Innsbruck, Austria

Jason and I spent a weekend in Austria in early February, testing out the European slopes for the first time. The Austrian Alps did not disapoint and we had three amazing days on the mountains. After arrving via train from Munich, we found our hotel in the central Innsbruck area and looked up at the mountains surrounding the city. Saturday was spent skiing through a white out at Axamer Lizum resort. Rocky peaks above could just barely be seen because of all the new snow. We apres skiied in a little hut on the side of the mountain (Dolan's Nest) with a bunch of drunk Dutch ski bums enjoying their weekend away for holiday. After a few beers and german songs with our new friends, we raced down the mountain at sunset on freshly groomed trails , after the entire resort was closed to catch the last bus back into the city.

Sunday was an amazing day - woke up to clear blue skies and lots of fresh snow from the day before. We took a beautiful bus ride through the countryside of Austria up to the Stubeai Glacier. This park was incredible - two gondola rides to the top opened up to an incredible bowl of snow covered slopes in the middle of the resort. Although sunny it was cold and windy on the top of the mountain so we had to bundle up on the lifts. We opted for the gondola after a while because at least we would be inside! The views were awesome

Monday we skied for a 1/2 day at a local resort in Innsbruck. We took the local tram up the side of the mountain to a small park that overlooked the downtown area. The runs were steep and short, looking directly down over the town. At the end of one run you literally skiied out onto a platform before turning around and catching the incoming chairlift. Quite and amazing experience. After lunch we headed back into downtown where we grabbed our bags from the hotel and ventured into the old section of innsbruck. We found a magnificent Christmas shope (which my brother Andrew had visited a few years back) and bought plenty of decorations and souveniers to remember our wonderful experience in Austria.

Delayed trains and flights made the trip home a little frustrating and we did not arrive back in london until after 1am, but the effort was worth it!