China, Asia, Climbing and Fixed Gear Bikes

Yesterday we decided to look for new ski boots as we both have really old ones. We went to one of the sport shops and tried on quite a few pairs. We both found aggressive ski boots that were seemed very comfortable. Mine feel like there is a very thick and soft carpet inside. I asked for a discount but only got the offer to rent a pair of skis for free after the shop assistant saw my vintage skis.

So there I go my first day with my nice new ski boots having to ride on carving ski. It was actually okay to try out the carving feeling, but anything else was dangerous as the skis are so wide in the front and the back. They often overlapped in the front in the back making me fall. It make me feel like a duck with huge feet and skiing felt like I made in my pants as I had to keep my legs spread apart. When I went back to the ski shop they could not find my vintage skis. They told me “they are probably still in the workshop” and I should get them tomorrow morning. I do hope they are not broken or lost as nowadays you cannot buy these kind of skis anymore. And I love them. Or maybe they sold them to a museum…
Hartmut really enjoys his new ski boots. He now has more grip with the edges of the skis. And I enjoy that Hartmut loves cooking and prepares the meals every day.

What can I say? Again so much sunshine, same snow, not many people. It was the same inverted weather where it is colder in the valley than at high altitude. The smoke from the factories did not rise, it stayed pressed down in the valley.

We started again quite early to enjoy the freshly prepared slopes as you can see on our long shadows.

Again we had such a gorgeous view of the surrounding Alps of Austria, Italy and Slovenia. This area is where these three countries meet. The mountains around vary in there style too making it a very interesting landscape.

Today I chose to wear my pink sunglasses. Some like them, other don’t. For lunch we rested in comfortable beach chairs.

Today we also went skiing off-piste in muggles. This actually made my pulse go higher. And after the 4^th time down the same long muggle slope I actually felt like I was sweating a bit.

What great weather! Sunshine, great snow, nicely prepared slopes and not many people. And this on a Sunday! We started early to make get as much of the fresh slopes as possible. But the weather continues to be extraordinarily cold: It was -15 degrees Celsius at our apartment. Fortunately but uncommonly it was warmer at 2000 meter altitude. But the temperature was still not really high.

Hartmut and Roman started with high velocity and kept that up throughout the day. It was interesting to see that the majority of people here in Austria all ski very fast. And now about 70% wear helmets. We did go to a ski hut to see if there would be a crowd watching the with big ski race. But there was not even a single person so we sat outside.

Roman and I realized that we had been skiing together before. But that was about 18 years ago! Wow… Time really flies. And he still can ski very well.