It’s Not a Vacation Unless You Add Some Adventure

The more I travel the more I’ve learned – a vacation just isn’t a vacation unless you mix it with a bit of adventure and a small amount of mishap. An excursion off of the road most travelled, a stop in a little known inn, a visit with a couple who doesn’t speak your language, a small misfortune here and there (I lost the only set of keys to a rental car one time – in Croatia!), even a sleepover on the floor in a European airport (yes we did that two years ago) – it’s all good and it all certainly makes the trip more memorable and in my experience, much more enjoyable.

A few weeks ago my husband and I had the opportunity to travel with nearly fifty ski patrollers to Europe for a ski trip.  We hooked up with several of the most excellent skiers in our group and spent an incredible several days creating one adventure after another. The mishaps that befell our small band of skiers, and the various excursions we embarked upon were not only memorable to us, but worth telling to you all.  And, just in case you’re one of those members – I have changed the names to protect the innocent (or maybe it’s the guilty?).

Taking a Break in Parsenn

The tone of the group was set on our first day in Davos, Switzerland. After our leader scored a great deal on tickets we all headed up the tram for a brief introduction to the area by the local ski patrol.  We lost our first member before we even hit the lift. “Nancy” went in to use the bathroom, missed the tram, and we didn’t see her again until dinner that evening. At the top of the lift our second mishap occurred. My husband, who took German in Junior High School, walked into and used the women’s restroom.  He discovered his mistake when a couple of women entered while he was standing at the toilet; stall wide open, taking care of business.  Later my husband and I made a sorry attempt to ride the T-Bar.  I’m 5’ 1” he’s 5’ 11” – the bar does not hit our backsides with any kind of equilibrium!  We made a T-Bar riding plan after that.  The final error from our little band of ne’er do-wells occurred on a visit to the Davos Avalanche Institute later that afternoon. It was during a presentation about snow crystals when a buddy of ours (we’ll call him Randy) dropped and broke their one and only model of that particular kind of crystal formation. Needless to say a good night’s sleep was in order for all of us.

Day number two rolled around. We all filled our bellies with morning goodies and jumped on the bus to head up to the ski area known as Parsenn. The group we ventured off with were, like us, not much for skiing the groomed runs.  Luckily in Europe – you’re responsible for yourself and you ski where you want. We spent the day seeking powder, untracked area, steep chutes, and anything out of the ordinary.  By lunchtime we’d lost “Nancy” again, and we’d lost “Randy” – who we quickly learned was easy to lose.

Choosing a Route

That afternoon our now slightly smaller group had one adventure after the other as we skied more or less without a map and found ourselves in some wonderful out of the way territory.  Sadly the last mishap of the day occurred when “Matt” lost his wedding ring in the snow bank behind a train station in a place called Wolfgang. I’m curious to know how that conversation turned out with his wife, who was back in the states tending to business as usual. We had no luck retrieving the ring, and in the end we all decided that come spring some poor young couple who can’t afford their own symbol of love will find it, making their life together a happily-ever-after.

The following days were full of more adventures and additional slip-ups. At one point “Randy” lost his pole down a serious vertical run where it lodged itself into a rather large area of rocks.  It was rescued, however, by our group photographer “Max”. On day four “Steve” dropped his glove out of the gondola. Thankfully, being the ever-prepared patroller I am (ha!), I had a non-latex medical glove in my backpack. He skied the next hour or so with his hand covered in blue, until he retrieved the lost glove from the drop site. And at the end of that day? Our wedding ring guy, “Matt”, took off from the top of a chair, hit a hole in the snow, and did one of the most spectacular tumbles of the trip. More than likely he partially dislocated his hip, but being the guy he is, “Matt” declined help from the ski patrol, painfully made his way down to the bar, worked his hip back and forth with a series of deep-knee bends and stretches, and managed to pop it back in.  I guarantee you – I would have taken the sled ride!

Spectacular Views

Those are just a few of our stories, or at least the tales I can share for now. Vacations should include adventure, and it is okay if they include a little difficulty now and then.  The miscellaneous escapades and occasional bouts of calamity truly do provide some great moments to remember, and some excellent laughs to share among your traveling companions when you get together weeks, months, or even years down the road.

To all of my Ski Flight pals – thanks for the friendships, and of course for the memories!!

Skiing – It’s Good for a Marriage!

Little did my husband know just what it meant when I asked him some twenty-four years ago if he knew how to ski. It had to have been close to our second or third date when the subject came up, and, being the macho young man he was, he of course answered yes. Once winter hit and the slopes were open I quite eagerly dragged him to the mountain and down every black diamond and double black diamond slope I could find. Years later I learned that the poor guy had only skied a few times, and had never had a lesson.  My husband’s a motor lover. He and his machinery are practically intertwined, especially when it comes to his motorcycles. I love to ski, he loves to ride, and I can honestly say that one of the key points of success in our marriage is the fact that we support each other in these extra-curricular activities.

Just last night we returned from an eleven day European skiing vacation with Pacific Northwest Division National Ski Patrol’s Ski Flight (www.nsp-pnwd.org).  There were nearly fifty of us in all – patrollers, family, and friends. We had two days of travel, nearly three days of sight-seeing, and six days of skiing – although let’s be honest, skiing the Alps is sight-seeing! 

Davos, Switzerland

The first half of our trip was spent in Davos, Switzerland (www.davos.ch). After a brief tour of the ski area known as Jakobshorn (www.davos.ch/en/winter/mountain-cableways/jakobshorn.html) from a couple of local ski patrollers, my husband and I took off. Over the course of the next few days we hooked up with some of the patrollers and friends from Washington and one from Oregon and our group did its best to search for powder. The areas had not had new snow in a couple of weeks, but being truly determined powder hounds we did manage to find some uncut snow and make a few fresh tracks.  We had a great time skiing with our newly acquired ski buddies and have quite a few stories to share, and probably some not to.

St. Anton am Arlberg

On the sixth day all forty-eight of us more or less crammed our bodies and our gear into a bus and headed toward Innsbruck, Austria. On the way we stopped to take some turns at an area known as St. Anton am Arlberg (www.stantonamarlberg.com). The two of us skied by ourselves that day in typical ‘Urben’ fashion – ride up, ski down, find moguls, ski hard, and don’t break for anything! Needless to say we fell into the bus that afternoon completely exhausted and ready for a break.  I loved the area though, a couple of feet of fresh powder and I may not have come down.

Stubai Glacier, Austria

The next two days were spent in Innsbruck, a truly beautiful city.  We took in the sites one day, and skied the Stubai Glacier (http://www.stubai.at/) the next. Two or three more days would have been perfect, but unfortunately it wasn’t in the cards. Instead we spent the last day touring Oberammergau, Germany and the Linderhof Palace (www.schlosslinderhof.de), two places my husband and I had been before, but were still nice to see in the winter.

Heading to Munich with our new friend - Bastion

That night a small group of us took the train into Munich (by the way, you can drink on public transportation in Germany), had a beer downtown at the Ratskeller (www.ratskeller.com), ate dinner at the Hofbrauhaus (www.hofbraeuhaus.de) where my husband’s mother had dined over fifty-five years before, and went back to our hotel. Along the way we met a very cool young man, Bastion, who I’m guessing we kept entertained with our rowdy American antics for nearly an hour. If nothing else the kid surely had a good laugh and a story to tell his roommate when he got home.

It was an incredible trip. I of course have more to share, and my husband, the motor lover, is a trooper. Fortunately he loves to travel, and after all these years he’s acquired a taste for the fluffy white stuff – snow that is. It’s quite the deal when you have a spouse who supports you in your endeavors, and mine is the best. Next trip? Maybe we’ll motorcycle through Europe.  It is your turn honey!!