First, I must apologize to everyone for the wait between posts. I only had one day of internet access last week and found the time was too short to write about my weekend. But now I'm back and ready to rock!
Two miles really doesn't seem like that much. We can drive 2 miles in about 3 minuets, right? We could even bike it in about 10. Heck, we could even run......wait, scratch that, I hate running. All I am trying to say is that 2 miles does not seem that impressive until you are standing on top of a mountain that high!
This trip actually started off on Thursday night (26th) when my friend, John, and I left for Edinburgh via bus. Since all of the low cost airlines fly out of Edinburgh, it makes sense for us to take the bus from Aberdeen and then catch the airplane. It was unfortunate, though, that the flight for this trip left at eight in the morning. No buses run from Aberdeen that early, so we had to book a hostel in Edinburgh that night so we might be able wake up the next morning and arrive at the airport on time.
Nothing real exciting happened on our journey to Innsbruck, Austria. It was actually a bit cloudy on Friday so we couldn't really see the Alps as our plane started to descend upon the city. We could see the few mountains that lined the valley as we came in, which was amazing at the time, but nothing compared to Saturday’s views.
Anyway, after following a bus, (too cheap to pay) that would have lead us to our hostel, in the opposite direction for about a half an hour, we finally got our bearings and trekked ourselves to the other side of town (again too cheap to pay). At this point, John and I were too tired to do anything except wait for Matt Carton to arrive. At about 9 o'clock, I got a call from Matt saying that he had arrived at the hostel (an old Olympic athlete dorm). I thought this was odd because even if he did have my stellar directions, it still took us forever. Come to find out, he copped out and took a cab!
After settling in, we wandered downtown to find this restaurant from our travel guide, Theresienbrau. The food here was excellent and so was the home brewed beer. It was a true Austrian dinner! After grabbing a few more brews at the college hangout right next door (same owners), we called it a night so that we could rest up before our big day on the slopes!
Early the next morning we drug ourselves out of bed and caught the Ski Bus that stopped by our accommodations. We jumped on another bus at the connection point and were off to Stubaier Gletscher! The weather was even foggier than the day before and we were a little disappointed that we could not see any of the mountains. But as we climbed higher, I mentioned to Carton that the sun was trying to break through. About 2 minuets later we were out of the fog and sunshine filled the bus. We could finally see the mountains in all of their glory!
After a scenic hour bus ride to the ski resort, we got off and immediately started taking pictures. I saw the ski lift run over the crest of the mountain and then disappear for view. At this point, I concluded that that was the top, because it sure was high. Little did I know that it was only a third of the way!
We got our gear (coats, pants, gloves, skies, and boots) at the ski lodge 2/3 of the way to the top. Then we made our ascent to the top! The view at 2 miles up was an amazing experience. This was the first time I have even seen mountains of this magnitude, other than in pictures. Apparently a person could see three countries from that point! It was truly awe inspiring and I was in amazement of the views the entire day.
I won't go into to much detail, but after the first run we all lost each other and spent the rest of the day skiing by ourselves. The glacier that we skied on was so big that we did not see each other for the rest of the day! It was fun though; I had a good time tackling the "easy" slopes and the 3 mile long runs. They actually got so tiresome that I had to take breaks midway down. I will also admit that I fell........but only like once. Maybe.
After meeting up at about 3:30 we had another little photo shoot (pretty entertaining) and then rode the lifts back down to the valley below. All exhausted from skiing all day, we took naps on the way back. Even back at the hostel we had to rest before we went looking for a place to eat.
The next day found us touring the Swarovski’s Kristallwelten (Crystal World). Swarovski is the world leader in crystal production and has their headquarters in Innsbruck. Crystal World had colorful displays made up of different crystals. The theme was something about Brazil. It was also home to the world's largest crystal (3000 carrots). After that, we ate lunch on top and took in the views of Innsbruck from the ski jump that was used in the 1964 and 1976 Winter Olympics. We then saw Carton off at the train station because he had to get back for his internship. Then John and I walked around town and took in this amazing little city for the rest of the night.
We went to another ski resort on Monday where I snowboarded. This was equally amazing, although I did fall quite a bit more (like 4 times (if that)). The next morning we headed to the airport after another quick walk around town. Unfortunately, our plane could not land and we were delayed for a couple of hours. We then missed our connecting flight to Edinburgh. And this made us miss our bus back to Aberdeen. So we got on a later flight, stayed another night in Edinburgh, and got on the bus the next morning.
In all, this was a trip of a lifetime. I got to ski with real Alpine skiers and snowboarders! I loved the mountains and the atmosphere of this quaint little city.
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