Couple of weeks ago I was in Austria visiting the White Start Games in Zell Am See-Kaprun. Back then we unfortunately couldn’t go skiing due to bad weather but last weekend I finally had the chance to go skiing at the Stubaier Glacier near Innsbruck.
I haven’t been skiing for almost 5 years since a dinner went bad in Sydney and a car hit me. Until now I was afraid of skiing and snowboarding because when you fall you always first fall on your hands and in my case that would mean a broken wrist again.

It was a very spontaneous visit and I had to rent all the gear there. For 31 € I rented skis and boots at the Intersport and the day ticket was another 41 €. Winter sports can be very expensive but you can find some good deals at www.snowtrex.co.uk where they offer apartments with lift passes inclusive.
Together with Lea I then made it up to 3300 meters to the top of tyrol from where you have an amazing view over the country. We were incredibly lucky with the weather that day and it was a lot of fun to simply ski and relax on the mountain.

They say you never forget how to ride a bike and I guess Skiing is the same. After a couple of slow slopes I was back and enjoyed the speed while skiing down the many slopes at the glacier. I quickly also dared to do some jumps and luckily nothing happened!

The Stubaier Glacier has more than 110.000 meters of ski runs and is one of the biggest ski areas of Austria. On average about 60 kms of ski runs are open. Enough for every leisure skier and sport junkie to not cross ways!

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Have you ever heard of “Snow flossing”, “Snow surfing”, “Deep Snow Diving” or “Free-Ride Sweating?” I traveled to Zell Am See-Kaprun in Austria with Lea and Christine to find out what these new sports meant at the White Start Games 2012 . Believe it or not, some of them were exhausting.

The disciplines

Snow flossing meant to wear flippers and complete a parkour in the snow. Sounds easy but these flippers restrict your movement but it’s incredible how fast some people were. The highlight of this discipline were three guys from Salzburg who completed it in their shorts… brrr so cold!

Snow surfing meant snow tubing the hill in a sled. This also sounds easy but for somebody who normally crashes into the only tree on an empty hill it was pretty difficult. I survived though!

The Free-Ride Sweating was easy. We had to sit in a Sauna at 90 degrees Celsius and wear a think wholly hat, which made it a little bit hotter but we survived the 3 minutes we had to be in there.

Deep Snow Diving was easy again, simply had to race down the kids slide and swim a parkour in the kids pool.

Christine calculating the weight of the block of ice

Why I participated?

I wanted to win the beautiful Audi A1. Unfortunately, I wasn’t drawn into the finals. Christine was drawn into the finals but unfortunately only for one round since we both miscalculated the weight of a block of ice.

What is the funniest sport you did? Anything as crazy as the ones we tried in Austria? We are looking forward to your craziest sport stories in the comments below!

Disclaimer: I was invited to participate at the White Start Games by Zell Am See Tourism. However, they never asked to make a fool of myself and all thoughts are my own.

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The fourth largest city of Austria is Salzburg. Salzburg is a beautiful city with great surroundings and the old Town of the city is one of the best preserved city centers north of the Alps and has internationally renowned baroque architecture.

Salzburg was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997 and millions of tourists come every year to see the beautiful city. The famous composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in the famous Getreidegasse. The best time of the year to visit Salzburg is in Summer, Salzburg weather during summer is very sunny and hot. Around the Salzach river you will find a good Hotel in Salzburg.

I lived 4 years in Salzburg and here are some of the places I recommend you to visit while visiting the city:

1. Visit the Hohensalzburg Castle

You can get there by taking an elevator from the foot of the hill or you can walk up there. I would recommend to safe the Euros for the lift and invest them for a nice cold beer once arrived at the castle. There is an admission fee of 7,40 €. If you decide to take the lift you have to pay 10,50 €.

2. M 32

Most people take a picture from Salzburg from the Makartsteg. Go to the M32 at the Mönchsberg. You only have to take a lift up there to the Restaurant and you have a magnificent view over the roofs of Salzburg and to the Hohensalzburg Castle. From the M 32 you can also walk to the castle.

3. Salzburger Dom (Catherdral)

The cathedral is a 17th century baroque cathedral of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Salzburg, dedicated to Saint Rupert of Salzburg. It is also the site of Mozart’s baptism.

4. Getreidegasse (Grain Lane)

That’s the busy shopping street in the old-town of Salzburg, as mentioned before Mozart was born here in house no. 9. You cannot miss this house. Just look for the big crowd of people in front of it, mostly asians and spaniards.

5. Schloss Mirabell (Mirabell Palace)

The Mirabell Palace is a beautiful palace in baroque style. The main attraction of the palace are the geometrically arranged gardens and mythology themed statues which date from 1730.

6. Frauenstift Nonnberg (Nonnberg Abbey)

It’s a Benedictine monastery which was founded in 714 by Saint Rupert of Salzburg. It’s the oldest women’s religious house in the German-speaking world. From the Nonnberg Abbey you have a fantastic view over the city and the Hohensalzburg castle which is situated at the other side of the River Salzach.

7. Schloss Klessheim

Like nearly every old building in Salzburg the Schloss Klessheim is also a baroque palace situated about 4 km west of Salzburg. To get there you can take a train or a bus. It was a former summer residence of the Archbishops of Salzburg and later used by Hitler. Nowadays it is the Casino of Salzburg.

8. Salzkammergut (Estate of the Salt Chamber)

Not directly in Salzburg you can find the austrian resort area called Salzkamergut, it stretches from Salzburg to the mountain range of Dachstein. The name derives from the Imperial Salt Chamber, the authority charged with running the precious salt mines in the Habsburg empire.

The Salzkammergut is a great place to enjoy nature. It has many opportunities to be active in water, sports, bathing, hiking, cycling and golf and of course you can relax around one of the many lakes.

Large parts of the region were listed as a World Heritage Site in 1997, with the description: “Human activity in the magnificent natural landscape of the Salzkammergut began in prehistoric times, with the salt deposits being exploited as early as the 2nd millennium B.C. This resource formed the basis of the area’s prosperity up to the middle of the 20th century, a prosperity that is reflected in the fine architecture of the town of Hallstatt.”

9. Schloss Hellbrunn (Palace of Hellbrunn)

The palace has well known water games and is totally worth a visit during summer. It is situated outside of Salzburg next to the Zoo. To get there you have to take the Busline 25 and it takes about 25 minutes. More information about the Palace here: http://www.hellbrunn.at/en/ 

10. Wolfgangssee

If you have seen everything in Salzburg, take the train and visit the Wolfgangssee.  It’s a beautiful lake about one hour away from Salzburg. During summer you can rent small electro boats and skip around the lake. Prices for a boat are between 6-10 € for one hour.

 11. Hangar 7

Salzburg Airport is about 5 km’s outside of the city and if coming by car you must exit one street before the airport to get to the Hangar 7 of Red Bull. Didi Mateschitz, the founder and owner of Red Bull, built himself two hangars at the Airport of Salzburg. One he uses privately, where he stores all his planes and helicopters and the second one is a little museum with trophies and vehicles of sports which are sponsored by Red Bull like the car of Sebastian Vettel of the Formula 1. On the second floor there is a very good and expensive restaurant called ikarus and on the third there is an awesome bar with view over the airport and a high tech bar with touch screen where you can flirt and send messages with other people in the bar.

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