Ski Montafon (Feb 19)

This little corner of Austria is not to be found in most British ski tour guides – so I am thankful to my Godmother for marrying a “local” and moving here back in the 1970’s, else I’d have probably never found it.

What has made this year kind of special is the fact that after 13 years on this planet Natty appears to have the same enthusiasm for this valley as I do. He’s also surpassed me on the speed and technique front, but don’t tell him that!

So after five perfect days of piercing blue skies and blazing sunshine, snow has finally hit the upper slopes today with cloud moving in last night. However, the leg rest may be short lived as a glimpse on the weather app shows Saturday is full sun, so it should be a perfect final day tomorrow. So fingers crossed for large measures of both pain and pleasure.

If you are wondering where all the other holiday makers are in the video. Well they are here, honest. Its just not as popular (or expensive) as the main Alpine resorts that the Brits tend flock to. The result – much more elbow room and oodles of pristine mountains to play on, both on and off piste – Just don’t tell anyone!!

I reckon we must have covered a good proportion of the 295km of prepared runs. Each day exploring a different ski area with each of them having their own unique character.

They’ve recently added Brandnertal ski resort to the Montafon Valley ski pass “family” but our favourite remains the picturesque resort of Gargellen – which is why we plan to go there again in the morning. It’s a wonderful little resort tucked away at the very top of a tributary valley and is pretty much empty on the change over day of Saturday. The added bonus is that its mostly above 2000m…

Hope you like the pictures and video, the latter includes all the the thrills and spills (at least three). Natty and I edited the video over the past few evenings, in between watching re-runs of Top Gear (don’t ask). Anyway I’ve decided Natty is like Jeremy Clarkson as he is completely selfish and leaves me behind on the flats, laughing as I grind to a halt having to unclip my snowboard bindings and walk to the next gradient. He on the other hand thinks I am like Hammond.. as I am apparently a big kid with a speed addiction and never admit it when I am wrong… ho hum. Looks like he’s walking home.