The view from the top

Today I took it easy... hard. When I take it easy, I take it easy to the extreme! I was sluggish this morning, and got to breakfast while others were there but took my time getting ready to ski and left the hotel last of anyone. The cleaning guy was impatiently waiting for me to leave so he could fold up my blankets, empty the trash cans, and turn the toilet-paper roll upside down. That's all he does.

The bus brought me to Galzig gondola (a stop after where I normally get off) and I did a quick and easy warm-up run to Osthang chair and got in line for Valluga gondola at 1100. My skiing day didn't really begin until 1230. The line there today was so long that it took many gondolas before I could get on - some 40 minutes. Then I waited again for the smaller gondola to the peak, but not as long as others after me. On the crowded gondola I became intimately acquainted with two beautiful Danish girls. One had been to Israel, the other had dazzling green eyes, and both spoke flawless English. I passed up a day of skiing with the beauties (who are nonetheless not nearly as pretty as my wonderful girlfriend, whom I love and miss dearly and I know reads this journal) in order to go up to the peak and take photographs for you, faithful readers. Such is the depth of my devotion to my girlfriend and my fans. I make these sacrifices for you gladly, out of abiding love. Even though the ladies seemed disappointed I would not be joining them, I have no regrets. I wouldn't have gotten good photographs another time, and the view was truly awesome.

The gondola up to the peak is a tiny sardine can cramping in exactly 6 people. You have to take it both up and down because skiing is not allowed off that peak. Nevertheless I saw some kind of special ski school group going down off the back side there. The views from the top were breathtaking! On a clear day like this one, you can see far into the neighboring countries. I spent a while up there and took many photos, please do go and look at them in the album. There is a region near Stuben where the rolling snow-coated ground looks like clouds. They have a neat little visual information scope at Valluga peak that labels the mountain peaks when you look through it. I also looked around with my binoculars, spotting lifts and runs that looked nice.

I only did a few runs today. The route accessible only from the top of Valluga (well, from its adjoining T-bar) is 16. First I skied in the fresh powder by that T-bar for a fun warm-up. Route 16 reaches an SOS cabin (and phone) and links to 33 from there. At the upper part there were plentiful places to play around in powder, and it was great fun. By the SOS cabin however the snow was all chopped up, and lower still the slopes had been scraped pretty thoroughly, and were icy and hard with many moguls. This was actually more like what I imagine when I think of an ungroomed ski run, at say an American resort. It was challenging and enjoyable even where most of the snow had already been trampled. You can reach those routes from some other lifts, explaining the scarcity of untouched powder. In fact, I took Schindlergrat back up and starting on route 15 I still reached 33 somehow, though it doesn't appear as though you should be able to. You can end up in funny places by cutting across every fresh field of powder you lay eyes on.

Those slopes are exposed to the sun and wind, so the crown of each ridge was bare of snow: there were many patches of dirt and grass to be seen, making it unpalatable to pass between them. One one of my runs down from Schindler I got into and out of a natural half-pipe and claimed the ridge above it as my own - though I was far from the first one there, it had been traveled less than others. It was between two marked routes that I couldn't easily get over to, so I kept on it and kept them in sight until it rejoined them near the busy piste 4. At the top of that run I'd also gone around the far side of the upper bowl marked Schindler Kar on the map, where I'd gone with Carolina yesterday. I had to go far around to find them, but there were some patches of powder left (pretty sure that's how I ended up on an unmarked ridge.) When I free-ski rather than teach I don't really notice anymore how steep the slope is. I align my skis to it, hopefully keep my balance appropriate, and that's that. For a moment on this run my perception shifted enough to notice that it was a fairly steep, powdery slope I was going down, and I realized how lucky I am to get to do this. So then I had that moment I go on ski trips for: "Oh god, I love my life!" I also sing often when I ski those kinds of slopes.

The sun lasted until the afternoon, then snow clouds rolled in. By then I'd worked up a sweat making my way down the wilder slopes, and decided to mellow out on the Galzig area. I got stuck in the singles' line in Zammermoos behind a young lady in a magenta coat twisting and struggling to press her chest against the ski-pass detector. Eventually I took pity on her and waved my hand in front of the detector to let us both through. I met her again in line on I believe Osthang chairlift and rode up with her and a small boy in ski-school. She's from Vancouver, and spent much of the ride up giving the kid tips in English on how to hold his poles on a chairlift so they don't get stuck under the chair and drag him down to faceplant into the ground when loading or unloading.

I skied down to St. Christoph to have a late lunch down at their restaurant (which is not marked on the map), until about 1500. I ate my goulash and hot cocoa outside and listened to rock music from their bar. After that I took a series of lifts, Mattun to Kapall, to get closer to my bus stop. I rode up with a ski and a snowboard instructor gossiping about their bosses. Unfortunately all the snow in those pistes was shitty by the end of the day: The base was completely ice and everything new had been scraped away, so I slid around comically and noisily. With no edges to grip with, I sideslipped more than I skied forward. I might as well have been slipping down on sheet ice in my socks. So while I don't fall on ice, that was less fun for me than tumbling around in powder.

I took the bus back around 1600, showered and looked up how to get to my hotel in Munich. The receptionist here, Barbara, did manage to sell my room for the last night after all. So I got an airport hotel in Munich and will leave here tomorrow to spend the night there, making for a much more relaxed morning before my flight, and probably saving a few euros as well. I thanked her, paid cash for my room (they insist on it here for some reason) and went out for an early dinner shortly after 1800. I had a few "scampi", which I know as shrimp, and bade farewell to the wait staff who know me by now. There was a crowd of 8 or 9 children (from a few British families) coming to eat around when I finished, so I'm glad I had my dinner early.

After dinner I packed, sorted out my papers, uploaded photos and talked to people on Skype. Now it is midnight, and I go to get some sleep before my last day in St. Anton and the beginning of a lengthy trip back.

Oh yes! I almost forgot. Following tradition, I licked a gummy bear and stuck it to the mirror in my room. I hope I don't forget to remove it tomorrow morning before I check out. Seeing it there makes me laugh.