just after 5 pm (remarking on how cool it is that we can drive three hours and be in the middle of the Alps). The same nice young woman greeted us at the front desk (we didn’t see Herr Traxl until later in the evening) and immediately stumped us when she asked us if we wanted a glass of sekt (sparkling wine). We both looked at each other expectantly, hoping the other person had understood the question. Sadly, this still happens to us fairly often, even with the most basic of questions. We were shown to our room – number 18 on the top floor, right next door to the room we had last year. I was hoping we would get a slightly better room this time, but we have nothing to complain about – it is very cozy with a low slanted roof, big white-washed beams, and plenty of couches and space for our luggage. The only disappointment is that the bathroom has only a stand-up shower and no bathtub, so we won’t be able to soak away the aches and pains of skiing like we did last year.Looking out on the lower slopes from our balcony, we were cheered to see reasonably good snow coverage.

We hung out for a while and then went down to the bar at 7:30 for complimentary drinks, which seem to be a regular thing on Saturday nights, along with the fabulous Maiensee buffet. Herr Traxl introduced all of the staff by name again. I recognized the bartender and one of the waitresses. Dinner was just as we remembered. We were seated at a cozy corner table in one of the smaller dining rooms, along with a party of six Irish guests, a German couple, and two German guys. We had cream of asparagus soup, then the awesome salad buffet, followed by the main course buffet. We had pork with a sour sauce, spareribs, rösti (shredded potatoes mixed with onion and smoked ham), and mixed veggies, accompanied by a nice bottle of Austrian Zweigelt. Then we availed ourselves of the unforgettable dessert buffet, complete with cream puffs, tiramisu, chocolate mousse, several kinds of strudel, and at least a half dozen other tempting treats. Yum!!