So finally going to finish my Ischgl stories. Since I'm flying back to NY on Thursday, I've been very busy trying to get all my work settled and everything else ready.
Anyway, this was an absolutely fantastic trip for me. It was put together by my Texan friends and about 15 of us flew into Munich and then drove about 2 1/2 hours into Austria. We went over some scary mountain roads as main road had washed away from recent flooding. But finally arrived at Ischgl (pronounced Ish-Gl). Our hotel (Piz-Buin) turned out to be wonderful. After a hard day of skiing, the pool, hot tub, sauna, and steam rooms were quite a treat. But the real attraction was the hotel bar.
As I said in my last post, this former Austrian ski champ guy started this bar and now from 5 to 9 every day he leads crazy German sing-alongs. When I first walked in I was pretty shocked. I'd never seen anything quite like this. People of all ages yelling at the top of their lungs in a language I definitely do not understand. But after a few beers (ok...lots of beer), I started to get the hang of it. The people there had unlimited energy and there was always a smile on their face. What could be wrong with that? And since there was so much repetition in the songs, me and my friends were singing along and waving our beers with the rest of them by the end of the night! One guy even got offered someone's wife for a dance! Unbelievable!
Oh, and we were on the slopes a bit too. It's pretty amazing to get on a gondola in the morning, ride up for half an hour to the top of the mountain, and not make it back down till the end of the day. For some reason, it never occurred to me that most of the slopes, lifts, and restaurants would be above the tree line. It just looked so barren compared to Vermont. But I loved being able to ski into Switzerland for lunch!
There was one lift on the back of the mountain where the wind was whipping through a small valley and up the mountain. You really felt far away from civilization sitting on the apparently slow moving lift. Usually there are trees around so you don't really notice where you are. But here, you look out and you only see scary mountains and the occasional skier off in the distance! A good reason to make sure you are always skiing with a buddy.
Anyway, I skied pretty well and was able to ski down just about everything I could before. A lot of the more difficult runs were closed because the snow was thin as it was so early in the season, but it was still a great time. Look at me go!
And here's a bunch of other pictures taken during the weekend. Normally I'd cut it down more, but I like them all!
http://daninischgl.shutterfly.com/
I'm back to NY/CT tomorrow, so gimme a ring if you are around. :-)
Cheers!
Dan
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