Thursday, January 05, 2006
A Quick Sledding Run
I am falling behind a bit with my posts, but here is a quick tidbit from last year (the last day of last year, to be exact). One of the things people do in Austria that in the US would be considered a children's thing is sledding. Of course, adults do not walk up a little hill to slide down on their butts for 30 feet. Instead, one usually engages in a fairly lengthy hike (anywhere between 30 minutes and 2 hours) to get up a mountain. At the top, there usually is a cabin with some food, drinks, and much celebration (the main reason people usually go sledding). Then, one rents a sled for a few bucks and sleds down a trail that is set aside especially for this purpose (generally lit at night).
So this is what we did the afternoon of December 31st. We didn't have much time, so there was no partying at the top (which was a bummer, because we even met some friends on the way up). But it was a gorgeous day and we had a great time (and got some good exercise on top of it!).
Here are some pictures:
This is the view back down from the path going up. It is quite a nice area. Looks pretty remote to, but I guess that's just how things are here. It is really not that far from town. Somewhere in the hills in the distance (kinda halfway back) is where Dieter Matteschitz, the inventor and owner of Red Bull, lives. He moved here a little while ago.
This is at the very top. As you can see, we left too late in the day and a lot of things were already in the shade. Still, it was very very nice.
And here is Ellen on the way down. Like a real champ! Long gone are the days when she used to do flips with the sled... ;-)
Posted @ 7:04 PM by Egger, Markus (markus@code-magazine.com)