Skiing and Snowboarding the Glacier

The ride out is quite scenic. The bus drivers must all think they are Formula 1 drivers as they drive the twisty mountain roads quite aggressively. To get back the deal is that you need to be back at the bus by 4:30pm, or as the bus drivers would say, 4:30 the following day. We heard stories from others who knew people who missed their buses and sure enough they left without them.

Fortunately for one group they found another bus with a couple free seats where the driver was willing to take them to their hotel. In another case the people got back after all the buses left and ended up spending nearly 4 hours on public buses getting back to their hotel. In typical German fashion you do what you're told or else. For those who do obey there are usually refreshments available from the bus driver for a Euro. You can have whatever you want as long as it's beer or water.

Finally time to hit the slopes. We headed to Stubai Glacier the first day to do some snowboarding. The whole week we were promised that some snow was finally going to arrive this day. Once we got there the top of the mountain was already beginning to snow. The couple people that went the previous day instead of going to Venice had nice sunny weather. The weather for us by afternoon was heavy snow and strong winds. It wasn't quite whiteout conditions but we did feel like we were at the top of Mount Everest when at the top of the mountain. Fortunately the Glacier has snow year round so there was already a very nice base there with good conditions.

The one weird thing this day was the blowing snow caused most of us to have a feeling of "snow vertigo". The runs were so huge that it was difficult to get a good feeling of how fast you where going or even at times which way was down the mountain. Furthermore, you never wanted to look down at the board as you may feel that you're heading down the mountain but the wind was blowing the snow sideways or up at which point I would get vertigo and usually fall in a very spectacular way. It didn't take long to just forget about looking down and pretty much snowboard by the braille method. This too was difficult for us midwesterners used to crunchy man made snow. This was all natural stuff which was far quieter so we got moving a LOT faster before we knew it. This contributed to the "quality" of my falls.

We all had a fabulous time. Our general impression was that this place was huge. With the fog and snow it was hard to see the whole place at once. That would come later. We mostly stuck to a couple runs we felt comfortable on. Unfortunately I wasn't feeling well at the end of the day.

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Howard uses the kiosk to send a picture E-mail to his wife. Viewed: 79 times.	This is an example of a card sent from the kiosk. Viewed: 208 times.	The snowboarders in our group pause for a break. Viewed: 143 times.
Ling shows off the snowplow. Viewed: 72 times.	This is the ice climbing area. Viewed: 247 times.	Greg really digging the covered six chair lift. Viewed: 119 times.
Which was nice consider the blizzard conditions at the top. Viewed: 110 times.	I thought this was a cool effect. Viewed: 140 times.	Brother and sister posing in front of the peaks. Viewed: 166 times.
Katherine enjoys the fresh powder. Viewed: 89 times.	Howard looks in trouble in the background. Viewed: 100 times.	..and he wipes out in front of Mark. Viewed: 107 times.
Enjoying some German beer at the bottom of the mountain. Viewed: 188 times.	The partying continued on the bus ride back. Viewed: 139 times.

More Stubai

We sought out different runs since the ones we did the previous day were very crowded. We found a beautiful run with awesome views from the top. Interestingly, the map showed it was a blue (novice) run but all we could find was a red (intermediate) run. Except for a steep narrow section with switchbacks right at the top the run was actually quite easy. We did that first thing in the morning so it was still very empty with hardly more than a couple people anywhere in sight and the run was still very smooth and very easy to ride. Every once in a while we would dabble in the powder just off the groomed portion of the trail. Not being used to the powder we did end up getting stuck a couple times.

Later in the day a bunch of "the guys" thought we'd take a different trail down the mountain as far as we could get on groomed trails which was to the mid gondola station. The girls took the gondolas back to the bottom. That run wasn't bad except that we couldn't find the beginning of one of the trails and we ended up taking a short ungroomed section down to where we saw the groomed trail was. I ended up getting quite stuck a couple times. By the second time I was so exhausted I ended up ripping off the board and walking to the groomed trail instead of risking getting stuck again. The boarding wasn't nearly as exhausting as digging.

After doing the easy trail for a while we yet again took a wrong turn (thanks Howard!) and ended up on a red (intermediate) run. This time it was quite challenging. The sections were very steep (like black diamonds in the midwest) and very moguly after a day of skiers. It alternated between deep piles of powder and patches of ice. It was tricky but I took it nice and easy. I only fell a couple times. It took a while but I finally got down to the mid station where I was able to finally catch my breath on the ride down. Awesome day.

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Lily about to start a run. Viewed: 92 times.	Hey! The sun is out! Viewed: 131 times.	The view is great. Take a picture! Viewed: 99 times.
Panoramic shot. Viewed: 127 times.	Wow, that's nice. Viewed: 147 times.	This too. Viewed: 118 times.
Me posing for a picture. Viewed: 88 times.	Dorothy and Greg. Viewed: 78 times.	Yeah, this was worth the trip. Viewed: 116 times.
Viewed: 83 times.	C'mon Dorothy, you can do it! Viewed: 103 times.	Howard got this great shot of me coming to a stop. Viewed: 113 times.
We loved the conveyor belt for the 6 chair lift. Viewed: 134 times.	You can just barely make out the dots of skiers coming down this off piste area. Viewed: 172 times.	An action shot of Lily. Viewed: 109 times.
A snowboarder in the huge half pipe. Viewed: 121 times.	Mark about to attempt the jump. Viewed: 88 times.	Howard got this great shot of most of our group. Viewed: 132 times.
Another scenic shot. Viewed: 114 times.	End of our trip. It's Miller time. Viewed: 110 times.
	More video clips taken by me and Mark on our digital cameras. Nothing spectacularly interesting unless you like watching Mark, Dorothy and Ling on the slopes. There is also a long segment Mark took of the bus going through the mountain roads returning from Stubai QuickTime Movie - Approx. 26.4MB RealVideo - 56K modem or faster stream (5 minutes 11 seconds) Viewed: 256 times.

Comments From People Like You! Snowboarding Stubai Glacier : Innsbruck, Austria 2002	add a comment
aimee 16-Sep-2003 16:32
Me and my boyfriend are going to Innsbruck for New Year's for the exact trip you took from Ski Europe..and we're also interested in taking those side trips to Salzburg and Venice. Thanks for sharing your pictures and experiences. If there's anything you would recommend us do, please email me. We're particularly interested not just to go snowboarding but to visit other places as well.. In your trip, was Venice worth it? How was the tour bus, would you recommend going there on your own? If you could email, it would be great. Thanks again.

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