So, like I said in my previous post, Jenna and her boyfriend Colin convinced me to go to skiing at St. Anton the day after Mathausen. Google ‘St. Anton’. Yeah, it’s really big. Every Austrian that hears I’ve skied it is impressed, which is cool. I have a feeling like I would have enjoyed it a liiiitle more if it wasn’t -30o Celsius. Which is about -25o Fahrenheit. I’m glad I’m from MA, and not TX or FL like some of the other kids, and I’m more used to cold. I don’t think I’ve ever skied in that severe cold though. And probably never will again. (Unless I come across an opportunity like St. Anton). Alright, enough about the cold. So we got on a train at 6:50, which meant I had to get up before 5am to catch a few different busses to get to the train station. So worth it. It was a 3 hr ride to the mountain, which is in Tirol, a different province than Salzburg. There are 9 provinces in the country, and I was in 3 within 2 days: Salzburg (where I’m living), Upper Austria (on Fri), and Tirol (Sat-Sun). So we got off the train at St. Anton, and our first goal was to find out how to get to the mountain, since we assumed we were in the center of the town, like the other train stations are. We found a nice English speaking person and asked them how to get to the mountain. Their response: “Dudes, look behind you. You’re here man!” (They were a pretty laid back bunch of skiers). Sure enough, the train was directly next to the mountain! All we had to do was cross the street, get rentals (Seth, I got a pair of sick Line twintips), tickets, and get on the gondola. We could still see the station as we got on the tram. So convenient! Unfortunately we could only ski a half day, because the train ride was 3hours long, and late. But the amount of terrain we covered was impressive. The mountains here are way different than home (aside the obviousness of them being the Alps). They don’t have trail names, just a color to designate it’s difficulty and what chairlift it leads down to. Also, a bunch of mountains are always connected, so you never really know exactly what mountain you’re on, but as long as you can find what rental shop you started at, you’re good. We took a super scary gondola up to the tippy top of the mountain (Mom would have hated it), along with a bunch of people who had avalanche packs. We did not have avalanche packs. I think that’s the first time I’ve been scared of any terrain. Jenna and I decided that whichever way the guys with the avalanche packs went, we were going the direct opposite way. It worked out well for us. And it was all worth it for the incredible, amazing, breathtaking, *insert a bazillion other adjectives here* view we were rewarded with. We made it down the mountain safely enough, and had a got a few more runs in before the lifts shut down. We then caught a train to Innsbruck, which is the capital of Tirol.
We stayed in the cutest hotel in Innsbruck. It wasn’t very close to town, but we were exhausted and couldn’t have gone out if we wanted to. It was a little family run place, and they ran a restaurant as well. It was a picturesque old fashioned inn, and the owners were super sweet although they didn’t speak much English. I discovered never to let Jenna touch the heaters; she always turns it off when she thinks she’s turning it up. Again, with the cold. The next morning we caught a bus into the city center and wandered around the old town. Highlight: we saw some of the Olympic arenas, mainly the outdoor ones. Innsbruck has held the Olympics twice, and junior Olympics once, this past January. Innsbruck was a nice place, but I’m biased towards Salzburg. If I returned with more time, less cold, and a plan of tourist things to do, I might enjoy it a little more. Eventually we caught a train back to Salzburg, and thus ended the coldest weekend of my entire life.
Missing everyone so much
Lovelovelove
goodness gracious that is cold!
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