Skiing in Zell am See, part 2

Trying to get back to finishing the more exciting bits of the trip, but haven't be able to sit down and write something proper. Haven't help that I did not pen down the trip details immediately after the holiday and details have just been forgotten so easily.

Anyways, for beginners like me, Zell am See is definitely recommended. Go during beginning of Feb and avoid the high season but yet making sure you have the best snow around. Good thing about skiing in Austria is that you do not have to rub your shoulders around with the French, as the majority of the holiday makers comes from across the border Germany or Holland. Picking up few commonly used German phrases are always helpful, although the people there are really friendly as well. We took up a beginners course which charged EUR125 each for 3 days or more. Since we were there only for 4 ski days, we made full use of it and thought it was quite good value as well. Our rental of the skis, boots and poles were slightly more ex, as we took the convenience to rent from the ski shop located in the resort. We have been told that you can get better values if you search around the town below the resort if you want, but I really suggest going with the convenience unless absolutely desperate. The other major cost consideration is the ski pass. Obviously you can get better deals if you buy multiple days, so the trick is to make sure you get your basics right as soon as you can, and get the practice group to go up the mountains rather than the nursery slopes, which is really a bore after the first 2 days. The view from the top of the mountains is pure amazing, especially since I come from a place whereby our highest "mountain" is only called a hill! Once you get the hang on the slopes and the ski basics, you will certainly enjoy the skiing much more. I thought I did as I was really pushing myself hard by going on 1 leg, doing parallel turns, doing mini hops and even attempted a black slope on my last run, which took me almost an hour to get to the bottom of the mountain, causing my gf to be fuming as she literally waited an hour and half for me, not knowing what happened to me. Thinking back, I have to say my heart still race looking down at the slopes, but given another chance, pretty sure I will do it again. Till my next trip(if ever), shall let you know more of my adventures.

Hopefully the planned dive trip to Sipadan during April will be realized as I thoroughly missed diving...the sun, sand, sea, bubbles, fish, whales................