The Two Mountains
and the journey continues...
On our second day, tired of the wet snow, and spurred on by a good weather report (although they had already been proven wrong), we all got on a second bus at the base of Schmittenhöhe that took us across the valley, and partway up a small valley extending into the mountains. Here we boarded a gondola that took us way up the mountain to the snowy slopes of Kaprun. (By the way, this was the sight of the famous Kaprun train-tunnel tragedy. Service to the ski slopes used to be provided by a funicular railway going through a 3 km tunnel. Read more about it at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaprun_disaster it you like. The train tracks are still there, but the tunnel has been sealed. It was a bit sobering to see and think about. And made you think how easy it would be for the gondola that you were riding in to fail and hurl you 500 m down the mountain).
The first gondola only gets you halfway up the mountain. It follows a steep, un-skiable cut in the moutin slope, and brings you tot eh ski resort's base station, where we got into another gondola to bring us further up the mountain (specifically, to the glacier at the top). The main lodge is located at the top of this gondola. From the main lodge, we had some further options to head up the mountain. The lifts are all pretty poorly laid out, maybe as a result of slowing expanding the slopes, but probably because one had to work around the glacier, putting chairlift pylons only where possible. In short, you were always using at least 2 lifts to get to the place you wanted. But this inconvenience is worth it, as the place is incredible.
The weather stayed sunny for the next 3 days, and we spent many happy hours on the slopes. The high altitude (3000 m), and the cool glacier underneath resulted in snow that was fairly decent (for Canadian standards) despite the balmy weather. I continued wearing no toque.
Here what the view from the main lodge was, looking up the mountain.
That red & white gondola pylon is from the original gondola on this mountain, built in 1966. At 113 meters, it is the the tallest tramway support column in the world. The gondola takes people from below the ski resort base station all the way to the summit. There is no other tower between that big one and the summit above. It's crazy. I never went on it, largely because it was inconveniently situated. I wish I had gone on it. You can see the cables just extending into thin air. At one point it must be 200 meters above the ski slopes. (Note that the Sheraton Wall Centre, the tallest building in Vancouver is only 150 m tall).
We spent the next 3 days here, happily skiing our hearts out...
On the glacier itself. There were lots of T-bars on this mountain, since it's much easier to install and move around T-bars than a full-fledged chairlift on a moving ice field. This looking south toward the summit.
We spent a lot of time at the fun park.
Wonderful stuff.
My youth pastor...
And while we're into the peace thing...
This is somewhere midway up the mountain, looking south, with the summit off the picture to the left.
The snowy goodness was interjected with great evening bible studies. Here Dirk and Christian prepare to lead worship.
And we're off to the slopes of Kaprun again.
That's Daniel, my bible study leader. Good guy.
Here we are at the top of the glacier, (the left side of the pic is facing north, the right side facing east). That is the summit on the right.
And this is the view from the station at the top. Although still 200 m below the summit, this is the highest attainable point on the mountain without strapping on crampons and climbing gear. It is at an altitude of 3029 m. This is looking west-north. Click on the picture for a big view; the cables on the left is from the big gondola descending halfway down the mountain, the whole snow expanse that you can see here is glacier and all open to skiing.
And this is the same location looking south. The mountains in the background are part of a large national park. Here we are about descend the only black run on the mountain, closed at the time. It apparently is closed most of the year; I suspect it is here just to say that the mountain has a black run. Of course, we went down it anyway. Was icy and stony. We wanted to see how long it would take us to ski from the very top (3029 m) to the bottom of the ski resort (1930 m). It was the last run of the day, and there were oodles of crowds on the bottom runs, but we managed it in 13 minutes. We were going to shoot for 10 minutes the next day, but then Daniel decided to snowboard. Those two in the picture are Daniel & Christian, the Fabry brothers. Both excellent skiers (better than I). I rode with them most of the time, and Katie, too. Do I have picture of her? Let me see.
Christian was the other guy who roomed with me. He's totally relaxed. Takes everything in stride. Has this excellent nonchalant humor. Plays piano.
Aha, here we have Katie
Ah, I found a better one
Hardcore worship.
Hardcore Risk.
Hardcore chillin'
We spent another day at Kaprun, soaking up the ever-present sunshine.
a view from further down the mountain.
The first few days the crowds were pretty okay. A fair amount of people, but one could only expect it, as this week is the second busiest week of the season. But much to my surprise, the Europeans are really crappy at crowd organization. If you've been to any big Canadian resort (whistler, big white, silver star) you know that everyone is organized into chutes when waiting in line for a big chairlift. Each chute merges with another one, and so on, till you load. And you merge as groups of four, each chute joining seamlessly (albeit slowly) into its neighbouring chute.
Not here. Here you just have the single chute in front of the loading area, and everyone lines up behind it in a big crowd. And not always civilly. People are continuously stepping on your skis, squeezing their way through, taking advantage of every small opening ahead of them...
"Actively standing in line", as one guy from our group put it.
I was shocked. Even the people from our group said that it had never been this uncivil. It made me wishing for some good Canadian courtesy. My reaction to the whole thing looked something like this:
Wednesday night our housegroup stayed up late and set the table nicely for the next day. We had just been reading this chapter in our book in bible study about finding joy in life, so we decided to do something to bring everyone else joy. Hence, the nicely decorated table, the place names, the fresh buns, the bible verses...
Was a cool thing. Lots of fun.
On our last day of skiing, fed up with the long lift lines at Kaprun, we decided to give Schmittenhöhe a chance again. My friend and I left earlier in the morning to make the most of our day. We skied from 9 till 5. Beautiful.
Christian decided to try snowboarding for the first time. Here Tschmi (who was the best snowboarder there), gives him some tips.
After two hours, he was boarding like a pro. Better than some of the others who had been doing it for some time. Just got crazy talent, i guess.
Here, the last group off the mountain. 'Twas a good week.
On our second day, tired of the wet snow, and spurred on by a good weather report (although they had already been proven wrong), we all got on a second bus at the base of Schmittenhöhe that took us across the valley, and partway up a small valley extending into the mountains. Here we boarded a gondola that took us way up the mountain to the snowy slopes of Kaprun. (By the way, this was the sight of the famous Kaprun train-tunnel tragedy. Service to the ski slopes used to be provided by a funicular railway going through a 3 km tunnel. Read more about it at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaprun_disaster it you like. The train tracks are still there, but the tunnel has been sealed. It was a bit sobering to see and think about. And made you think how easy it would be for the gondola that you were riding in to fail and hurl you 500 m down the mountain).
The first gondola only gets you halfway up the mountain. It follows a steep, un-skiable cut in the moutin slope, and brings you tot eh ski resort's base station, where we got into another gondola to bring us further up the mountain (specifically, to the glacier at the top). The main lodge is located at the top of this gondola. From the main lodge, we had some further options to head up the mountain. The lifts are all pretty poorly laid out, maybe as a result of slowing expanding the slopes, but probably because one had to work around the glacier, putting chairlift pylons only where possible. In short, you were always using at least 2 lifts to get to the place you wanted. But this inconvenience is worth it, as the place is incredible.
The weather stayed sunny for the next 3 days, and we spent many happy hours on the slopes. The high altitude (3000 m), and the cool glacier underneath resulted in snow that was fairly decent (for Canadian standards) despite the balmy weather. I continued wearing no toque.
Here what the view from the main lodge was, looking up the mountain.
That red & white gondola pylon is from the original gondola on this mountain, built in 1966. At 113 meters, it is the the tallest tramway support column in the world. The gondola takes people from below the ski resort base station all the way to the summit. There is no other tower between that big one and the summit above. It's crazy. I never went on it, largely because it was inconveniently situated. I wish I had gone on it. You can see the cables just extending into thin air. At one point it must be 200 meters above the ski slopes. (Note that the Sheraton Wall Centre, the tallest building in Vancouver is only 150 m tall).
We spent the next 3 days here, happily skiing our hearts out...
On the glacier itself. There were lots of T-bars on this mountain, since it's much easier to install and move around T-bars than a full-fledged chairlift on a moving ice field. This looking south toward the summit.
We spent a lot of time at the fun park.
Wonderful stuff.My youth pastor...
And while we're into the peace thing...
This is somewhere midway up the mountain, looking south, with the summit off the picture to the left.
The snowy goodness was interjected with great evening bible studies. Here Dirk and Christian prepare to lead worship.
And we're off to the slopes of Kaprun again.
That's Daniel, my bible study leader. Good guy.
Here we are at the top of the glacier, (the left side of the pic is facing north, the right side facing east). That is the summit on the right.
And this is the view from the station at the top. Although still 200 m below the summit, this is the highest attainable point on the mountain without strapping on crampons and climbing gear. It is at an altitude of 3029 m. This is looking west-north. Click on the picture for a big view; the cables on the left is from the big gondola descending halfway down the mountain, the whole snow expanse that you can see here is glacier and all open to skiing.
And this is the same location looking south. The mountains in the background are part of a large national park. Here we are about descend the only black run on the mountain, closed at the time. It apparently is closed most of the year; I suspect it is here just to say that the mountain has a black run. Of course, we went down it anyway. Was icy and stony. We wanted to see how long it would take us to ski from the very top (3029 m) to the bottom of the ski resort (1930 m). It was the last run of the day, and there were oodles of crowds on the bottom runs, but we managed it in 13 minutes. We were going to shoot for 10 minutes the next day, but then Daniel decided to snowboard. Those two in the picture are Daniel & Christian, the Fabry brothers. Both excellent skiers (better than I). I rode with them most of the time, and Katie, too. Do I have picture of her? Let me see.
Christian was the other guy who roomed with me. He's totally relaxed. Takes everything in stride. Has this excellent nonchalant humor. Plays piano.
Aha, here we have Katie
Ah, I found a better one
Hardcore worship.
Hardcore Risk.
Hardcore chillin'
We spent another day at Kaprun, soaking up the ever-present sunshine.
a view from further down the mountain.
The first few days the crowds were pretty okay. A fair amount of people, but one could only expect it, as this week is the second busiest week of the season. But much to my surprise, the Europeans are really crappy at crowd organization. If you've been to any big Canadian resort (whistler, big white, silver star) you know that everyone is organized into chutes when waiting in line for a big chairlift. Each chute merges with another one, and so on, till you load. And you merge as groups of four, each chute joining seamlessly (albeit slowly) into its neighbouring chute.
Not here. Here you just have the single chute in front of the loading area, and everyone lines up behind it in a big crowd. And not always civilly. People are continuously stepping on your skis, squeezing their way through, taking advantage of every small opening ahead of them...
"Actively standing in line", as one guy from our group put it.
I was shocked. Even the people from our group said that it had never been this uncivil. It made me wishing for some good Canadian courtesy. My reaction to the whole thing looked something like this:
Wednesday night our housegroup stayed up late and set the table nicely for the next day. We had just been reading this chapter in our book in bible study about finding joy in life, so we decided to do something to bring everyone else joy. Hence, the nicely decorated table, the place names, the fresh buns, the bible verses...
Was a cool thing. Lots of fun.
On our last day of skiing, fed up with the long lift lines at Kaprun, we decided to give Schmittenhöhe a chance again. My friend and I left earlier in the morning to make the most of our day. We skied from 9 till 5. Beautiful.
Christian decided to try snowboarding for the first time. Here Tschmi (who was the best snowboarder there), gives him some tips.
After two hours, he was boarding like a pro. Better than some of the others who had been doing it for some time. Just got crazy talent, i guess.
Here, the last group off the mountain. 'Twas a good week.
posted by thomassanz at
4:30 PM
2 Comments:
Green and drooling with envy.
Just to make you envious, I thought I would let you know I just spent three days in Whistler with no line ups, semi-nice days, and powder in the trees. I even skied down a creek bed. How cool is that?
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