Some Observations on Skiing, Austria, and New Friendships

Make new friends,
but keep the old.
One is silver,
the other is gold.

A circle is round,
it has no end.
That's how long,
I will be your friend.

A fire burns bright,
it warms the heart.
We've been friends,
from the very start.

You have one hand,
I have the other.
Put them together,
We have each other.

Silver is precious,
Gold is too.
I am precious,
and so are you.

You help me,
and I'll help you
and together
we will see it through.

The sky is blue
The Earth is green
I can help
to keep it clean

Across the land
Across the sea
Friends forever
We will always be

It has been a little over a month since my last post.  Family visits, the holidays, and frankly a lack of topics that fired my imagination have pushed my desire to write to the back of the line.  In addition I was making final preparations for my all "guy" ski trip to Austria courtesy of fellow blog follower John DelNegro, a good friend I first became acquainted with during my years in Stowe.

All of you readers know I have made it a point not to tell stories out of school about friends, particularly those who are readers of this blog.  I think most of you would agree with me on this philosophy  However, as I write this blog I ask you John to forgive me if I mention a few words about you and our ski companions during this post!

Part 1-On Skiing

First things first.   All of you know that when my faithful and obedient companion and I decided to retire to Stowe back in 2008 it was  primarily due to our "late in life' infatuation with skiing.  Both of us were never "beach people" and retiring to Florida or Arizona etc. was never in the cards for us.  While we had skied briefly in college and even on our Honeymoon in Stowe (if you call "snowplowing, interspersed with falling"  to be skiing) we were never really serious skiers .  In fact, after our honeymoon  we never skied again until 1999 when through my association with AIG we started going to Stowe on an annual basis.  It was during this time we took a few lessons and learned the rudiments of parallel skiing instead of snow plowing our way down the mountain.  For some unexplainable reason we both found a love of schussing down hills as a means of getting fresh air and exercise.  For both of us winter somehow became something to be embraced, not dreaded.  Frankly, however, like most sports taken up late in life, I cannot say we became "experts" even while we lived in Stowe but we did learn how to negotiate intermediate and even some more difficult terrain.

Now my "non-skiing" friends often look at the two of us as some kind of crazy risk takers but the reality is I consider myself fairly cautious (my faithful and obedient companion may feel otherwise-her technique as verified by various ski instructors is much better than mine!).   Regardless of my ability (or lack thereof) I somehow feel less aches and pains and more invigorated after a day of skiing then I do after a round of golf.  The joy of going down a slope among the beauty of the mountains and snow is something I seldom get tired of despite my self taught "techniques".  Unlike golf there is no score beyond the simple satisfaction of looking back up the trail and saying "I made it down that???"

Austria

I went to Austria at the invitation of my friend John.  My friendship with John actually started in Stowe during the summer.  I never skied much with him (he is an absolutely incredible skier) except during our last few years in Stowe.  He and his long term friends (many of who went on this trip) occasionally invited Barbara and I  to join them on those rare occasions when  they skied on weekdays at Stowe.  Barbara and I always bought weekday only passes at Stowe, while John and his skiing friends were primarily weekend Stowe skiers.   In addition John's wife (who was actually Barbara's friend from golf and through whom I met John) was once a  passionate skier gave it up about the time we all met.  Bottom line, when John invited me to join the Austria trip our mutual skiing experiences were limited.  Certainly the 4 others from Stowe who went were his skiing "buddies" and had skied with me only a few hours over the years.  So when John suggested I join him on a trip to Austria I was somewhat skeptical of my ability to keep up with these lifetime,  experienced skiers.  However, prodded by my faithful and obedient companion (who is a firm believer that "male bonding trips are a wonderful thing"), I signed on with some apprehension half expecting to bail out (take an easier route down) frequently if and when they tackled terrain above my ability.


Enough on the  back story on how and why I ended up in Austria.  Let me say outright it was a great trip despite some "interesting" situations.

First, we quickly discovered  the reason the trip was so reasonably priced.  I will let the picture  of the bed I shared with my roommate John speak for itself!

For those of you who saw the movie Planes, Trains and Automobiles think John Candy and Steve Martin sharing a hotel room.  Thankfully John had a set of Bose "sleep earplugs".

I will say this we were better off than one of our Stowe friends-he was assigned a similar room with a person he never met before...yikes.

Second we were located on  the 6th floor  of the hotel with a single small elevator that went only to the 4th.  Needless to say walking up and down (usually all 6 floors) several times per day provided lot's of warm-up and warm down exercises to start and end our day on the slopes.

Both John and I agreed that these were aspects of the trip that were a bit disappointing.  Otherwise the food was pretty good and the skiing experience was wonderful.

I confess that at times I felt like I was in a bit over my head while skiing.  I somehow managed to hold my own with the group, even while skiing some terrain I would likely have avoided if I had my druthers.  In the hundred miles plus of skiing during our week I only bailed out from the group (took an easier trail) on two runs.

New Friendships

This brings me to the most important aspect of the trip, and a special "Observation".  It is  the wonderful way that these 5 guys (4 of which I did not know all that well) were so considerate of  a "less"  than expert skier.  Throughout the trip while skiing one or two of them would invariably wait and follow me down the mountain to make sure I was "OK".  Furthermore, it was amazing to me  that everyone quickly fell into a  good natured, "semi-organized" role based on individual personalities.    Let me summarize  these "roles" thusly:

1. Peter - was our map reader and general  terrain "selector" and usually decided where we would go next.  He sometimes took some "flack" for the routes he choose and his  general inability to allow any others to lead. In my opinion he did a great job at taking us down some "interesting:" (and for me challenging) terrain without killing anyone!

"John" my friend- was the freeskier of the group, joyfully skiing effortlessly down  and around everyone.  Offering me tips on how to improve my technique.

"Murphy" Was the gabber and talker of the group, freely sharing opinions on every topic  imaginable(especially on climate change and even the physics of ice cubes melting in a glass).  He provided some great entertainment, and was a great conversation starter. 

"Curt" Was the one person who had been on this trip the year before.  It was Curt that was the initial connection to the tour for all of us.  I  never met Curt before the trip but from the first run he was one who was always on the lookout for everyone's well being.  He even suffered a collision with an "deranged" Austrian women while watching out for me.  This unfortunate encounter ended up with an interview with the local Police but thankfully Curt (who is a lawyer)handled the incident quite successfully.

"Doug"  Another great skier who  also always seemed concerned with mine (and really everyone's) safety,  he was usually the last one down on every run.  He was also my chief beer selector and the frankly the calmest easiest going guy throughout our trip.

A "Final" Observation

In retrospect I am not sure I could have found 5 more compatible, yet unique companions, to ski, drink and eat with for 10 straight days. 

So John thanks for a great trip  and for being a surrogate "faithful if not so obedient companion" to boot!  It was a wonderful experience. ........Oh and thank god you thought of earplugs!

Until next time adieu

Clockwise from me
Doug, Curt, John, Murphy, Peter

John

Hotel Room's Balcony View 

From Left Doug, Curt, John

Murphy and John

First ride up in Austria