Switzerland Ski Trip

Swiss side of the mountain

        My husband is an avid skier, so when we have free time during the winter you can bet we're skiing. I am still new to this sport and it's definitely not easy for me. We've only been to 2 locations to ski but it's been a total of 6 days. Our first ski trip was to Italy where I took a ski lesson. I highly recommend ski lessons here. Skiing in the Alps is no joke! This second ski trip was to Switzerland/Austria. We went with a group of friends, there were 7 of us. We stayed in Samnaun, Switzerland in a 3 bedroom apartment. This was a great location! We were about 2 miles from the ski lift and there was a shuttle service (free when in ski gear) to take us there. The cool thing about this location was once you got to the top of the mountain you could choose which side you wanted to ski down. Either the Austria side into Ischgl or the Switzerland side! It was such an awesome experience to be able to ski in 2 countries in one day!

Frist day, first run!

       Skiing here was harder than in Italy for me. Even though I stick to doing blue runs (easy) I still get caught in places where I don't feel comfortable. It amazes me what they call "easy" and there seems to be no consistency in how they rate the runs. I actually did a red run (medium) that was easier than some of the blues. The great thing about going with a group is that there are varied abilities in skiing. It was nice to have someone hang back with slow-poke me while my husband could still enjoy going his speed with the other guys. Day one and two were pretty good for us but day 3 brought some weather conditions that I was not enjoying! 

Skiing with friends

       First off it was cloudy so it was very hard to see. When everything is a sheet of white you rely on the sun to give shadows to know where hills and bumps are. Well when it's cloudy it looks like everything is flat and it makes me very nervous. On top of that it was very windy and blowing snow like crazy! They even closed down some of the lifts due to high winds. I did 3 runs that day, ate lunch then decided it wasn't for me. I hate paying for a full day of skiing and not using it but I knew I wouldn't have any fun in those weather conditions. That unfortunately is part of skiing. We only buy ski passes one day at a time for that reason. We wouldn't want to buy a 3 day pass then have it rain or snow and not be able to ski. So although I still struggle with skiing I'm slowly getting better and more confident, not as quickly as I'd like, but I'm getting there. For those of you who have never skied or never skied in the Alps I definitely recommend a ski lesson! It's definitely worth it and you'll be so happy you did it.
         Now we've crossed off another country! Switzerland is in the books, but I definitely want to go back and explore more of the country when it's not covered in snow! And this weekend guess what?? We're going skiing again! This time we'll be on a marriage retreat and will be in Garmisch!

Austria side of the mountain

Enjoying a beer after our second day of skiing.

View from our apartment

Austria side of the mountain