This past weekend was a "long weekend" meaning I had no school on Friday. On Thursday night, Paul, Addie and I headed to the Arlberg area of Austria. We stayed in a small town called Tobadill. Population of Tobadill: 550. I think we managed to find the only hotel in town. On Friday we skied as Ischgl on the Austrian/Swiss border. On Saturday we skied at St. Anton and then on Sunday from Stuben.
This picture from the telecabine sums up the weekend pretty well...
Addie being.....Addie
Addie tearin' it up
From Ischgl
Apres ski in Ischgl
The town of Ischgl
Saturday was a bluebird day in St. Anton
The Austrian Alps
Where is this telecabine coming from and where is it going?
Love this shot
Stopping for a late lunch...Paul and Addie
Views from the telecabine on the ride down
Downtown St. Anton
We took off for dinner in Stuben, but I forgot that I had placed my dirty socks on the roof of the car. It wasn't until we had gone a few kilometers when Addie heard a thumping on the roof. It was the lone Darn Tough sock hanging on. It's partner had been lost in the road somewhere up the pass. Fortunately, we were able to turn around and search for it. Addie was the lucky soul who happened to be in the front seat of the two door car. When the Darn Tough was spotted road side, she hopped out to retrieve it...the sweaty, stinky, Darn Tough that had survived being run over a few times...
In Stuben, I was fortunate enough to meet up with friends from Colchester, Vermont....Leigh and Joanie!! They were in Stuben for vacation. Here's the whole crew at dinner.
Joanie, me and Leigh. (We got to use the sauna at their hotel...shhhh!)
Their hotel in Stuben and also our restaurant for the evening.
Our hotel in Tobadill
Tobadill
Castle in Tobadill
Skiing with Leigh!! I was fortunate enough to be able to ski again on Sunday...this time with Leigh and Joanie!
Glacier 3000 - Diablerets
A couple weeks back, I went to a neighboring town, Diablerets to ski on the glacier where there was some pow to be found. It was also a blue bird day. One could see both Mont Blanc and the Matterhorn.
Pictured, here are a couple shots of Mont Blanc, where I'd been the weekend before.
Here's a couple videos...one faceplant and one decent descent...
St. Bernard Ski Tour - Italian/Swiss frontier
Since it has not snowed since December, it's been hard to ski in Leysin. This past Saturday, I drove down the mountain, across the valley and up the Grand St. Bernard with two friends, Addie and Paul. We started our ski tour at the bottom of what used to be a piste. However, the chair life no longer runs. We toured up to the summit of on a ridge line that is on the Swiss Italian border. The tour to get up to the ridge was about two and a half hours up the north side. When we reached the top, we could see south into the Aosta Valley in Italy. We took a long lunch to soak up the warm sun rays and then descended the north west side back into Switzerland.Making the ascent.
Paul checking out our descent route around the side.
Addie
Looking out the south west on the Italian side.
Stopping for lunch
I have reason to assume that this is the first ascent of this peak that Pirate's Booty has ever made...so I had to document it.
Addie enjoying the sun and her hard boiled egg
After lunch, we had to boot pack for a little to get to our descent route.
Addie checking out the map to make sure we're heading in the right direction. As much as we'd like to end up in Italy, that probably wouldn't be the quickest route home.
Our descent off the north west side
It's easier to see our tracks in black and white
Looking ahead
