Skiing in Sölden

Alpine splendour.

One more ski trip then, before the end of the season, and also before a rather more substantial adventure.  This time it isn't just me, I am off with my brother and family to Sölden in the Austrian alps, I'm sure they'll have no objection to a tangential mention in the blog.  We reach the resort via a somewhat epic drive in the campervan, which I remain a little nervous of given past history, still in many ways it makes for a nice extension to the holidays, including a night in Belgium and another in Germany where I introduce my nephew Aaron to the delights of kebab pizza.  Then to the resort, where I escape the van to a hotel which is perfectly pleasant, if not ideally situated up a hill.

On the 'experience mile' in Sölden.

Sölden is rather nice I must say, situated in a pleasant valley, and of course with many bars and restaurants selling schnitzel and dumplings.  The skiing is pretty good, this late in the season the runs down to town are closed but there's still snow higher up, in particular a long series of lifts takes us to an actual glacier where the skiing is really quite good - the logistics here are tricky though, dropping the kids off for ski school at 10, then coming back to meet them for lunch, or after school at 3pm, makes it difficult to explore the far reaches of the piste map.  We manage one afternoon at least, past the first glacier to take a gondola up, then through a ski tunnel to find a sunny valley with another glacier and excellent skiing, also good for boarding, I am assured by Dan and Donna.

Chang.

There's a lot of interesting stuff here, although we've not arrived at the best time when it comes to events - a festival of some kind has just finished, and we're a week early for 'Hannibal' - some sort of theatrical extravaganza due to take place on the glacier, preparations involve a large elephant, and even larger ziggurat, carved from the snow.  Instead I amuse myself with various ski-pass activated experiences, some of these are cameras located at high points, but mainly there are little sections of winter sports where you swipe your pass and then do a timed run, complete with video recording, it is all very clever.  Nice to have a record of my attempts at slalom, carving and so forth - though the less said about my jumping, and indeed giant slalom, the better.  Fun is had skiing with the kids too, they can both get around pretty well, although the little one doesn't really have the stamina for a full day of skiing.  She certainly enjoys the 'adventure pool' we spend one evening in though, not sure it is something I'd do by myself, still I guess being shot around a kind of stainless steel whirlpool while being battered by German teenagers is not something you do every day.

Family Atkinson in front of the 'princess castle'.

I should mention the apres ski - well, it is Austria, there is beer and largely terrible music, also shots including some out of eggshells, well why not.  Food is generally good, I can't afford the large meat dishes that are big here, but there is good pizza, pasta, and the local specialities of soup and dumplings, often the latter in the former.  One evening I eat a massive meal containing two spinach dumplings, two deep fried cheese dumplings, and even some outsize ravioli - enough calories to last several days I suspect.  Having fun as we are the week of skiing fair rushes by, it's not the end of the holiday though as again we take a couple of days to travel back in the van, the first of which is particularly memorable as it is Sophie's seventh birthday - among other things we visit an even more impressive spa/waterpark, where there is another whirlpool, a water slide and even outdoor heated salt pools, jacuzzi and so forth, it is most cool.  We even have time to make a detour to the famous Neuschwanstein Castle, where we dodge Japanese tour groups, queue to get on a horse-drawn carriage up to the castle and then wander around the outside - tour tickets being all sold out.  It is most impressive, although the birthday girl is a little disappointed that it isn't pink...

Photos to go with this post can be found here.