What a Skison

Well, the ski season is officially over– isch scho vorbei!

Hochjoch (the mountain that will always have special place in my heart ❤ ) closed March 30, and most of the other places in the Montafon-Brandnertal region closed on April 22. Of course, right after everything closed it started raining in the valleys and dumping snow in the mountains. Apparently, there hasn’t been this much snowfall at the end of the season since 1999. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Still, once things start turning green and feeling like spring, you can’t be too bummed sitting in the valley and seeing all the fresh powder on the mountains. After all, hiking season is just around the corner. 😉

I had a bittersweet day at Golm on April 22, my last official day of skiing in Montafon. I hope to be back there for hiking, but it was strange to think it could be my last time skiing in Montafon for…forever. (I definitely cried. 😭)

These mountains have been my home for the past two years. I’ve made so many memories there…and my last day of skiing had me reflecting on it all.

It seems like just yesterday I was heading to Hochjoch for the first time. I’ve come so far!

 

I went from not knowing how to ski and being extremely intimidated by even the “easy” slopes, to skiing really confidently and down advanced slopes. 💁🏻‍♀️

While I focused last year on just learning how to ski without having a panic attack, this year I really started to dream and set some goals. I wanted to ski on new slopes, do night skiing, and even go down a black slope….

Whenever I started to question my reasoning for skiing or why I was waking up at 5a.m. (“Why am I doing this to myself?!”), I thought back to when a ski instructor told me, as he made me go off a jump, “Remember to be having fun! Skiing should be fuuuuun!” (I went off the jump and fell over; I think he overestimated my abilities. 😂)

Anyways, he was right. Skiing should be fuuuuun. Otherwise, why do it?

Once I started focusing on what would be fun (rather than what I was afraid of) and setting some goals for myself while skiing, I really started to experience the joy of skiing and pushed myself farther than I could’ve imagined.

Here’s some of the highlights!

• Skiing at 6 new places (Mellau-Damüls, Warth-Schröcken, Gargellen, Silveretta-Bielerhöhe, Galtür, Laterns)

• Conquering a ton of new routes at places I’d gone to last year (did all the reds at Golm!)
• Skiing a black diamond slope–I didn’t fall!
• Skiing in fresh powder as it was snowing

• Ski touring at night (!) — honestly, a highlight of the year!

• Sledding down a mountain at night and going through the netting….but not going off the edge, whoops 😛 That’s a whole story.

• Slicing through my snow pants….and into my boots. Uh, not sure what happened there.

• The Talabfahrt from Galtür (Tirol) all the way back into Partenen (Vorarlberg)
• And always the Talabfahrt from Hochjoch all the way into Schruns

• Skiing with Coralie, sipping coffee on lifts, learning Dialect, and taking crazy videos–always an adventure when we went together
• Doing a tiny bit of off-slope skiing on powder days (look at me talking like a ski bro)

• Getting to ski with Isaac and Katherine, taking my dad skiing, going with friends, and skiing with a work colleague

• Skiing with Viiiiiic! ❤
• And skiing in literal blizzard conditions at Golm (video coming soon)

• Taking lots of ridiculous photos in ski lifts…

• Trying to hitchhike unsuccessfully to train stations & walking long distances in ski boots, holding skis (it’s a talent)

• All the times we spent waiting for busses and lugging our ski stuff in trains–honestly, I think that built more muscle than skiing
• Getting to the point where I could ski and hold a camera at the same time and go down red slopes without even thinking about it

• Countless mornings waking up at 5a.m. to catch early trains and busses
• New rainbow goggles that made me feel fabulous! (And were so much easier to see out of)

• Slalom racing in Mellau and doing a “speed-check” (watch the video here: https://www.skiline.cc/skimovie/hpmpi)

• One of my favorite things: soaking up the sunlight and fresh air, sipping a coffee, and journaling at the top of the mountain

• And *drumroll* …a total of 27 days skiing! Not bad for a second season and definitely more than last year 🙂

I’m working on putting a video together of some of my favorite moments from the year. In the meantime, you can check out “Skison 2018-19” in my Instagram story highlights to see some fun moments. 🙂

Took these photos a year apart on my last days at Grasjoch–2018 (left) and 2019 (right).

As sad as I am that the ski season is over, I am getting excited for the hiking to season to start…if it will ever stop snowing! 😉

xo,

Sarah