Awoke to brilliant blue sky with the mountains sharper looking than any day so far. Despite the call of the mountain I choose to take my time with coffee, fruit and yogurt. I am not 20 anymore, obviously, and I don’t need to be the first at the slopes.
After my 60 step walk to the bus it comes within minutes of my arrival. As usual my guest bus card doesn’t register at first, the driver looks at it as he does every day, scans it again and it works.
From the bus I am in the gondola is less than a minute. Although I am the only one that boards a dozen or so skiers choose to wait for the next cabin. A thirtyish boarder guy hops on at the last minute. His English is perfect and we flow from English to German and back and forth a few times. His company is much appreciated. He tells me he is a phycologist. I could sure use his help…I think for a moment.
The German army is everywhere once again working on their skiing skills. The terrain park appears open for the first time and I wonder if there is another park as it is minimal. A half dozen skiers go through the park but no one goes over the features.
I head to the Kandahar lift with heated seats to realize the Kandahar trail is closed. Work is being done on it in preparation of the upcoming World Cup races. I head down towards the Alpspitzbahn …I decide to ride higher in the mountain today because it is a spectacular day with great vistas and little traffic.
I head into the Alpspitzebahn office with questions about a possible upgrade to my season pass. The woman behind the counter is ,perhaps, the nicest most helpful person I have met at the ski center. I choose to speak English as I want to fully understand all the details. Five minutes later at walk out the door with a new ski pass that includes about a dozen more ski areas mostly in Austria. I am a happy camper, or rather snowboarder. Tomorrow I ride Austria