12/22-23 (Thurs/Fri) - Bomb cyclone/rain storm in the northeast? Sounds like a good evening to fly from Newark to Zurich. Inefficient Swiss airlines checkin/baggage drop line was made more annoying when app showed ski bags not listed as loaded on flight when doors closed. Flight basically ran as scheduled which was good and Christmas miracle - ski bags arrived too - but a long passport control line, phone problems, language translation issues, etc. led to some difficulties finding our scheduled transfer driver. After working that out, we headed to Sölden. I apparently brought the rain with me as it rained steadily the whole way there, which didn’t work great with our clothes packed ski bags traveling outside and was psychologically traumatizing to travel this far for the same rain I could get in my backyard. Arrived a bit before 5PM, quickly got checked into our accommodations in Innerwald just above the town of Solden, layed out wet items to dry and finally ran out to get some food to finish a long day.
12/24 (Sat) - It was still raining lightly down low still when we headed out in the morning but that meant some wet snow at the top of the Gaislachkogl gondola from town and more and nicer snow up higher. Skied Giggijoch area in the morning then a long lunch at Wirsthaus Giggijoch before we figured out how to get back to our starting point in the afternoon.
12/25 (Sun) - Finally got cold down low overnight which meant a refreeze - i.e., Pennsylvania conditions with better views. As would be typical, up high the snow would be much better. We took a quick round trip to see the sun on the Tiefenbach Glacier before a lonnggg lunch at ice.q, which is a gourmet restaurant at the top of the 3S gondola. Skied down from there and checked out trails on the far low/lookers left before finishing for the day.
12/26 (Mon) - We skied Hochgurgl in AM - started from the Top Mountain Star. My son and I took a run down the steep groomer from there and then I took my wife down the blue from there. We moved lookers left on the mountain to the 2 gondolas that took us to high points on the mountand and eventually ended up at Top Mountain Crosspoint for our usual early lunch. After a run up to the mid station from there the kids and I took the gondola for some PM skiing at Obergurgl before heading back to Solden.
12/27 (Tue) - I skied with my son and we found some fresh snow up high again. Took the recently opened trail 18, skied the Schwarzkogl and Rosskirpl lifts, plus down into Hochsolden and eventaully all the way into town on that side for the first time. It was foggy mid mountain which made things interesting. We had lunch below Hochsolden at Eugen's Obstlerhütte, then we visited James Bond exhibit (Elements), and skied back on the treacherous trail 7.
12/28 (Wed) - We all went back to Tiefenbach Glacier in the morning - my daughter and I started with trail 41 which was a favorite - we skied a few runs on the glacier before heading back for lunch at Annemarie's Hühnersteign near the bottom of trail 30. Lower mountain trails were completely scraped off in the afternoon, as usual. Started feeling sick late in the day, but had agreed to take the kids night tobogganing on the one evening they offer it so did that. This was my second tobogganing-like experience in the Aps and I'm happy to have survived both. In both cases, I should have watched some videos/studied up on the process ahead of time. Maybe during the day and/or with soft snow, this is a saner experience. But with a night refreeze, it seems to me a lot like luging and even I'm not dumb enough to get on a luge. But to summarize this one - it was a 7+ km icy, semi-lighted run at night, which often featured rock retaining walls on one side, sheer drops on the other and many sharp switch backs. Add a fat old guy with no knowledge how to steer or stop his sled. Then finish it off with others on the run at the same time who also lacked the knowledge (or interest?) in controlling themselves. My son of course loved it and was disappointed to miss another ride up the gondola to do it again.
12/29 (Thur) - On my list of the worst things to possibly happen on a ski vacation - below getting injured or getting all of my stuff stolen, I suppose - is getting sick. I hate getting sick. I HATE getting sick on a ski vacation. Bed, bathroom, refill water glass, repeat - (un?)fortunately no pictures of the days activities.
12/30 (Fri) - Dead man skiing (see above) - I didn't hurt myself or others, so I'll consider it a success. We all went back to Hochgurgl again which my wife wanted to do for her last day and I (barely) skied a few easy runs there before we headed to Obergurgl for lunch at Hohe Mut Alm. I couldn’t ski anymore so my wife and I took the gondola all the way to the base and waited for the bus back while the kids did some exploring by themselves.
12/31 (Sat) - I skied with the kids. I was able to ski better than yesterday but found after a few decent turns I didn't really have much energy for more so that lead to more frequent than usual breaks. We wanted to get to some favorites and some places each of us hadn't been when we had skied separately. There was more flat light than usual this morning which was tough to get used to after not experiencing much visibility issues for much of the trip. We started down 1, then went over to Glacier to do 41 and 31 (FIS race trail), came back and did 25, then headed towards lunch at Gampe Thaye. After lunch we rode the double chair just because we hadn't previously (spoiled by 4/6/8 pack bubbles and gondolas) and did trails 3, 2 and 8 to finish the trip.
1/1 (Sun) - The trip home on was long but eventful. Looks like I brought the warm weather home. Gotta figure out where I’m driving next weekend…
One last picture from Innerwald from our walk to the snow each morning…
Summary - more snow (especially down low) would have been better, but up high, snow was typically good enough. Getting out early was key - gondolas from town opened at 8:30 and the closer we got to that time, the better. Grooming on upper mountain trails was great until scraped off by lunchtime. We tried to eat early to get seats and were always successful at our first-choice restaurant - our only reservation was the ice.q on Christmas. Most lifts we took were ski on - others on rare occasion had a several chair/gondola wait. Mostly avoided the Jiggigoch area after first day (which seemed to be the most crowded area). Trails were very scraped off after lunch so a long slow ski back home worked out ok. I wouldn't say we made a large number of runs - balancing time with my low-intermediate wife - but I felt like we got in a lot of skiing. If we had powder days, I might have felt the need to have skied more. The beautiful scenery and good food made the trip worthwhile. With my daughter well into her college years and my son starting next year, these trips with the entire family are becoming endangered species, so it was definitely one to remember.
12/24 (Sat) - It was still raining lightly down low still when we headed out in the morning but that meant some wet snow at the top of the Gaislachkogl gondola from town and more and nicer snow up higher. Skied Giggijoch area in the morning then a long lunch at Wirsthaus Giggijoch before we figured out how to get back to our starting point in the afternoon.
12/25 (Sun) - Finally got cold down low overnight which meant a refreeze - i.e., Pennsylvania conditions with better views. As would be typical, up high the snow would be much better. We took a quick round trip to see the sun on the Tiefenbach Glacier before a lonnggg lunch at ice.q, which is a gourmet restaurant at the top of the 3S gondola. Skied down from there and checked out trails on the far low/lookers left before finishing for the day.
12/26 (Mon) - We skied Hochgurgl in AM - started from the Top Mountain Star. My son and I took a run down the steep groomer from there and then I took my wife down the blue from there. We moved lookers left on the mountain to the 2 gondolas that took us to high points on the mountand and eventually ended up at Top Mountain Crosspoint for our usual early lunch. After a run up to the mid station from there the kids and I took the gondola for some PM skiing at Obergurgl before heading back to Solden.
12/27 (Tue) - I skied with my son and we found some fresh snow up high again. Took the recently opened trail 18, skied the Schwarzkogl and Rosskirpl lifts, plus down into Hochsolden and eventaully all the way into town on that side for the first time. It was foggy mid mountain which made things interesting. We had lunch below Hochsolden at Eugen's Obstlerhütte, then we visited James Bond exhibit (Elements), and skied back on the treacherous trail 7.
12/28 (Wed) - We all went back to Tiefenbach Glacier in the morning - my daughter and I started with trail 41 which was a favorite - we skied a few runs on the glacier before heading back for lunch at Annemarie's Hühnersteign near the bottom of trail 30. Lower mountain trails were completely scraped off in the afternoon, as usual. Started feeling sick late in the day, but had agreed to take the kids night tobogganing on the one evening they offer it so did that. This was my second tobogganing-like experience in the Aps and I'm happy to have survived both. In both cases, I should have watched some videos/studied up on the process ahead of time. Maybe during the day and/or with soft snow, this is a saner experience. But with a night refreeze, it seems to me a lot like luging and even I'm not dumb enough to get on a luge. But to summarize this one - it was a 7+ km icy, semi-lighted run at night, which often featured rock retaining walls on one side, sheer drops on the other and many sharp switch backs. Add a fat old guy with no knowledge how to steer or stop his sled. Then finish it off with others on the run at the same time who also lacked the knowledge (or interest?) in controlling themselves. My son of course loved it and was disappointed to miss another ride up the gondola to do it again.
12/29 (Thur) - On my list of the worst things to possibly happen on a ski vacation - below getting injured or getting all of my stuff stolen, I suppose - is getting sick. I hate getting sick. I HATE getting sick on a ski vacation. Bed, bathroom, refill water glass, repeat - (un?)fortunately no pictures of the days activities.
12/30 (Fri) - Dead man skiing (see above) - I didn't hurt myself or others, so I'll consider it a success. We all went back to Hochgurgl again which my wife wanted to do for her last day and I (barely) skied a few easy runs there before we headed to Obergurgl for lunch at Hohe Mut Alm. I couldn’t ski anymore so my wife and I took the gondola all the way to the base and waited for the bus back while the kids did some exploring by themselves.
12/31 (Sat) - I skied with the kids. I was able to ski better than yesterday but found after a few decent turns I didn't really have much energy for more so that lead to more frequent than usual breaks. We wanted to get to some favorites and some places each of us hadn't been when we had skied separately. There was more flat light than usual this morning which was tough to get used to after not experiencing much visibility issues for much of the trip. We started down 1, then went over to Glacier to do 41 and 31 (FIS race trail), came back and did 25, then headed towards lunch at Gampe Thaye. After lunch we rode the double chair just because we hadn't previously (spoiled by 4/6/8 pack bubbles and gondolas) and did trails 3, 2 and 8 to finish the trip.
1/1 (Sun) - The trip home on was long but eventful. Looks like I brought the warm weather home. Gotta figure out where I’m driving next weekend…
One last picture from Innerwald from our walk to the snow each morning…
Summary - more snow (especially down low) would have been better, but up high, snow was typically good enough. Getting out early was key - gondolas from town opened at 8:30 and the closer we got to that time, the better. Grooming on upper mountain trails was great until scraped off by lunchtime. We tried to eat early to get seats and were always successful at our first-choice restaurant - our only reservation was the ice.q on Christmas. Most lifts we took were ski on - others on rare occasion had a several chair/gondola wait. Mostly avoided the Jiggigoch area after first day (which seemed to be the most crowded area). Trails were very scraped off after lunch so a long slow ski back home worked out ok. I wouldn't say we made a large number of runs - balancing time with my low-intermediate wife - but I felt like we got in a lot of skiing. If we had powder days, I might have felt the need to have skied more. The beautiful scenery and good food made the trip worthwhile. With my daughter well into her college years and my son starting next year, these trips with the entire family are becoming endangered species, so it was definitely one to remember.
The only challenges of staying in Innerwald, especially without a vehicle was the ski in/ski out was not as good as it could have been with more snow and getting places in the evening. The walk to the shuttle (funicular lift) to get down to town worked fine, but you did have to walk down/across (and then back up) a ski trail to get there. There were also a couple restaurants we found that didn't require the full trip to town, but those were still a good 10+ minute walk. We had a kitchen so didn't eat out every night, but did most of them, as the trip to the grocery store required the same trip as to the restaurants with the added fun of carrying the groceries back. Or I could have been not so cheap and arranged a taxi.
