After loading up my ski bag with boxes and boxes of Carmen’s
muesli bars, Milo, and some Cadbury hazelnut chocolate (the good stuff…), I am
all set for the four-month winter season ahead.
Last Tuesday I left Melbourne at a sunny 35 degrees, and
arrived in Munich where it was just below zero. A bit of a shock to the body at
first, but it’s not particularly cold for Europe at this time of year. In fact
there’s not much snow at all. It doesn’t look like it’s snowed once since we
left Europe back in October.
(Something cute I saw in Austria during my travels...)
(Marcos and the van)
Luckily, there’s still snow sitting up on the glaciers above
3,200m. We went back to Stubai glacier for a few days of training, and now
we’re in Saas Fee, Switzerland. I’ve skied a few glaciers over the past few
years… Stubai, Hintertux, Molltaller, Blackcomb, just to name a few, but I’ve
never experienced anything like Saas Fee. The sheer size of this glacier is
spectacular. Blue ice walls that extend for hundreds of metres above sheer rock
cliffs looks like something out of an Everest movie. It’s almost like a surreal
lunar experience, being up on the glacier with hardly anyone around and an
endless expanse of snow, rock shelves and ice.
(Sass Fee, Switzerland)
(Check out the ice wall behind the t-bar station)
(Not a bad view when you're in the start gate)
(The clouds creeping up)
We’re here training on a ski cross track with the Swiss and
Swedish National Teams, in preparation for the first world cup of the season
which is in just under two weeks away now.
Fingers crossed Europe gets some more snow before then,
otherwise it could be an interesting race!
