Gargellen (Feb 24)

We are back in Gargellen, a picture postcard Austrian village, the jewel in the crown of the Montafon valley and just a stones throw away from the Swiss border.

This place is almost always above the snow line and this year being no exception, and as if to prove a point, it started to snow as we arrived!

Natty is 18 now, and with the exception of the COVID years has been coming to this little corner of Austria every year since he was 10 weeks old. It wasn’t far from here that he learned to ski, and following that he’s explored this entire region with his sisters and friends from Trojans Rugby club, who joined us en-masse for three of his pre-teen years. We’ve also been here on our own a few times, or with my father, family or other close friends.

With Emma sitting this one out, this year’s trip is smaller than most, just me and Natty and our good friends Dave and Sally, Cam and Ben.

We spent quite a bit of time together as a large group, both on the mountain and later in the evenings. That said, we occasionally splintered off into smaller groups, especially the 18 year olds… who have known each other for well over a decade and have been skiing together five or six times.

Gargellen is a small place that avoids the masses given its geography, up a long winding road and not linked by ski lifts to any of the larger neighbouring resorts. I guess this is why we like it!

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—— The perfect start ——

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After a cloudy and snowy first day, the second day turned out to be a beauty! We had got up early to take advantage of the pristine pistes and fresh powder. The clouds that were forecast didn’t arrive and we were blessed with clear blue skies for large periods of the day. This meant the day ended up being as good as they come!

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The groomed pistes were immaculate, and with about 20cm of fresh powder, Natty and I just couldn’t resist the temptation to go find some off piste – in what turned out to be a day of awesome backcountry skiing/boarding.

We called it a day mid afternoon given the amount of energy expended… no point pushing it.

I think the combination of empty pistes, perfectly groomed slopes, and fresh powder overnight put this day “right up there” in our experiences over the years. 

Dave, Sally, Cam and Ben took advantage of the low number of visitors and immaculate conditions with Ben stepping up a level of skill from previous years. He’s now faster than his mum!

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I dragged Cameron off for a bit of backcountry too!

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—- Late night —-

At the end of the day, the adult boys (I use the term “adult” loosely) headed off to the local Apres ski/umbrella bar for a few up in in beers…. It was here Cameron and Natty were recognised by some locals from last years visit and where we foolishly started a few drinking games (well, when in Rome)….

So that was the start of it… and after discovering there was a Fasching party at the local basement bar, that’s where we headed…

It got a bit messy!

All photos from this evening have been banned – except those shown below !

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—- Hangover cure —-

The next day Natty refused to move out of his bed… Hmmmmmmm I wonder why?

Now having broken one of ski life’s ‘cardinal rules’ by failing to show up in the morning on time, Natty did eventually put things right on two counts! Firstly by making his own way (by Bus) to the different ski area we were skiing today (Silvretta Nova) and secondly by attacking a BLACK EXTREME run as a “warm up”! He passed with flying colours and didn’t blink when I pointed over the edge of the piste and said – “that way”! Not a single slip up, unlike me who ended up eating some snow… it was supposed to be HIS punishment!

Not sure if I wanted to hug him or slap him!

—— Solo Backcountry ——

A few snaps of an hour or two that I spent exploring the far end of the Gargellen valley on day three. There was still plenty of fresh powder to find. Another glorious sunshine day too!

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—— 2 Cooks go wild ——

After lunch and back in Gargellen, two of the Cook boys and I decided to explore an area of the valley that still had some powder to the side of run 6. The entire area was calling out to us! It had been three days after the last snowfall and conditions were still awesome. A great way to end the day.

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—— Golm ——

The forth day of sunshine and with the temperatures rising sharply we decided to head for the upper slopes of Golm for a change. These are north facing and usually hold the snow quite well. We stuck around here until mid-afternoon before heading back to Gargellen and some well earned rest!

Cards, Nintendo and Pool. No shortage of things to keep the competitive side of us entertained.

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—— Friday Blast ——

The final full day for all of us took us back up to the top of Gargellen for a HOT and sunny final blast.

Natty and Cameron went of snowboards for the morning, but given the conditions, Natty swapped back to skis after a few hours.

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Unbelievably there were some areas of untouched snow within easy reach a good five days after the last snowfall. Natty and I spotted an area from the top of one of the ski lifts, so we headed there on the our final run of the day. We then headed back to our base to join up with Cameron who was recovering from an earlier fall. Nothing major, just a precautionary assessment and only a few hours of piste time lost.

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So back at our Alpenhaus Montafon apartment we could feel the warmth of the Sun. The melt was on but luckily we could still ski almost to the front door.

Natty and I then headed off to see my Godmother and her family in Bludenz, where as usual Simon and Mathias were bad influences, and managed to convince Natty that “Stroh 80” was really a medicine and would help with his sore throat! Needless to say a few beers later Natty had forgot about his ailment so they must be right!

Another great week away in the Montafon. 👍👍