Dinner out, bring your helmet.

Dianne and I skied Hauser Kaibling again today. She has a good spot that works for her and is near a restaurant, and I have a couple of nice steep, soft snow, off piste places I like. Fun for everyone.

Tonight, a dinner out is planned, with the caveat; bring your helmet. It was posted as a sledge ride after dinner, which we thought was something like horses pulling a sleigh. No, that is not it. It is us riding down the mountain on a rented two seat sledge. Two runners underneath us and feet for steering. The course is 7 km long and 2500 feet vertical.

Three busses are arranged to take us from the hotel to the bottom of Hochwurzen Gondola. Sledges are rented at the bottom and we bring them up in the gondola to restaurant at the top. Dinner is excellent, and our corner of the restaurant has a dozen of us seated together. We are Canadians mostly, with a couple from Sweden and Henrik from Denmark.

After dinner the fun begins. Nobody knows how to steer these things, assuming they can be steered at all. We take photos at the start in case we expire before the end. The course is mostly illuminated, and steep in places. To slow down, you drag your feet, which kicks up snow into your face and up your pant legs. Corners are sharp and littered with others who failed to negotiate them. Dianne and I are on one sledge, Neil and Gayle Potter on another. It is a friendly rivalry. Dianne keeps dragging her legs and yelling slow down while I attempt to steer. We pass some hapless schmucks along the way and that pleases me. Dianne is still complaining, but I’m sure she likes passing people because her feet don’t drag as much now. Potters are now in sight so I start yelling “pick up your feet” to Dianne. We pass them on a corner but have to slow later for more riders in front. Potters go by us. Snow is still flying in my face as I attempt to slow down for corners, I am wearing glasses, and that helps a little. There are some bumps on the course that get us lifted from our seats. With each bump Dianne yells louder “slow down”, but Potters are in sight again so that is not in the cards. We go by them for the last time, only to see what looks like an accident scene with multiple sledges overturned on the side. The people are standing, and as we pass by they throw snow at us at face level. The course goes through a tunnel under a road and it appears that the end is in sight. We stop at the bottom, and meet up with all the others we dined with, and exchange stories. Everyone in still intact and walking. The bus ride back to the hotel seems boring now.Read more