Saturday on the Snow

In finest skiing tradition, the late night on Friday didn’t stop us getting up early on Saturday – especially as it afforded us our first view of the lake, and the sun rising over the mountains. The layers of ski clothes went on, and Vlasta and I stomped off to breakfast through the snow. Austrian breakfasts are good – ham, salami and cheese to go with the good bread, and lots of muesli and yummy jam. The coffee however was hideous, and made me think that the Italian experience has ruined me for life on the coffee front. I was a coffee snob before, and now, ridiculous – the Austrian coffee was undrinkable!
Hiring skis and boots took forever – literally an hour or more – but finally finally we were headed onto the slopes. Luca was leading the way and Marina, Dani and I following behind as fast as we could.
We had a fantastic few hours skiing in the good weather, before the wind got up and the snow started to swirl. Having trudged with skis off down a road and back again in almost no visibility (with a brief pause for Marina and I to make snow angels – much to the bemusement of the lads) Luca suggested that we head into a ski hut for tea and to wait for the weather to pass.

A hut loomed in the mist, and we dumped the skis and staggered in. And what a fantastic place – wood paneling all around and a big fire in the middle with views of the slopes (well, views of the storm at the time). Marina and I snagged a table upstairs, and the guys went off in search of the local beverage of choice – jagerthe. This is regular tea, with a generous shot of Stroh rum and a slice of orange – fantastically warming and – it turned out later – great for skiing confidence! We were also treated to 2 large cakes – one chocolate and one with red berries – soon to be burned off on the slopes.
A few more hours skiing until the wind and then the hour closed the lifts, and then we went to the spa. I had been a little perturbed pre-skiing to learn that the sauna in Bad Kleinkirchheim is naked – and mixed! The thought of sitting around with classmates and other schoolfriends in the buff, and then going back to school on Monday, seemed more than a little odd. Luckily however, we limited our relaxation activities to the swimming pool (warm, and clothed in swimsuits)! Swimming in a hot mineral bath after a day on the slopes is a fantastic idea, and recommended to any skier. (In hindsight though, challenging first Vlasta, then Dani to races across the pool after a day’s skiing was a little ambitious, I was dead by the end!) Luca deserves a special mention for taking up the challenge to jump out of the open air pool and lie in the snow, and Marina and Elis deserve a bigger mention for joining me in following suit! The water in the pool felt even more warm and welcoming after lying on the ice!
In the evening we went to a restaurant in Bad Kleinkircheim, where we ate some kind of soup with a sweet cake to co with it (strange, but not unpleasant) and boiled beef with scrambled wet bread with horseradish (strange, and unpleasant!) and a very eggy pancake thing with apple sauce which was just way too eggy for my liking. There was a very funny moment when halfway through the speeches the stuffed chicken that had been featuring in many of our pics of the night caught fire in the candle!
Following dinner, the night was rounded off by dancing in the local bar to a live band of 2 Austrians on the guitar and keyboards singing soft rock. Despite the terrible music, we all danced until it was time to get back on the bus!