Thrilling and magical - Annie & Andy Jones. Date of travel: Dec 2005
Had an thrilling and magical Christmas-New Year vacation in Hinterglemm (Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria). Skied like mad things every day for 10 days. Had a few scary adrenalin pumping toboggan rides down the Alps (Rieterkogel mountain). A little johnny and his group broke arms and legs doing the toboggan run at night...the route has night lights alongside 'at your own risk' warnings. Mixture of snowy days and clear, bright but very cold days. Temp between -6 deg C and -18 deg C! Froze our toes off the one day skiing a couple of routes along the mountain tops. Saalbach-Hinterglemm Ski circus - as they refer to the ski network - is amazing in that there are numerous ski runs ranging in degree of difficulty that link all the small villages in the valley. You can literally ski from outside your back door all the way up or down the valley...connecting to different routes via gondolas, t-bars or chair lifts. And boy are they getting fancy these days...heated seats in the gondolas and chair lifts!!! Naturally we also connected to other routes via way of Apres Ski i.e. alpine bars and restaurants which sit smugly next to the gondolas etc. Enjoyed a few pear schnappssssssss at the Goatsstall! As usual there were 2 year olds who could barely walk but who effortlessly skied past us....just when we thought we were getting good! We focused a lot on our technique this time around and it appears to have paid off....we skied far better than we have ever done in our 7 years of skiing and skied down challenging routes with that air of 'i know i can' confidence (usually its a case of gripping onto the slope in a mixture of fear and pleasure...made a nice change this time around). We find that skiing offers us the opportunity of demanding exercise, spectacular natural vistas, the challenge of you against nature in a sense...and is a marvellous way to meditate, focus, be inspired about life and strategies etc etc....needless to say we were inspired! Our pensione was quaint....very clean, modern and snazzy inside and all old world, wooden traditional Austrian on the outside. Enjoyed the pensione spa - complete with sauna (sssaaaauna as they say in Europe), steambath, whirlpool, massage chair, water bed and fancy therapeutic showers. All very new age. Meditation lights and music of your choice. Xmas was truly magical. On the evening of the 23rd Dec we attended a nativity show in the Saalbach Church....narration with several music scores presented by the Saalbach-Hinterglemm orchestra. The setting was enchanting with a splash of slavic architectural splendour. And the orchestra comprised a complete string of instruments...violens through to oboes, triangles, flutes, clarinets, cymbals etc etc. Earlier in the day we drove 12 hours (so much for 9 hours....traffic jams towards the Austrian Border....even on the German Autobahn!) from The Netherlands to Austria ...so we were a little tired...and skipped out on the last few musical scores...which was a pity as we both wanted to stay for the finale which was 'silent night'! Anyway rather eerily but in a good way....when we returned to our car 'silent night' c/o our xmas cd blared out as we started the engine. New Years was brilliant! On New Years eve the locals and ski-instructors put on a fabulous show for us 'tourists'. At around 5pm (its dark there but the slope they used was lit) the show began...had the mayor of Saalbach-Hinterglemm welcome us etc etc...then the local orchestra attired in traditional Austrian outfits bashed out a few songs for us...then there were clowns on skis who did amazing tricks on the slope...then we had several choreographed ski and snowboard displays that resembled high speed air show displays....and and and...and then we had the ski-instructors ski down the slope holding 2 lit torches/per person and doing the most beautiful patterns in the snow and night sky....then we had fireworks and fireworks...the photos dont do them justice! We had never seen some of the types that flew upwards spiralling, bursting and showering. After the show...well there wasnt really an after as people had spent much of their week buying their own fireworks as did the local pensiones....so there was non stop fireworks until 1am!!! Our neighbouring pensione had built an 'ice bar' on the street ...which we gave our patronage to. New Years day was quiet. We of course hit the ski slopes...after all snow is snow. Speaking of cold....the big European Freeze....we had the following in our car: water bottles, dregs of travel coffee in a flask, 2 cans of 'red bull gives you wings' essential travel juice and a few bottles of red wine...when next we visited our boot to collect a few bedtime bottles of red wine we found all the liquid in these items had frozen...and frozen solid. One of the red wine corks had clean shot out of the bottle and the other two had corks 3/4's of the way out but held in place by the 'foil' covering....we drove back to Eindhoven and the water and red bull remained frozen solid....naturally we carefully defrosted the wine and drank it on site! Sadly on the Monday before we departed Hinterglemm the snow laden roof of an ice-rink (in an Austrian/German border village) caved in, killing several children. On our way back the roads were so thick with snowed that they were closed (in fact you could hardly see that there was a road at times....except for the fact that our tom tom navigation system indicated there was...and of course we came along those roads on the way up) ...so we had to detour through the small town where the ice rink was located. There was a sizeable police and emergency presence there....and the bells were ringing to mark the event. Very sad. There were also two large trucks that literally fell off the road (very snowy and icy) ...they lay on their sides knee deep in snow. It didnt look like anyone was injured, thankfully. We didnt have snow tires on our rental car but did have snow chains....speaking of which in Austria you have to wear luminous yellow jackets if you get out of the car on the road/roadside. Brilliant Idea. Tour Operator: Independent