Not only was I recently M.I.A through the field-work, I was lucky enough to get away for a week of snow filled fun in the Austrian Alps. Stopping off to visit family and inhale copious amounts of delicious cakes in Germany along the way, we arrived in the (almost) snow encrusted mountains. Thankfully the green patches were filled in by a beautiful blanket drifting down one foggy day later. The resort wasn’t the best in terms of socialising, but had great access to the innumerable slopes. Seriously. More time was spent deciding which slopes to follow rather than actually sliding downhill. Three days skiing and three days snowboarding along with the walk up the steep hill to the apartment every night provided some of the best exercise I’ve had in a while. While burning a lot of calories, its not something I do to lose weight. The rush speeding down slopes, cutting through mounds of fresh snow, scraping over ice and stopping in a flurry of powdered flakes is all the motivation I need!! It took me a while to get good at skiing, I started when I was young and was taught by my mother, before moving onto snowboarding for a new challenge. There’s nothing like mastering a black slope, although I did avoid the 70 degree one. I decided it was not included in my “you only really regret the things you haven’t done” motto. The only thing that improves the experience is stopping off at a ‘berghutte’ along the way for some kaiser schmarren, knodel suppe, germknodel, schnitzel, currywurst or gulasch suppe. Not quite fine dining, but perfect for the healthy appetite you have just built up. Drinking a glass or two of delicious warm gluhwein or jagertee can only improve your skiing skills, or in my mothers case it may make you fall off the ski sessel-lift before you have even sat down.

The main skiing season lasts until mid March, after that you are better off heading to an area with a glacier link the expensive St Anton or the quaint Stubaier Gletscher. Falling on your first few attempts down the slope comes with the job, the main thing is you don’t give up, persevere!!

Below is my brother showing you how to colour coordinate your winter gear, the view from the top (only 2000m) & my sister showing you how its really done, with a glass of gluhwein.