After packing our stuff we drove straight in the direction of Munich. There we still bought a few things, visited more friends and I dropped by the office of my ex employer. On the way Linda got an advertisement for „one free night“ in a hotel in the „Zillertal arena“ ski resort. It turned out to be one night for free, when you book 4 nights, but the nice thing was that the ski pass was included, as well as breakfast and so we just booked it, without ever being in that ski resort before. On our last night before the border to Austria we got to feel the winter and temperatures dropped well below zero that night, but Rosi with the heating and our multiple blankets kept us warm.
The next day we arrived in the Hotel „Das Gerlos“ and I did not know before that we booked into a very stylish design hotel. Never before have I seen a Hotel where everything was designed in one design language, from the free matches over the bath robe, to the design of the spa area. Everything looked perfect, but not only that. Everything also worked perfectly. The bed was incredibly comfy, we could park Rosi, right in front of the door, the ski slope ended directly at the hotel and the breakfast we got the next day was hands down the best breakfast I ever got in a Hotel. All in all we were unbelievably happy. We rented skis for Linda and hit the slopes the next morning, where we were surprised again: The snow was perfect. It had just snowed the last days and the conditions were pretty good. So we just enjoyed the perfect weather and great snow…. Of course the snow was not so perfect any more in the late late afternoon, which was the downside of the sun, but at this time we were already in the sauna and could see how the half drunken duchies tried to manoeuvre around the moguls on the slope. It was exactly what we had hoped for and we tried to put as many kilometres of slope as possible into each day. The first day we wanted to start easy but ended up skiing about 60km of slope.
After the 4 days on the slopes we made a little break where we hiked through the Zillertal and visited the brewery of Zillertaler beer. It is not the first brewery I visited, but I can really recommend this one. It is half a museum about in ingredients of beer, the beer brewing process and the history and traditions in the Zillertal and half a transparent factory where you can see the brewing tanks and the bottling machine and of course it includes a tasting. One thing that amazed me the most and might seem little for the majority of people were the beer glasses from Zillertal. They add one to three rough spots inside the glas on the bottom, which leads to a beautiful fine stream of bubbles in the middle of the glass and gives the impression of a constantly fresh beer. For me that is true innovation of the beer glass. 😀
Since the snow conditions stayed good, we continued skiing and moved to the Kühtai. A few years ago we were still allowed to camp right at the bottom of the slope, which is sadly not possible anymore. Nevertheless we had two more days of pretty good conditions and almost empty slopes. We couldn’t beliefe ourself, it was just soo good… and when we looked at the snow forecast it should become even better. To rest our muscles we first spent a few nights in the Ötztal and hiked the beautiful Stuibenfall waterfall.
After that we headed back to the Zillertal, because a good friend arrived for the new snowfall. My buddy Fabio made the crazy move to jump in the night train in Dortmund and come directly to Austria for just two days of snowboarding. Although the train was about 3 hours late, we hit the slopes the first day and the snow was there. It was still falling and we stumbled a lot in the fog of the snow heavy clouds. Towards the end of the day it cleared up a little bit and we could enjoy fresh snow….on the top it was way over 50cm of new snow and the next day it became even better. It has snowed even more over night and the lines at the lift in the morning were full of Austrians who had handed it a vacation day on short notice. We spend pretty much all the day next to the slopes in fresh untouched powder snow while the sun was shining. It was the perfect snowboard/ski day and to be able to share that with really good friends was one of the reasons we were back in Europe…. our plan was working. :-D. After a final dinner Fabio took another night train back to start working again the morning he arrived. I am so grateful he came and we were able to share these two amazing ski days with him. From there we made our way directly the next day towards the Pitztaler glacier where we were to meet up with the next snow crazy friend. Pascal and me met a few years ago in a little cabin in Japan, while he was with a friend skiing Japan powder, while Fabio and me where doing the same. Ever since we stayed in contact and when the late snow hit the alps I knew that Pascal would be somewhere to enjoy it. So we met up at Pitztaler glacier, where Linda and me still had some vouchers for lift passes. The snow was new and the slopes were empty. Since the dangers of crevasses on a glacier we strictly kept to the slopes, but these were as good as they get. Fresh snow, perfectly groomed and pretty much empty so they stayed good all day. We spent another two days riding all day, and cooking together between the vans in the evening. The second day Linda was too sore so Pascal and me hit the sloped, just the two of us. Up there on a black slope we saw a guy carving on a snowboard in a way I have only seen it in videos before…. I was amazed and the next possibility I changed the stance on my board and the goal was clear: Perfect carving lines on a snowboard, almost laying on the snow. My legs were burning and Pascal pushed me to go deeper, steeper and faster. After that day I could hardly make a step without shaking but the smile on my face was almost as big as in deep powder (Lets face it. Nothing beats snowboarding in fresh snow).
After Pascal left we made an another little break. We still had some lift vouchers for the Kaunertaler glacier, but first we needed a break and give our sore muscles a little rest… and where can you do that best than in a sauna. So we searched the best sauna offer. Linda found it in the Hotel Weißseespitze, but she also found that the combination of a sauna day pass and a 5 course menu was not so much more expensive….and than the night in the hotel on top would be just a little bit more than what we would have to pay for a camp ground…. So we ended up spending a full day in the Spa area, enjoying an amazing dinner and spending a night in a hotel room that was bigger than every room we have been in the last 8 months. Also this month we have been in the sauna more often than ever before in our live within one month…
To still stay active after all the sauna, we decided to do „a little“ hike the next day. The plan was an easy 8-9 km round with not too much elevation and about one kilometre through an unlit dark tunnel. After 200m we saw the first little patch of snow and should have known at that point what we are up to…. but we did not and we just continued. Of course the snow patches grew bigger and bigger and after moving through the 1 km long pitch black tunnel (luckily we had our head lamps with us) we ended up in deeper snow. At this point we should have turned around, but we did not…. So we sank deeper in the snow. Lindas full calves disappeared at times in the snow and we just continued stubborn. At one point we crossed an about 200m long snow field where we sank every step with our full legs in the snow. Naturally the snow fell into our shoes and our feet slowly got wet. We could have still turned around, but we did not…. From here on we more in more in the snow until the path totally vanished and we had to best guess where it continued. We were deep in the snow and our feet were cold and wet. The mood switched from happy and funny to annoyed and luckily we both motivated each other to continue. When we knew that only 2 km were left we made a little break took off our shoes and socks and „dried“ them in the sun although nothing dried at all. The last two kilometres the path was clear but the feet were ice cold and hurt. We were happy when we were back at Rosi and could take off shoes and socks to dry ourself….We dried everything in the drying room of the camp ground and moved the next day as planned to the Kaunertaler glacier, where we were yet again surprised with really good conditions and long and empty slopes. Linda improved crazy on skis in our time on the slopes and had just started to carve which looked amazing and I could not keep up with her anymore. In the first few days of skiing we had bought skis for Linda and Rosi looked so sexy with the winter setup of skis and snowboard on her back. After another amazing day on the slopes, we wanted to drive all the way back through the valley since it was officially not allowed to camp free anywhere in Tirol. Camping in Tirol is not so easy in general. Every camp ground costs you 50€ a night and there are hardly ans spots to camp free. But here at this spot there were quite a few campers at the lift and we spontaneously decided to stay for a night directly at the lift and so we did. It was a beautiful winter wonderland we were camping in and the next day we were happy about another beautiful day of skiing…All in all this month was together with the visit on the Galapagos islands the most expensive month of our trip and it left us with a deep hole in our budget and a lot of austrian Apres-ski songs stuck in our heads (The worst one about a piece of furniture…. if you know you know).
After that day we decided to do a little detour and spent some time in the Allgäu in Germany before we would return to Innsbruck to pick up a friend of Linda, that would travel for a week with us.
höme 
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