Back in the Game

Finally last weekend the ban on skiing was lifted and I was able to hit the road again. Listening to stories about the skiing in eastern Tirol really intrigued me. Therefor, early on Saturday morning we revved up the engine and headed east. I have never skied in the eastern parts of Austria before and I love it. The resorts we have been skiing are smaller and usually have just one main chairlift or a gondola - They remind me of the best days of the last season.

The amount of snow in Ost Tirol is unbelievable compared to Innsbruck.

For the time being, the usual crew was missing members as Rupi is roaming around Asia, working on his tan and Bernie was taking a weekend off after some rough skiing the week earlier. Luckily I was joined by few fellow Finns. We had a nice sunny day in Sillian, located just by the Italian border. It was a great start after the break. I had some good skiing and was able to ski outside my comfort zone. I was rolling on my new Nordica Patrons and all the struggling earlier in the trees of Dolomite's was behind me. It is unbelievable how much few centimeters in length and a bit more rocker can do for the way you ski. 

I believe the short edit in the beginning is the best way to describe how much fun I had in Sillian!

The story continues...

The owner was working all day to get the roof cleared and he wasn't even close to finishing when we left.

Part 2 of the edit: Skiing in Obertilliach

As it has been a busy week I have few more short stories to tell. So we had our last exam of the semester this Monday. It meant only one thing; My alarm went off at five am and 45 mins later I drove passat out of the garage and cruised to Bernie's where he and Matt were waiting eagerly to start the journey. The destination was close to Sillian; a small resort in the village of Obertilliach. I had tons of fun driving the snowy roads: oh dear I miss all the cars with manual handbrakes. The town was completely buried and it was dumping more. The whole setup was rather idyllic: Narrow streets and a beautiful church in the middle.
Skiing was both adventurous and FUN. So many different lines. The terrain in Golzentipp is simply magnificent! I think I will be calling it the Rofan of east.



For the second day me and Bernie had planned a relaxing tour at the Dolomites. Our idea was to take a single trip to the top, tour up to the Val Mezdi, ski down and then take the bus back to the car. Well apparently the day was not supposed to go easy on us. I normally don't have difficulties waking up early but this morning was something else. When we reached Corvara the wind was way stronger than expected. It was strong that the avalanche danger was raised to level 5. On top of that we were soon to realize that Italian ski resorts do not understand the idea of ski buses. The only way to ski Val Mezdi would have been to buy the 50 euro ski pass. 25 euros per lift did sound a bit high and after weighting the options for a while we decided to leave Italy and head back to East Tirol.

All in all, even thought the day was destined to be a disaster we ended up having loads of fun cruising under neath the deep blue skies. It was an excellent learning experience and a reminder of the fact that mother nature can change her mind as fast as any woman could. Today we are heading for a quick valentine's day run in Stubai. "Let there be love."

Life without glasses

I am writing this post without wearing contact lenses or glasses. My vision is a bit blurry still, but I am able to see better than ever. If anyone has ever felt like that their glasses are an obstacle I can only recommend this operation. I am going to write a sort overview of how I perceived it and hopefully more and more people will have the courage to go for it.

I flew home on Wednesday last week and had an appointment at Terveystalo Tampere for the pre-examinations on Thursday. After few hours of different eye related tests I was approved for the operation which was scheduled for the next morning. 

I have to admit I was a tiny bit tense the night before and it took some time to fall asleep. Operation rooms as such are not that unfamiliar to me but this felt somehow different. Luckily the staff at Terveystalo was really professional and helpful. I was explained all the steps and felt confident when stepping into the operation room. The surgery itself is extremely quick: all-in-all approx. 10mins per eye. Throughout the operation I felt uncomfortable about 20 seconds per eye which is not a bad trade-off for what awaits the next morning. I sincerely want to thank all the staff members and my doctor Mr. Tero Pajari for all the effort and expertise. 

I had some problems with my right eye now a week after and really appreciated the fact that I could call Tero and ask if there was something to be worried about.

I am really looking forward for next weekend and getting back to skis. Hopefully there is some snow left from the huge dump Austria had this week.

Dolomites vol. 2

The last trip to the Dolomites was such an eye-opener that we demanded for more. There is something so special about those magical mountains that it haunted me throughout the whole week. On top of that it was supposed to snow - a lot. For me this trip had a bit more of meaning as it was deemed to be the last bit of skiing I would be doing with my eyes as they were. Few days before, I had made an appointment for a Lasek-surgery. I was finally going to get rid of my glasses and all the contact lens hassle. Therefore I was skiing with my glasses under my goggles (I can't understand how anyone is able to ski like that?). Nevertheless it was a small price-to-pay for the, literally, bright future.

The drive itself was epic. As soon as we crossed the border to Italy all the darkness of Austria changed into piles of snow next to the roads and snowflakes crashing into the windshield. It was the first time, since October, I had to drive on snow. It is kind of amazing that there was a jump from grass to 30cm of snow in just 1500 meters.

We started the day off with consulting a local ski instructor about personnel attitudes considering skiing on closed slopes and jumping over fences. With a mixture of Italian, English and German we were able to get thumbs up and skied some nice runs in the trees. The snow was rather heavy and the best way to ski was basically straight-lining everything. I wasn't on the top of my game but boys were having so much fun trying to spend more time in the air than on the snow.

Next setup we found turned out to be one of the best terrains I have ever skied in the trees. It was steep enough to gain speed to bust trough the heavy snow and had plenty of different shapes and possibilities. 

Me and Rupi were able to get into a slightly idiotic spot yet again. We were trying to ski a nice ridge between 2 different cliff faces but somehow got lost on the way. I still have a clear image of Rupi going first, stopping to have a look and charging down while yelling "Don't ski it." Next to Rupi's line was this extremely narrow shoot. From above it seemed rather scary as there was no end to it - Just a narrow line between rocks. Somehow I failed to push rec on my GoPro and thus am only able to share my feelings of skiing it. The wind had filled the shoot with snow and the first turn I managed to make above the entrance released loads of sluff. As I had no clue where the shoot would lead, I side stepped down as long as my skis didn't fit between the rocks. From there I had no other option than turn my skis down and let them lead me. Those few seconds were definitely the best part of the whole weekend. 

This time we were an hour earlier than last time and were able to eat the well-deserved pizzas. We were tired but happy. The drive back was filled with the sounds of me and Bernie singing and rear seat snoring. It felt great to have such a good ski day before the few weeks of resting my eyes. Next time I will find myself at the mountains, I will hopefully have the vision of a hawk.