Apr 6, 2017

Ski: Behind Austria - The Second Day in Oberstdorf

Hey guys this is Saori. Alec forgot to write the second day of both ski trips so I decided to fill in. From here,  “I” is me. And the usual author will be referred to as “Alec.”


So the second day began with slow but very peaceful and unusually early awakening, since we all managed to go to bed by 10:30 the night before. I eventually got out of the top of the bunk bed very carefully and boiled water in the bathroom for my usual cup of warm water to drink. But my tip-toeing was appearently unsuccessful as I hear the tongue-clicking noise breaking the silence - the little lady’s favorite thing to do. I slowly look over to the bottom of the bunk bed and there she was, still wrapped in blanket but eyes bright and wide open. Give it 2 or 3 minutes and everyone was up. We took the sunny table and had a breakfast together, packed very quickly and said bye to the family who decided not to hit the slope that day.


One note here is that the magnesium tablet was a major hit to all boys of the group. So popular both days like “yeeeeeaaaaaassss” If I were Beyoncé I would write a song about bringing magnesium tablet to ski trips for all the single ladies.


We went to the other peak as we discussed the day before - to Fellhorn/Kanzelwand, where many blue and red intertwined which was nice to the group made of different skill levels. This area covers mostly German side of the mountain. Another GORGEOUS day, bright blue sky, easy wind, bit more people on the slope than yesterday. I see Alec flying through with music notes trailing behind him. Rafa (a big frame big heart dude) is whooshing and zooming to there and over there and beyond, in relaxed, beautiful form, flattening most of the mogul which stands in his way. Wiebke and I follow them enjoying our pace, blue and white Panorama ahead and the sun toasting our shoulders. The PACE. I immediately felt more comfort and confidence this Sunday, and started picking up the pace. I could go to some areas with Rafa and Alec where I would not have gone on the first day of the season and thought to myself; right, this is the first season ever in my life that I make multiple TRIPs. And I silently promised myself to live close to skiable mountains wherever I move so this can continue. I enjoyed flying more, I even enjoyed telling myself to stay disciplined not to lose control and cause trouble. And thought of David, who would always take us out to ski with him in winters any time we are around, no matter how slow I had to ski. I wish I was THIS warmed up in Utah and Could catch up with him in places where I couldn't go. Oh goals and dreams.


The other thing. Based on my experience in Matrei in Osttirol and Hirschegg yesterday, I thought that blue piste in this side of the world meant narrow, zig-zaggy path made of nothing but just bypass trails put together to shove beginners aside into. But blue piste here was series of beautiful scenery changes and relaxing twist and turn. The combination of this with mountain-top red made just one amazing day to me, and probably safe to way for all of us.


After a while the boys had more dextrose to burn so Wiebke and I grabbed a table at shiny and well maintained Gipfelstation for Schorle and girl chat which already had become our tradition. In the sun I took extra base layer off and saw steam visibly rising. We reapplied sunscreen twice and still got toasty marks on our cheek. We spotted a guy skiing in Kangaroo costume. We just had nothing but plenty sign of yet another fantastic day.


One note made to myself: find a jacket for warm spring day skiing. Because Wiebke just told me that they are planning another trip in two weeks which we can tag along. I was not sure if it would really happen (as you see in the next post, it did. And it was so good.) but what is the risk, I live in Germany where high performance softshells and synthetic downs are the survival essentials in three of four seasons to most standard and sane citizens.

Three days after that, I found the thermaboll hoodie for killer price at the Intersport closing sale and I was solid that was the mountain calling.

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