Snowboarding, Austria

I suggest the ultimate thing to do during winter is snowsports. Some prefer traveling and visiting countries, but I think standing in the freezing temperature looking at dead trees and frozen monuments is a little pathetic. I never regret spending my winter holidays in the snow mountains. Although it often ended with a few weeks of bruises and pains, the thrill of adrenaline rush, and the breathtaking view of the alps is worth all the sacrifice. Try it once and if you didnt lose your balls, its a guaranteed lifetime of addiction.

This year's destination is Mayrhofen, Austria. The decision came impulsively after a snowy night in London bringing all the nostalgia, knowing that it might be the last chance of being so close to the snow again. Mayrhofen is a skiing town at a region know as the Zillertaler valley, a mountainous area at the west of Austria. Our flight landed on Innsbruck and the transfer took only 2 hours to our guesthouse. 

Early 9am in the morning, the mountain filled with snowsport enthusiasts

Ski towns always provides free shuttle service to the ski lifts where you could take a gondola up to the trails. In the morning it is always crowded and on some days there are a lot of school children. It is interesting to know that those days with a lot of school children with different groups is their co-curiculum day, and of course their sports activity is skiing !!

 Another interesting observation is that you often only find white people in the ski area. So far my friend only spot one black people and I only see one asian. Obviously, the snow are white in colour ...

The view from the highest peak in Mayrhofen's piste.

To snowboard down the highest peak is awesome!

The piste in Mayrhofen are wide and perfect for snowboarders

The ski town, they sell equipment in every corner.

 Mayrhofen has a special iglu hotel on top of the snowmountains. Yes, you could book a room here and stay on the mountains for the night. They even have parties at some night in their lounge.

White lounge

I can see the hotel rooms are really limited

Inside the white lounge

And we sat down to have some mulled wine

This is the best piste. It descend from 1935m in altitude down to 600m to the town centre. I think its a few km long and the scenary is beautiful where you go from all snow to the alphine forest down to grassy slopes. From the speed I was descending, I even felt the pressure change in my ears.

Finally, I comment about the food in Austria. They LOVE meat. I had so much meat , pork beef , lamb, venison, fish. And generally, their food is salty.