Friday the 18th of April - Last day

Well another week has flown by! The snow has been exceptional for the last week of the season although today was mainly cloudy and windy with a little snow.

We covered almost the entire resort, popping back to the top of Hochgurl and the 5 star hotel for coffee, before meeting up with Graham and Pam for a spot of lunch at the Hohe Mut Hut to the right of Obergurgl. Goulash soup was great. Pam had decided to purchase a new pair of skies, the design of which was an important consideration.



After lunch, Pam and Graham went to the ski shop and we visited the hotel equestrian centre to see the newly arrived foals which were extremely cute! We may visit this place again later in June when driving back from France. Below is a picture of them in the summer.




Fiona decided to end here seasons skiing, so l went backup on the slopes on my own for the last ski of the season. The slopes were empty and the sun peeped out a few times at the top of the mountain above Obergurgl. the last hour and a half were just sublime. this resort combined with Solden has been great.

We went to the Madelaine for our last cocktail and then back to the Edelweiss for the farmers buffet which was impressive.

The holiday was very enjoyable, meeting some new ski chums is always good fun. Tomorrow we are back off to the UK, where it is raining!

Thursday the 17th April 2008 – Solden Rocks

Today we took a taxi to Solden with Adrian, Mark, Pamella and Graham. We were here two days ago but today the weather was far better with some clouds but mainly sun.

We toured around most of the resort including he glacier, trying to keep up with Mark (see below), who is training for next years downhill world cup (at least that's how it feels).

The snow here was better than at Obergurgl and the area is larger and more wide open, with every type of skiing. Powder was still to be found but you had to look for it. I tried to learn from Graham who has a fantastic style of skiing in powder. Needless to say, l was unable to replicate his technique. Don't you just hate good powder skiers!!

We had a lovely lunch on the mountain, chosing to eat inside where the atmosphere was typically tyrolian. We all ate the same, a local dish of sauasage, potatoes etc. Very nice!!

Tonight we are of to the Madelain hotel too meet the gang for a drinkie and then we are off to the Pizzeria next door for our treat of the week. Last day tomorrow!!

Wednesday 16th April 2008 – Powder at the Neiderhut

Today was another fantastic powder day. We woke up to heavy snow falling, however by 10AM it had stopped and by 11AM the sun was out. We were one of the first to hit the slopes so were skiing virgin powder for hours. The resorts are so empty that we were still finding new powder to ski after mid day.

The sun was in and out all day and the temperature had dropped slightly so the snow stayed perfect for much of the day.

We felt a little tired by late afternoon, so we had a coffee at the five star hotel in Hochgurgl and then headed back to Obergurgl to meet some chums in the Neiderhut for a Tyrolean knees up from 3.30PM. The hut was up to it’s usual standard, although the musicians have loads more kit to play with now. They sound very impressive and had a good bop with Mark, Andy, Pam and Graham.

Pam taught us some Tyrolean dance moves that resembled the Adam's family! Mark started the Schnapps rolling, but we managed to stay relatively sober!



We were back home for 7.30PM, rested, bathed and then headed down for dinner with John and Jade. We talked politics with John and then went to bed to watch the Apprentice. Sir Alan made another bad decision. You can tell we didn't have TV for the 11 weeks in France!

Tuesday 15th April 2008 – Snowed out in Solden

Today we met up with other skiers and our reps to ski the Solden area. Unfortunately the weather had closed in big time and the snow was falling thick and fast.

By the time we were up on the mountain, the clouds had rolled in and the conditions were less than perfect.

We had some really really slow skiers with us and the reps refused to divide us into groups, so we ended up waiting about 15 minutes at the end of each run for the slower skiers to catch up.

Many of us asked then to split us up, but they were determined we all stay together.

They took us to the top of the glacier where the snow was falling in bucket loads but the resulting powder was exceptional. The powder was waist deep and the skiing fab.

Every now and then the snow stopped and the sun peeped out, the skiing was just amazing with no body else on the piste.

We stopped for lunch at 2.30PM!

The run back to resort was poor, as it is now so late in the season and Solden town is relatively low. We had to pick our way through green fields, taking our skies off to cross some roads.

A good day was great, despite the poor leadership as we met some new ski buddies, Adrian, Mark, Pamela and Graham amongst them.

After relaxing in the spa, we headed off for some drinks at the near by hotel, the Madelaine. Very nice too and good cocktails, especially the Long Island Ice Tea's.

We headed for the local pizza pad, however, the restaurant is shut on Tuesdays! So, we went back to our hotel and had an OK meal and a good chat with out fellow guests, John and Jade.

Monday 14th April 2008 – Yet Another Sunny Day

Today started with us visiting one of our fellow guests rooms to check on his sons badly burnt faces. One of the boys, Nick, had swollen lips, but both lads had badly blistered faces. We advised them to consider using Sun block and not to go out skiing today. Their father John had not realised that they could burn quite so quickly this time of year.

So, after breakfast, another sunny day beckoned, the pistes had been over bashed and the temperature had plummeted over night so the slopes were quite hard. We took our skies down to the shop to get them edged, which made a big difference.

After a coffee, we headed over to Hochgurgl where the sun was in and out but the snow at the top was sublime. At times the clouds really came in and caused white out conditions.

We managed to find some more powder and made some great powder tracks!

We felt a tad tired after 6 hours, so went to the spa area in the hotel. The sauna’s etc. are all massive and you are only allowed into the area in your birthday suit.

We had a few drinks and then off to dinner. We met John and Jade, a father and daughter from Bristol. She is only 11 and John has semi retired and is now into local politics. We chatted the evening away and then went to bed, exhausted but happy!

Sunday 13th April 2008 – Sunny day after all

As usual, the weather forecast was wrong and the day started and finished in sun.




We skied all over the resorts, HochGurgl is on the same lift pass as Obergurgl. We were lucky enough to have had snow fall on previous days, so we were able to benefit from lovely powder on the off piste areas, especially in Hochgurgl. The only down side being the T bars!!


Since our last visit to the area, they have built a new circular restaurant at the top of Hochgurgl which has great views and a good cup off coffee.





The resort is only a third full, so the slopes are empty and the lift queues non existent. A great days skiing!!



We met a nice couple from Manchester on the sun terrace, they had flown in under their own stream and are staying in some new apartments.

We had a few drinks at the bar and our evening meal was very Austrian. We went to bed in time to watch the results of the previous nights Nancy show (how sad is that?).

Saturday 12th April 2008 – Off to Obergurl

Today we left the UK for yet another fun time in the alps. However, this time we have chosen Austria. The day was taken up, flying to Innsbruck and then coaching up to our hotel in Obergurgl, one of the highest resorts in Austria.







Our hotel, the Edelweiss and Grugl, is very welcoming with a fantastic spa and swimming pool area plus an out door heated swimming pool to boot!


After dinner, an early night was had in readiness for the next morning ski. We were please that the hotel has live BBC into our room, so we watched the latest Andrew Lloyd Weber program looking for the next Nancy!