Our trip to Oberstdorf was Rich's first skiing excursion in Germany (Kirsty getting the opportunity to ski there a little bit more often!) and was a bit of a "last minute" sneaky weekend trip towards the end of February 2002.
Rich managed to get a cheap Ryanair flight from Bournemouth to Frankfurt Hahn on Friday afternoon, and after a stop over in Heidelberg, we both headed off bright and early in the hire car to the Alps.
After a bit of a worrying journey, consisting of getting lost (in Heidelberg of all places!) and driving through drizzle, we arrived in Oberstorf around 10am to find that our first ski destination was closed due to high winds.
After deciding to check in at our Guesthaus, we headed up to an alternative venue to find that our luck was in. Rich hired some skis and before we knew it we were on the mountain. The conditions were fairly good considering the state of the weather. The snow was brilliant higher up the mountain, but was considerably more slushy further down to the resort (not really surprising considering the higher temperatures!)
We had a cool day, but were finally ready to head back to the Gasthaus at the end of the day for a nice relax (so that Rich could rest his sore "skibooted" feet!) and a bite to eat. By the time we headed off to bed, the drizzle was still making itself known!
Nothing prepared us though for the sight that greeted us the next morning!
The green, drizzle-soaked landscape had been transformed overnight thanks to a 12 inch deposit of snow! After an extra (unexpected!) exercise of digging the car out, we headed off to the mountain once again (with slightly more tricky driving conditions!)
For a change of scenery, we headed off to a different location and were delighted to find (after another scare!) that the lifts were open, despite the heavy snow (& winds). The location we were at on the Sunday consisted of a beautiful long tree-lined blue run which ran from top to bottom. The snow conditions were amazing and it was the first time Rich had experienced such fresh snow (and the first time he'd skiied while it was actually still snowing!)
The slopes remained quiet and as the day wore on, more of the runs opened up, giving us the opportunity to practise our runs through deep mogul fields. At times, it was difficult to see what was pisted and what was not, so on a couple of occasions we ended up in snow up to our waists!
We finally skiied ourselves out and headed off on the long drive back to Heidelberg.
What a cool weekend!
