SKI AUSTRIA 2000 (Note: Pictures at bottom of this page)
By Hugh Trumbull --
On Saturday, 8 Jan, we assembled at our hotel in the charming little Tirolean town of Landeck, Austria, for what was to become a fabulous 10 day winter adventure. The skiing, touristing, food, accommodations, sledding and general ambiance of the Alps were just way beyond our expectations!!!
Led by Ski Meister, Bill Gillette (who has 14 years of experience skiing in the area), who ever wanted to ski on a given day, was guided to a ski area - a different one offered every day. Bill never took a break! All the areas were within 20 to 40 minutes, and each one seemed better than the last. The snow was great, very well groomed, slopes relatively easy, lifts very high tech (way beyond U.S.), and very affordable especially for the over 60 skiers. Weather was cold, clear and calm for the most part - roads in excellent condition. One day it was cloudy and Bill said, "Let's go find the sun!" So we went south into Italy and, sure enough, great sun, great skiing - figuring those darn Lira was a little tough. Another day Bill said "Lets ski to Switzerland for lunch." What a great day! Some of the non-skiers were going to drive over and meet us for lunch but we never connected - too many good restaurants with pizza in the title. Skiers had a huge lunch and the non-skiers had a fun visit to the picture post card town of Samnaun. Meanwhile, the cross country skiers were reporting good snow and very enjoyable trails.
Speaking of lunch - oh! did we eat! Put hungry skiers together with incredible food and Alpine ambiance and long lunch follows. We kept finding these inviting little places up in the mountains with food that was out of sight and cheap. Turns out that Bill knows a thing or two about great dining places as well as the ski trails that lead to them! Dinner at our hotel - we all came to love the hotel, the bar, the staff and especially the chef - was always four or five courses of pure Austrian magic. With our own table for twelve, the food and fellowship was the stuff of future legends. At this well located hotel (for skiing and seeing) we paid $51 a day each for a full breakfast, attractive room and a gourmet dinner each night - again thanks to Gillette and his cohorts from the Salisbury, MD Ski Club who set it all up for the "58 skiers.
The non-skiers had more to do than the time allowed. With Innsbruck and St. Anton close by, shopping was rampant. Two of the girls did an overnight by train to Zurich to visit friends. Four went on a day trip to Neuschwanstein Castle and the incredible Baroque pilgrimage church in Weis, Germany. Great lunch in Schwangau! Others included stops in Oberammergau and Garmisch. Just investigating our little town of Landeck was great fun! One of the greatest adventures for all of us was the night sledding at Imst. There' ll be some war stories on this one - and we have the pictures to prove it. We went way up the mountain on the gondola, got fortified with a few libations, and proceeded to fly small sleds down a couple of miles of crazy, twisting, snow banked trail. With nothing but your heels for control, there were thrills, spills and a lot of laughs well into the night!
For the record, the '58 group included: Bill Gillette and friend Bob Cook, Palmer McGrew, Pat Mellin and guest Barbara Lantsberger, Dick and Boo McPeek with Curt Ballard's widow Barbara, Paul and Patty Ruud, and Ann and Hugh Trumbull. Their unanimous view was, "If you missed it, you missed a great one!!"
Palmer adds: Bill runs this trip every year, usually for two weeks (he's still there). A number of us asked if we could join his trip next year and he said Yes, indeed. I would recommend this trip. It is really fantastic. I will admit that we had perfect weather the whole time and we might not be so enthusiastic had it rained or something. Hard to beat, though.
(some pics from Palmer, more to follow)
