Day 2 update time! Today was a learning day. We’ve discovered two very important things about Saalbach. First, it’s hard to find information about not skiing things. Like sledding, tubing, or snowshoeing… all of which they claim to have. Second, and this ties directly into the first item, if it isn’t skiing, it’s a second rate activity that gets no love. I’ll explain that more in a bit.
We started off the day with some breakfast. It was pretty impressive. They had “build your own muesli” (that’s fruit, oats, and other random things normally mixed with yogurt), bread, cheese, meats, fruits, jams, spreads, hard boiled eggs, scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon, and juice. I made it a point to fill up.
After breakfast we went exploring with the goal of finding the sledding. We walked through town, then up a hill, past a dam, then up another hill. We had heard that there was a thinger that would bring you to the top of the hill, but we hadn’t been able to get much information. Mary Jo even called them but they didn’t speak English (despite claiming to) and were “too busy” to help. It was honestly pretty lame.
Anyway, once we got to the second hill after the dam, we found a pisten bully sitting there with a big sled-cart full of sleds. The driver asked us if we were going to the top and we said yes. We hopped in the back of the thinger and got a ride to the top. It was 8 Euro each for the ride and sled rental.
Actually, I suppose you don’t know what a “pisten bully” is. I sure didn’t. Here’s a photo I dug up online (I didn’t think to take one myself):
Scary huh? Well, wait until you see what it looked like during the ride!
We made a short stop at the snowmobile track. There was a group there taking turns on the snowmobiles. I checked the prices, and it was something like 15 minutes for 35 Euro. After that brief stop, we made the rest of the trip to the top of the mountain. Of course by “top” I mean “a high point”. It might have been the top of that particular mountain, but there was plenty of other high land around us.
It really had a pretty nice view, even with the real, actual, big fluffy snow!
There was a pretty nice cafe/restaurant/hotel thing up there, so we took a bit and had some hot chocolate. Someone decided to have rum in theirs.
With a little heat in the belly, we grabbed some sleds and started the trek back down the mountain.
The sledding course is actually a road… in fact the very same road we rode up on. It is just this little 20 foot wide section of cleared land with big trees on each side. It also followed a little stream. Every now and then there would be a big crevice in the hillside where the water drains.
MJ liked looking at the scenery.
The little stream had small dams installed every now and then.
Sledding was pretty fun. You can get some good speed going down a mountain. You know what? This is another one of those things that’s just best shown.
After the sledding, we wandered around the mountain a little more. Up, down, left right, all over the place. It gave use a pretty neat view of the monster mountain on the other side of the valley.
After all that we came back down to the main town and decided to find some snow shoes. We checked a few places before we found the seemingly only place in town you can get them… and they only had 2 pairs. The heck? We got them for 10 Euro and went over to the “snow shoeing trail”. Remember how I started this post by saying that anything not skiing is treated as second class? Well, snow shoeing firmly falls in that category.
We got over there only to discover that it was all melted off. South facing sides are all melty around here. North facing is still snow covered. They’ve apparently been having unseasonably warm weather, so snow has been a little scare. They have full snow production capability, and they use it… on the ski runs. That’s right, all the south facing ski runs that would be barren are nice and snow covered while the snow shoeing path is treated like some kind of leper. Not cool Saalbach, not cool.
With that disappointment, we went back in to town, angrily threw the snow shoes back at them (OK, the anger was just in our hearts), and grabbed some snacks at a grocery store. Then we went back to the hotel. We collapsed for a bit, then decided to try the sauna. Man, that’s an interesting experience. It was 90 degrees Celsius in there. 100 boils water. Still, it was nice. We sat in there for 5 minutes, then went back to the room and stood outside on the balcony. It was surprisingly not cold.
Now that all that is behind us, we’re chilling out until supper… which is in 15 minutes! Tonight we’re having duck. 🙂
Aaaaaaaannnnnnd, dinner’s done. That’s right, two part one post blogging!
Dinner was crazy tonight. We started out with mostly the same salads as last night. There was a little change in some of the green leafy things, but for the most part it was the same. One thing to note though was that the small shrimps were replaced by huge honking shrimps with shell and legs. Those were an adventure. Pro tip: cut into chunks, shell chunk, remove legs (if necessary).
The second course was a salmon thing. It was raw smoked salmon slices served with some sort of sour cream white sauce, a slice of tomato skin (just the skin and a little mean, not a full quarter or eighth or anything), and a thin slice of cucumber. It was… odd. The salmon was definitely smoked, but I’m used to smoked meats/fishes taking on a slightly cooked taste. I think we both rate it as a “meh”.
Course three was carrot ginger cream soup served with a slice of crouton bread. It was super tasty. After that we hit the main course which was roast duck, red cabbage, some finger dumplings, and that same fancy tiny carrot from last night. The red cabbage was red cabbage. It wasn’t bad, but I’m not a huge cabbage fan. The finger dumplings were just bread dumplings, but they looked like elongated garlic cloves. It was unusual, but tasty. The duck was quite good. It was Joni’s first time eating duck and she liked it.
Dessert was amazing. It was a small scoop of lime sorbet, a small scoop of raspberry sorbet, then slices/chunks of apples, blueberries, pineapple, orange, and strawberry with a light sugar glaze. There was also this little yellow-orange thing that kind of looked like a cherry tomato and in fact has the same consistency, but it was sweet inside. It still had it’s flower attached, but it was dried. Really have no idea what that thing was.
We also each had a glass of red wine with dinner, so that was nice. Now we’re officially shot and need to get to bed to prepare for tomorrow’s big day. Tomorrow is the skiing day. Depending on how well this goes for me (first time skiing), Mary Jo might be writing the post tomorrow. 🙁
Sledding definitely looks enjoyable being in such a beautiful environment. I missed this winter’s fun. I stayed cooped up in the warmth only briefly touching snow between trips. Thought about skiing this year but maybe next year we actually will. Good luck on your Ski trip!
Do you want me to send your white Columbias?……….you have always hated those boots, but I bet you wished you had them now.
No no, we went out and got me some 30 Euro hiking boots that have served the purpose well. 😀