A Rather lovely day!
The day started in a thick fog that made skiing slightly more challenging. Instead of being able to look ahead and predict the patches of ice, moguls, or other skiiers, you had to trust in your legs and hips to deal with them all as they arrived.
Fortunately the snow cleared within an hour or so, but we'd already made the decision to head for an early coffee so that we could warm the bones prior to another day of exploring Arlberg.
The view from the top was fantastic, and we enjoyed an al-fresco coffee or hot chocolate in and amongst those who had braved the blizzard to come above the clouds
We did a few runs down back to the fog level, before Pete and I split off again and headed up for some more difficult red and black runs from the top.
The early morning fog seemed to have put off a lot of skiers and so for nearly all day we had the pistes to ourselves. We enjoyed developing a mix of skill and speed on the way down, dodging newbies on our way back down the mountain. These runs were really nice as they extended for longer than the ones from previous days and made a nice change to stop-starting!
Colin and Tim had lunch back at Galhzig up from St Anton, while Pete and I headed down the Giriabli where I'd eaten with my ski group. Pete had a heart meal of alpine "Meat" and potatoes with an egg to provide nutrition for the afternoon!
The afternoon took Pete and I to the very top! We headed up to the highest point in the resort, up a gondola that offered stop 1 to "experts", and stop 2 to "mother and children". We, of course now experts, alighted at stop 1, and took in the view from the top of the world!
Quiet, and only flanked by a few fellow snowboarders, we descended down from the summit down a surprisingly easy red run, which offered really amazing views down the valley. It was so nice that as soon as we got to the bottom, we went straight back up to the top and did it again!
Making the most of the lovely afternoon sunshine, we enjoyed most of the lower slopes to ourselves too, Pete enjoying being able to hold back and watch me zoom off, while I enjoyed the increasing confidence of not being put off by the degree of incline, and enjoying a speed boost at the bottom of the steeper slopes.
I attempted to video Pete earlier on in the day, and this video shows the height we ascended to, followed by my rather slow downhill balancing-phone/watching-where-I-was-going skiing!
As has become customary, as the day on the slopes ended, we met Tim and Colin back at Taps, our favourite Happy-hour bar (1 Euro off you know!) for a late-afternoon beer.
Not quite satiated with our beer-need, Pete, Colin and I headed back down the hill to the now legendary MooserWirt bar, where we enjoyed just one beer this time. We had a good chuckle at the spectacle of a lady who clearly had never any intention of being on skis or a snowboard, cladded in pristine Merino Wool clothes, not a shred of waterproofing about her, getting up on a bench and singing along to Gloria Gaynor's I will survive!
We arrived back home to a delicious meal Tim had cooked, Bolognese, with a selection of stir fried veg, and pasta, a heart meal after our long day on the slopes.
We're having a nice relaxing penultimate night, ready for a really good night's sleep after today's excitement, all having had a a rather lovely day indeed!
P.S. There's a more full collection of videos at https://travel.tomludlow.co.uk/videos
