Back in the Alps

I've grown up skiing in the Colorado Rockies, but ever since I watched one of my first Warren Miller Ski Movies, I've had my heart set on one day  skiing in the Alps.  Never would I have thought that I would already have the opportunity to do so.

For the last week of Christmas break, my host family and I went to Kitzbuehel, Austria to ski the magestical Alps.  The Alps are so much more different than the Rockies and I cannot tell which one I prefer because they're so different from one another.  The Alps are lower in altitude, but don't appear so because of their jagged, intense look.  They look similar to the mountains along the Continental Divide.  The jagged look of the mountains contrasted against the blue skies made the backdrop in Kitzbuehel jaw-dropping.  I couldn't believe I was skiing here.

The skiing was incredible the first couple of days.  My host brother and I have been skiing together since he studied abroad with my family two years ago, so we went off on our own and tracked down some sweet, virgin powder.  To my surprise, the terrain wasn't difficult, but the snow made up for that.  It unfortunately didn't snow anymore for the rest of the week, so the snow was skied out everywhere after a few days.   The upside to that was that the weather was warm and we even had the Colorado "blue skies."

But that's not all that made the trip so special.  It was great being spending one last week with my host family doing something that we will remember.  After we would ski, we just relaxed in town, talk and play games, like Uno and Tabu.  It was just a nice way to relax.

We also were away for New Years.  Oh my gosh is New Years wild here.  At midnight, fireworks were going off non-stop in every direction for twenty minutes...It was spectacular but, not gonna lie, it was also terrifying.  Then, on New Years Day, there was yet another, official firework show at the ski resort with the best, choreographed to music firework show (which tops every single 4th of July show I've seen,) a beautiful torch lit run and of course, skiers jumping over fire.  New Years is celebrated so much more here than it is in the States.  Let the new year begin!