As we wrap up the winter season and days become longer, we are thankful for the fun winter we had. Yesterday, we took our final (we think) ski day for the season. It was a gorgeous sunny day and the kids did great. There are a few decent size ski areas within a 1 1/2 hour drive from where we live. Yesterday, we headed out to Folgaria, one of the more popular places nearby. It's great for families and we stayed in the beginner area so the kids could continue some of the skills they learned earlier in the season.
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| Isabel skiing on a sunny March day at Folgaria |
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| Isabel skiing with her Italian classmate and friend, Sofia, in Gallio |
Back in January, we were fortunate to have a wonderful week of skiing in the Stubai Valley of Austria, just Southwest of Innsbruck. This valley is a snow-covered, picturesque winter wonderland, and only 3 hours drive from where we live. We skiied on the Stubai Glacier which lies at the Southwestern most tip of the valley, where it starts to descend from some of the tallest of the Austrian Alps. On a clear day, one can see across a good part of the Austrian and Italian Alps. The kids did two consecutive days of ski school there.
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| Ready for Ski School |
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| The nice covered magic carpet and Isabel's class getting ready to practice turning around the planted gates. |
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We give a big thumbs up to the Stubai Glacier ski school. The kids loved it and both came away considerably improved after only two days. The way I see it is, these Austrians take this skiing thing very seriously. I mean, what other sport is Austria known for? Yea, that's it. Skiing. So, when it comes to teaching it, that's their thing. They were great with the kids and used lots of props for getting the kids to turn on skies. They gave them plastic hoops which the kids were to use like steering wheels. When the kids turn their "steering wheel" to the right, guess what? That's right. Their body weight shifts to the right and so do their skies. Brilliant!
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| Chris all ready for a X-country ski morning |
Our week in Austria also included a few trips down an 8 Km sledding trail where you use those old wooden sleigh-type sleds, a day in the indoor pool, and cross-country skiing. All wonderful.
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| Isabel and I take a break during our long sled run |
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Back around Christmas, we also found ourselves skiing in Austria at a place called Ehrwald, just over the border from where we were staying with friends in Germany. Isabel did well as she for the first time skied a long easy run instead of just staying on the bunny hill. It wasn't a good ski day for Josh as he was fighting off an ugly bronchitis thing that had him wiped out. It was still a good day on the mountain.
February skiing was my gift. At Christmas time, my friend Catherine, with whom we stayed, gave me the scoop on a ladies' ski trip to Italy. It was being organized by the American military base in Garmisch where they have an outdoor recreation office. I was more than a little interested. After moving off the wait list and landing an actual spot on the trip, it was a ski weekend for me!
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| Standing on my snowboard in front of Cinque Torri, a rock formation called the 5 towers near Cortina D'Ampezzo |
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| The ladies I roomed with, Victoria, Denise, Catherine, Valerie, and Christine, standing at the top of Lagazuoi |
I took a three hour drive up into the Dolomites on a Friday evening. Just past the infamous Cortina D'Ampezzo, I drove up a pass which peaked at around 2100 meters where our hotel was located. Up in these mountains there are many small places that are more like B&B's than a true hotel and they are called Rifugios. Some are high up on a mountain where they are reached only by cable-car (unless you want to hike). This rifugio was just off the road at the top of this pass and it was great. Nothing fancy, but a great location with friendly people and good food and a chair lift just outside the front door. They started us off our ladies' weekend with a nice dinner followed by many shots of sweetened grappa, and some good ole' dancing to YMCA. This was followed by three great days of skiing, an evening snowshoe hike to an old restored WWI bunker and headquarters, drinking Prosecco and dancing in an igloo, and an amazing long ski run with gorgeous scenery that ended with a horse-drawn sleigh that has a rope off the back that pulls skiers from a flat area to the next place they can get a chair lift. Amazing!
As another added bonus to our winter adventures, the area here where we live received quite a few substantial snow falls. According to the neighbors, this was more snow than what they have seen in at least 5 years. The kids very much enjoyed sledding on the driveway and making snowmen. This winter we did a lot of hot chocolate drinking, snowball throwing, sledding, skiing, and overall winter fun. Now we are ready to usher in Spring, la primavera. We are looking forward to nice sunny weather and all the beautiful flowers that bloom in Italy. Happy spring everyone!
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| Taking silly pictures to pass the time during the long gondola ride down from the Stubai Glacier |
