Skiing in Austria 2023

The slopes are calling! When skiing is firmly established as a hobby in the family, this enthusiasm gene for "wanting" to ski is likely to be passed on to the children. No matter how expensive lift tickets are, we have tried to save what we can with fewer ski days, buying equipment at flea markets, cheap holiday accommodation with self-catering options. The main thing is to get on the slopes. Ski school is also quite expensive, so we only used it in the beginning.

Remark at the beginning: The original post is in German under “Almuts Anekdoten” and I did my best to make it understandable to non-German speaking people here 😊.

Because of this need to save money, one day only the father skied with a changing cast of our four sons. At the same time, I could oil stairs or paint doors in the family's absence. My urge to ski was somewhat dampened by the compulsion in childhood to use the ski lift ticket, no matter what the weather was. As a result, I haven't missed skiing for the last 20 years. I have the memories of days when you have to take kindergarten children somewhere to ski school and pick them up again, push the little ones around somewhere in between, then you don't really get to ski without grandparents looking after them. I found all the packing and cooking with the children very exhausting. The teenage years followed with the school ski trips. Cancellation because of the costs was out of the question, so we had to save money elsewhere. One adult son even had the idea of accompanying other school classes with his friend as a chaperone and thus also came to skiing holidays, even though he was no longer at school.

Somehow it didn't occur to me to go skiing again, especially since I heard here and there among my acquaintances that someone had torn a cruciate ligament, and then there were all the environmental problems with the snow-making machines. The children were used to their father going with them for a few days, ideally. And then 20 years are simply over.

As is so often the case, the impulse to rethink one's principles and habits comes from outside. My boss told me in Italian class why winter sports were so important to him. He said that it is precisely because you drive to work in the dark in winter and come home in the dark again so that it is a blessing to exercise in the combination of snow and sun in the fresh mountain air. In his opinion, this avoids depressive moods and his anticipation is so great that he is in a good mood days beforehand when he thinks about it. He would rather give up a summer holiday than go skiing. Another acquaintance came back from his ski week beaming and said that the best moment was when he took the chairlift out of the thick fog and suddenly into a blue sky with sunshine. At that very moment, by chance, two of the now grown-up sons asked if there was a joint ski event. However, it was only a long weekend and this time in March due to the study work. And also only in good weather, so that it would be worthwhile. When that word "sunshine weekend" came up and we'd just had a week of high fog "winter soup weather", I spontaneously thought, "I'll come along!" You should have seen the faces. From amazed to "no, really?". After all, none of the children had ever seen me skiing. At the beginning, I wasn't sure if I could still do it in my late 50s after 20 years, in terms of fitness and ability, and if the saying "you never forget how to ski and cycle" was really true.

My obstacle: my 40-year-old classic skis with the straight tips. Can a ski service still get such old skis going? Is it worth the effort? There was good persuasion from all sides that I should rent new skis, also to see if it still works and is still fun. Hm, this change from 1.70m classic to 1.50m short carving skis, will that go well? The skis certainly behave differently.

As it turned out, this was not the only thing that changed in downhill skiing after 20 years. The innovations were also evident in other points where I felt like I was in the film "Back to the Future II".

In the ski rental shop - ski boots and skis 2023

Arrived in the ski resort of Warth/Austria at the ski rental shop at the valley station. An employee directs me to two screens with keyboards. Aha, digitalisation in this area too, how nice. On the screen I enter my address, age, weight and ski knowledge to adjust the ski bindings. Next to me, an elderly gentleman nestles out his reading glasses before he can type in his data with a single-finger system. With the receipt, it's off to the waiting bench. Because of the sunny weather, it's busy. A staff member comes around the corner with ski boots and puts them in front of me to try on. My first feeling: as awkward as 20 years ago, you can hardly get in, they are still clumsy and heavy. The employee insists it's the wrong technique, I just have to pull out the front strap hard enough before I step in with my foot. At first I think I'm somehow too clumsy or too weak to pull "right". However, the next day I see two more women who are having a really hard time getting into these shoes. One of them sums up their desperation:”Those stupid shoes. By the time you put the shoes on, you´re already exhausted.”

I wonder why the ski boots with the rear entry, which were still available in the 90s and early 2000s, are no longer available. That would make them easier to put on. Maybe there were too many men in the material test who had no problem pulling out this strap with enough force and at the optimal angle. I guess not much has changed after 20 years. 

No adjustment if you don't meet the foot standard, if you have particularly wide or narrow feet or a high instep. Or your calf width in relation to your foot size is different from what the ski boot manufacturers offer. You have the choice between foot toe crushing or them flopping around inside and you have to strap everything around the ankle and calf until the blood stops. The staff member keeps stressing that it's important for proper support that the toes are in contact with the shoe. That's definitely too tight for me if I ride longer and my foot sweats and then it gets even tighter, no, I'd rather get a size bigger and tighten everything up at the top. A colleague later said that there are alternatives in the high price range with individual adjustment of the foam to the foot, but hardly anyone can afford that, it starts in the three-digit range. In the beginning, the colleague was able to get hold of a pair of rear entry shoes via online platforms, but now the last pair has fallen apart. That's why she always borrows shoes, as these shoes have already stretched other people before her use.

Now I went to the staff member with the skis. I am presented with a list of price categories, 1 plus to 6 plus (or 7, I can't remember). Which one would I like. I am completely taken by surprise with the question. After all, I've indicated that I'm a medium rider. Somehow it doesn't occur to me to ask what the difference is between the categories apart from the price and I take the golden mean. In the length selection, there is a pair of skis in 1.50m in bright pink. A name sticker is stuck on it so that the skis don't get mixed up by mistake. Great, now everyone knows my name. An interesting way to get to know the person next to you on the chairlift. Then there's a barcode with a number on it for returning the skis later. It doesn't matter which ski hire shop you go to, whether it's up here on the mountain at the various lift stations or down in the valley. That saves time. Great. Adjusting the bindings is also a breeze. And once again I'm amazed: I had expected the new skis to be lighter these days. But they're not. When I walk a certain distance with them, I have the same feeling as before: "Hopefully I'll soon be able to strap them on and won't have to carry them any longer."

Lift tickets 2023

After 20 years, the next novelty for me is the lift pass. After cardboard cards that tanned men and women cut off with a punch, weekly cards with printed dates and genuinely developed (!) passport photos, and later the first cards with printed dates and codes, some of which fluttered in the wind on the outside of the jacket with zippers, the card is now reusable. Apart from a beautiful mountain panorama and the Arlberg, there are no more details on it. In the past, you could still read how long the card was valid, but today you have to remember that. The deposit for the card is 5 euros. I don't want to know how many people take this card home in their jackets after skiing and only discover it again the next winter.

 

Card reader 2023

On the way to the first chairlift, I wonder why most people are waving their left arm at the post and roaming along. Standing right by this metal post, I unpack my card as I used to and hold it up to a small box with a window, which I think might be the card reader. A few attempts fail until a skier behind me offers assistance: "No, that's a camera. Keep going down to the left,... now further up,... a little further, ..just like that!" Aha, the card reader is integrated into the inner wall of the post. I wonder if small children can reach it without having to be lifted up. The narrow metal grille in front of me opens. And now I also see that the others don't take the card out at all, but carry it in their left sleeve zip pocket. I discover a zip like this on my jacket, which I got hold of as new at a clothes swap party. I had never noticed it before. Perfect. That takes care of the card retrieval. I consider this a great achievement, as it shortens the queuing time considerably and queues dissolve very quickly. Back then, there were often delays when someone first had to take off their gloves and fumble their card out of their jacket.

Chairlift 2023

The next surprise awaits: Anchor and double chair lifts are probably discontinued models, at least here in the Arlberg ski area. Express lifts are on the way on the large-area ski slopes, with chairlifts that hold up to 6 people. In the past they were hard seats, a member of staff wrapped us in a blanket when the weather was bad, which enabled us to survive the cold on the ride reasonably well. Today the seats are padded and heated in the cold. In strong winds, you can also pull down an acrylic glass dome for protection. What a luxury.

The construction for putting down skis during the journey still has to be folded down by hand. A team task for 6 people, so that everyone can lift the skis at the same time. There are now two versions of this construction: the classic "ski fully on the left or right on a pole" and then a version in which the pole runs down between the legs, the racks consist of two small plastic triangles and one ski is placed on the right and one on the left. I have no idea how the snowboarders manage this with their wide boards. 

I feel like I'm in an adventure park when conveyor belts appear behind the little red barriers and pull me and my skis to the ideal "sit-down" point for the chair. When I imagine how often you used to have to slide to this point yourself really quickly and if you somehow missed the moment, the lift landed ungently on your knees. Speaking of knees, it's worth mentioning that if you're short or of medium height, the arriving seats are at the ideal height; if you have long legs, the seat can sometimes hit your calf a bit uncomfortably if you don't bend backwards in time. Here I am probably in line with the standard to which the seats are set. I find it interesting that carrying backpacks on the back is prohibited on some chairlifts and not on others. Although the chairs don't really differ visually. Of course it makes sense to take off the backpack when the backpacks are fully loaded and the rider is only sitting on half of the seat. And so when the handle holder is folded up shortly before getting off, he is then floating half free over the abyss.

Because of the new skis with the much wider kochlöffel round tips, I concentrate very hard on keeping the skis parallel and slightly apart on the conveyor belt. And lo and behold, it works well. I'm amazed at how many new learning experiences I can process in one day. After another four hours of skiing, towards the afternoon, it happened. After the chairlifts stop more and more frequently because someone is lying on the conveyor belt or standing the wrong way, and I think to myself, "Boy, is that frequent", I cause exactly this situation through a moment of inattention. It couldn't be more embarrassing. I slide through the closing barrier with my skis, I don't know how, but I'm too late for the chair in front of it, I slide uncoordinatedly into the conveyor belt zone, my skis overlap, I fall completely over onto my side. The next chair threatens to catch me. Although my first thought is: "How embarrassing", I smile inwardly at the sliding. It's not every day that you get that feeling of sliding along on a conveyor belt, almost unable to move. The crowning glory of the situation: one of my sons, who has caught the chair in front, wants to signal to the employee with his ski pole that he should please stop. His ski pole is lying on the armchair of the free seats to his left, he pulls it forward and just at that moment a woman wants to sit down, is then pushed forward again due to the force of the ski pole and is also completely thrown out with it. It's certainly very funny for the outsider - a double ejection. The employee presses the emergency stop button.  I'm so happy when, after several attempts, I come to a halt again. My stomach muscles aren't what they were 20 years ago and handling the poles on this holey conveyor belt is somehow difficult. And although I can easily get up from a crouch without ski boots, it's a different challenge to get up with ski boots. Now I can also understand how older people feel when they can't get up themselves after falling down. A mixture of "damn, now I don't have enough strength to get the necessary momentum and all my muscles are shaking" and helplessness "what do I do now if I can't get up?".

I find the differences between the ski lifts in the Warth area with Salober, Steffisalp and Jägeralp and the ski lifts on the Lech side very interesting. There you can see adverts for luxury goods such as Rolex watches on the steel bars of the chairlifts. Due to the many high-end car brands parked on this side, this is probably the target group. Large posters advertise a free-standing bubble bath that looks like a Fabergé egg in camouflage colours. Right next to the mountain station of the Kriegerhorn cable car, a small car-sized Christmas bauble with a closed glass door and glass windows with a panoramic view of the mountains stands in the snow. The inside is covered for a meal for two. Has the Bachelor already been up here with a date? 

Translation of post to be continued 😊