It's December and winter is upon us again.. Yahoo!!! Well for me anyway. Every year these past few years, whenever the calendar inches that much closer to the winter season in the northern hemisphere, my feet starts to itch; the longing stares at my boots, bindings, goggles and helmet become intensely longer and undoubtedly, that little bit weirder.
That inner voice that I just managed to shut up sometime in March last year comes back in full force, whispering to my conscience to head back out to the mountains, back to the embrace of my snowboard, riding that white powder that has managed to capture my imagination.
Towards the end of 2014, I found myself staring longingly at the mountain of possible locations google had spewed out onto my screen in the wee hours of the morning. To suggest that I was drooling over my wireless keyboard would be an understatement.
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| Where it's at: 47°11′17″N 12°41′15″E. |
Not far out from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's birthplace city of Salzburg, the Kitzsteinhorn forms part of the Hohe Tauern range in the eastern part of the Alps. Standing at just over 10,500 feet (=3,203m), it is by no means the highest mountain in the Alps.
That honour belongs to Mont Blanc sandwiched between France and Italy standing at 15,781 feet (=4,810m). Even she's dwarfed by the Sagarmātha aka Chomolungma at 29,029 feet - i.e., Mount Everest!.
But anyway, let me put Kitzsteinhorn into perspective: when you come from a city born in the rainforest that stands at about 72 feet above sea level, 10,500 feet is pretty darn high.
The Kitzsteinhorn is also not the most famous in Austria, compared to its neighbour - the Kitzbühel alps in Tyrol.
Kitzbühel is home of the epic Hahnenkammrennen (Hahnenkamm race), and subject of "Streif - One Hell of A Ride" movie (Thanks Stephan for the link). Chronicling the mythic downhill race through the years, it's the ultimate ski race movie.
Anyway, why Kitzsteinhorn? After a couple of years in the beautiful Graubünden canton in Switzerland and the experience of low snow cover last season, I just wanted to go somewhere different and go higher.
But, these trips take a considerable amount of planning. The inhumane abuse my calculator takes on is testament to harsh budgeting and lots of bloody tears, especially when the exchange rate from your home currency will not just burn a hole in your wallet but more likely cause a violent and cataclysmic implosion to your savings account.
Click!! With that typical *ping* of an incoming email with the note stating, "congratulations, your trip has been confirmed", the countdown begins and my excitement grows exponentially.
Eleven Thousand, Seven Hundred Kilometers later..
After setting off from the 80% humidity of the tropics; 11,600 kilometers later, I caught myself staring out of the window of the Austrian Airline aircraft at the vista below me. Admittedly with some trepidation as it would seem that in addition to the thermometer gauge reading in the plus column, the white stuff was also missing..
The final 80+ km journey from the airport in the van that I had booked was even more nerve-wracking especially as we pulled into the heart of Kaprun, the municipality in the Zell am See district - my home for a week.
Where the heck is the snow, man? With the clouds hanging quite low, I couldn't even see the mountains or the snow cover up there. Panic!
Dumping my bags in the room, I went looking for the folks who would be my guide or my sifu on the mountain that week at Hartweger's. I have a term for these sifu's, people whose lives revolve around snow - which is the subject of my next post. And thank goodness for them, they reassured me that the white stuff was plentiful up on the glacier.
Regardless of what level you are on skis or snowboards, it's worth hooking up with a local instructor/guide as they would have greater and better insights on the mountain, how the snow behaves, conditions, going freeriding, weather, best runs etcetera.. And Hartweger's is a great family-run ski / snowboard school located in the heart of Kaprun. It's totally worth checking them out, not just on the count of them being fairly economical in pricing but more importantly for being such wonderfully warm and friendly people. With them I also got the "wallet-friendly" price at Sport 2000 Glaser for my Ride Rapture snowboard, which I fell toe over heels in love with.
Up and up..
The next morning I decided to get my lift tickets from the local office in Kaprun as opposed to the kiosk at the gondola station for fear of triggering a mild form of enochlophobia. I didn't fancy the idea of my system releasing epinephrine and producing elevated levels of annoyance whilst in a queue with what seemed like half a million people ahead of me. In fact, check with your hotel if they're a registered ticket vendor and you could arrange it through them. Easy peasy.
After shuffling along with a bunch of two-plankers to get on to the first gondola (the Gletscherjet 1) up to the Langwied at just under 6,500 feet (=1,900m), my anxiety began to dissipate with the evident presence of the white stuff. After a quick pitstop admiring the view, I quickly made my way up to the second gondola (Gletscherjet II) to the Alpincenter, the appointed meeting point with my Sifu.
After a couple of years riding at a fairly comfortable altitude under 6,900 feet (=2,000m), you do feel the difference being at just about 8,200 feet (=2,500m), especially when you still have a few hundred feet to climb on the Gratbahn chairlift.
I've always felt especially humbled and truly small in the grand scale of things when you're up that high on any mountain or stand in the middle of a desert or sit on a boat in the middle of the ocean.
The vista from the Kitzsteinhorn is truly quite remarkable, one that literally took my breath away! It's quite different from peering out onto the world below you from the small window of an aircraft at 30,000+ feet. There's really no comparison experiencing and taking in the spectacular panorama before you when you're on a mountain. Trust me. Try it.
I consider myself quite lucky to have had the opportunity to take in the view of the marvelous Hohe Tauern mountain range on a spectacularly clear day. Looking out onto peaks that are well over 10,000 feet that seem to be reaching out to the sky also makes you consider your presence on just one part of a great mountain range system that began forming over 700 million years ago. (that's well before dinosaurs roamed the earth).
Formed in the Palaeozoic era, the Kitzsteinhorn glacier (Der Gletscher or THE Glacier as declared on its website), remains open to skiers and snowboarders for almost three quarters of the year. But it's the glacier itself that I wish I had photographed, especially when I remember watching a documentary on how the glaciers of the Alps have been retreating for decades.
Top of the world.. well.. sort of..
These days, you don't have to do what Johann Entacher did back in 1828 to climb up the Kitzsteinhorn. If your lungs are able to continue functioning after a day of labouring up and down the runs and getting mowed down by a novice two-planker, take that Gipfelbahn up to the Gipfelwelt 3000.
At just over 9,800++ feet (=3,000 meters), it's the highest point for visitors in Salzburgland. On the ascent, I felt like my chest was being lightly squeezed by the giant palms of a 500 pound gorilla. So.. no trips up to the Himalayas for me yet then..
Just minutes before, I met a really cool English grandpa-grandson pair who wanted to go up as well. But, the old man couldn't because of his heart condition so he sent his grandson up with me. We chatted for a while until we got about halfway up. Silence quickly ensued partly because the gorilla was still sitting on my chest and partly because the view was extraordinary. Cat did get my tongue.
Despite the fact that it took me a while to get my breath back, I really was a bit speechless. I can imagine what Herr Entacher felt 187 years ago, kinda..
It is stunning even if it is not the highest when you compare it to other destinations in the Alps, for sure. In fact, there's a restaurant in the Italian ski resort of Cervinia at 11,500 feet (=3,500m) boasting jaw-dropping views that makes your almost-michelin star plate of linguine look rather dull.
When my tongue eventually grew back, I met a local skier who asked if I was going to ride down from up there. I was honest with him and told him that I didn't have the balls to do that yet.. I will one day.. He had that quizzical look when I said that, then chuckled and decided to take the ride back down with me in the gondola. Really cool dude!
Everyday for almost a week, after strapping myself onto my board, I would take that extra couple of minutes to stare into the distance, much to the chagrin of my sifu. Hey man, you'd do the same if we reversed roles and I were to take you up to the science station platform staring out onto the gorgeously green Maliau Basin "lost world' rainforest of my homeland. :)
Back on terra firma and in the village
Reluctantly, when the skies started to darken every evening, it would take every ounce of will to tear myself off my seat in the little bar at the AlpinCenter and the hot chocolate I was nursing to take the gondola back down to earth. Partly also because the queue for the gondola was always so damned long..
I'm also getting really good at ignoring the stares I get from pretty much everyone as they try to figure out where I am from and what I'm doing there. Thank you Dr. Dre for your monster beats headphones as I can just immerse myself in some really loud music to drown out the screaming, pushing and shoving pre-pubescent kids in the gondola.
Then prepare to get squashed like sardines in the bus with you hanging on to your snowboard and dear life with just one available little pinky with a 6' 5" two-planker resting his ski boots on your foot. Makes for a rather intimate ride back down to the valley... NOT! seriously? w.t..?
My advise, either come up really early in the morning (first bus up is at 7.45a.m), ride like mad until about 1pm, then take the gondola down. Or, if you are gonna stay, then take the gondola down after dusk, the crowds should have thinned out, a bit (disclaimers apply). But, the crowds do still gather en masse waiting for the bus.. Then my advise is chant: patience is a virtue.. patience is a virtue.. patience is a virtue...
Actually I got lost on my first bus ride and ended up in some other town (Arietbahn, I think), which was hilarious because I followed a fellow solo snowboarder-traveller from Germany.
He felt so bad for misguiding me and offered to take me to the correct stop when the bus did eventually halt some 20 minutes later. I ended up having a really interesting conversation with Toby. Sorry we didn't get to exchange contacts but if you're reading this, Toby from Hamburg (I think), it's all good dude, I found my way home!
The valley has its fare share of stuff to do and with Zell am see just around the corner, loads of places to eat, chill out, party and/or get plastered. I prefer taking a more chillaxed approach to getting to know a place more intimately, so I pretty much stayed put in Kaprun.
I also had the privilege of getting to know and hanging out with some pretty awesome people who call Kaprun home as well as those who were visiting like I was. But, nothing beats getting to know a place from a local.
Actually, my mind is torn as I'm almost reluctant to tell you the name of the place I frequented the most, highly recommended by the locals and a really damned cool place to chill out after a day on the slopes. It's my secret.. OK, fine.. It's called Paletti Pizza Bar, right off the main Kaprun thoroughfare.
You really can't get any more international here. Owned by an Austrian, the man tossing the pizza into their wood fired oven is an Egyptian, the really cool lady who works there is Italian and the regulars I hung out with there hail from every corner of this amazing earth.
When you get a Malaysian hanging out with folks from Germany, Slovenia, Holland, Spain, Slovakia, North America; not to mention patrons from Northeast Asia and Australia, it really is as diverse as a United Nation's general assembly. All I need is to find someone from the South Pacific.
Never say Auf Wiedersehen
Suffice to say, every place I visit almost always leaves me yearning for more. Never mind if it's in the middle of the scorchingly hot desert during my one-month sojourn on the fringes of the Sahara desert; or the plateaus that used to be the domain of great mongol Khan in Kazakhstan.
Kitzsteinhorn is no different to my time in Africa or Central Asia. This despite the fact that you do have to be prepared to contend for every inch of available space in the queue for the chairlift; and use the opportunity presented by the rather intimate ride on the bus back to the village to cure claustrophobia.
I also almost always say I fall in love with certain aspects of any place I have the luck of visiting. And in the Kitzsteinhorn's case, it was not difficult to fall in love with her. She is stunningly majestic, even if she isn't the highest peak in Austria or the Alps.
Even if the temperatures refused to drop or the warm air from the south refused to release its stranglehold to allow the cooler arctic air to bring some much needed snow, the runs are well groomed for a really nice ride. And at that altitude, you really can't complain.
Like all things one loves, it's what one can't keep that keeps one yearning for more. That the snow did eventually come literally 24 hours after I left really made me feel like a jilted lover. How could you?? hahaha.. well, if anything, it's definitely teasing me to come back..
PS - this post is dedicated to the guys and gals still shreddin' it. Be well and stay safe y'all.
And I had this song on when I left..
How apt.. "you're the air in my lungs, you're the fields where I run, you're the sky where I'm floating.. it's you.." lol!
Eleven Thousand, Seven Hundred Kilometers later..
The final 80+ km journey from the airport in the van that I had booked was even more nerve-wracking especially as we pulled into the heart of Kaprun, the municipality in the Zell am See district - my home for a week.
Where the heck is the snow, man? With the clouds hanging quite low, I couldn't even see the mountains or the snow cover up there. Panic!
Dumping my bags in the room, I went looking for the folks who would be my guide or my sifu on the mountain that week at Hartweger's. I have a term for these sifu's, people whose lives revolve around snow - which is the subject of my next post. And thank goodness for them, they reassured me that the white stuff was plentiful up on the glacier.
Regardless of what level you are on skis or snowboards, it's worth hooking up with a local instructor/guide as they would have greater and better insights on the mountain, how the snow behaves, conditions, going freeriding, weather, best runs etcetera.. And Hartweger's is a great family-run ski / snowboard school located in the heart of Kaprun. It's totally worth checking them out, not just on the count of them being fairly economical in pricing but more importantly for being such wonderfully warm and friendly people. With them I also got the "wallet-friendly" price at Sport 2000 Glaser for my Ride Rapture snowboard, which I fell toe over heels in love with.
Up and up..
 |
| This was on a relatively quiet day according to my buddy. Hmm.. |
The next morning I decided to get my lift tickets from the local office in Kaprun as opposed to the kiosk at the gondola station for fear of triggering a mild form of enochlophobia. I didn't fancy the idea of my system releasing epinephrine and producing elevated levels of annoyance whilst in a queue with what seemed like half a million people ahead of me. In fact, check with your hotel if they're a registered ticket vendor and you could arrange it through them. Easy peasy.
After shuffling along with a bunch of two-plankers to get on to the first gondola (the Gletscherjet 1) up to the Langwied at just under 6,500 feet (=1,900m), my anxiety began to dissipate with the evident presence of the white stuff. After a quick pitstop admiring the view, I quickly made my way up to the second gondola (Gletscherjet II) to the Alpincenter, the appointed meeting point with my Sifu.
 |
| The Langwied station, the first stop on the ride up to the AlpinCenter. |
I've always felt especially humbled and truly small in the grand scale of things when you're up that high on any mountain or stand in the middle of a desert or sit on a boat in the middle of the ocean.
The vista from the Kitzsteinhorn is truly quite remarkable, one that literally took my breath away! It's quite different from peering out onto the world below you from the small window of an aircraft at 30,000+ feet. There's really no comparison experiencing and taking in the spectacular panorama before you when you're on a mountain. Trust me. Try it.
 |
| there are no words to describe this incredible view.. |
I consider myself quite lucky to have had the opportunity to take in the view of the marvelous Hohe Tauern mountain range on a spectacularly clear day. Looking out onto peaks that are well over 10,000 feet that seem to be reaching out to the sky also makes you consider your presence on just one part of a great mountain range system that began forming over 700 million years ago. (that's well before dinosaurs roamed the earth).
Top of the world.. well.. sort of..
These days, you don't have to do what Johann Entacher did back in 1828 to climb up the Kitzsteinhorn. If your lungs are able to continue functioning after a day of labouring up and down the runs and getting mowed down by a novice two-planker, take that Gipfelbahn up to the Gipfelwelt 3000.
 |
| it was difficult to tear myself away from this place.. |
At just over 9,800++ feet (=3,000 meters), it's the highest point for visitors in Salzburgland. On the ascent, I felt like my chest was being lightly squeezed by the giant palms of a 500 pound gorilla. So.. no trips up to the Himalayas for me yet then..
Just minutes before, I met a really cool English grandpa-grandson pair who wanted to go up as well. But, the old man couldn't because of his heart condition so he sent his grandson up with me. We chatted for a while until we got about halfway up. Silence quickly ensued partly because the gorilla was still sitting on my chest and partly because the view was extraordinary. Cat did get my tongue.
Despite the fact that it took me a while to get my breath back, I really was a bit speechless. I can imagine what Herr Entacher felt 187 years ago, kinda..
 |
| As I don't have a sponsor to take me up on a heli to photograph this view, the closest you can get to have a feel for this incredible place is via Google Earth. Then plug in the OST to The Dark Knight and imagine it if you will. |
It is stunning even if it is not the highest when you compare it to other destinations in the Alps, for sure. In fact, there's a restaurant in the Italian ski resort of Cervinia at 11,500 feet (=3,500m) boasting jaw-dropping views that makes your almost-michelin star plate of linguine look rather dull.
 |
| Clearly I am not alone in enjoying the view.. |
Everyday for almost a week, after strapping myself onto my board, I would take that extra couple of minutes to stare into the distance, much to the chagrin of my sifu. Hey man, you'd do the same if we reversed roles and I were to take you up to the science station platform staring out onto the gorgeously green Maliau Basin "lost world' rainforest of my homeland. :)
Back on terra firma and in the village
 |
I actually waited around that day just so I could have this all by myself.
|
I'm also getting really good at ignoring the stares I get from pretty much everyone as they try to figure out where I am from and what I'm doing there. Thank you Dr. Dre for your monster beats headphones as I can just immerse myself in some really loud music to drown out the screaming, pushing and shoving pre-pubescent kids in the gondola.
Then prepare to get squashed like sardines in the bus with you hanging on to your snowboard and dear life with just one available little pinky with a 6' 5" two-planker resting his ski boots on your foot. Makes for a rather intimate ride back down to the valley... NOT! seriously? w.t..?
 |
I concentrate on this when the stares become
too intense and ever so annoying
|
Actually I got lost on my first bus ride and ended up in some other town (Arietbahn, I think), which was hilarious because I followed a fellow solo snowboarder-traveller from Germany.
He felt so bad for misguiding me and offered to take me to the correct stop when the bus did eventually halt some 20 minutes later. I ended up having a really interesting conversation with Toby. Sorry we didn't get to exchange contacts but if you're reading this, Toby from Hamburg (I think), it's all good dude, I found my way home!
 |
| Waking up to this view of the mountain from the valley floor.. if you look carefully, you'll see Paletti Pizza Bar.. |
The valley has its fare share of stuff to do and with Zell am see just around the corner, loads of places to eat, chill out, party and/or get plastered. I prefer taking a more chillaxed approach to getting to know a place more intimately, so I pretty much stayed put in Kaprun.
I also had the privilege of getting to know and hanging out with some pretty awesome people who call Kaprun home as well as those who were visiting like I was. But, nothing beats getting to know a place from a local.
Actually, my mind is torn as I'm almost reluctant to tell you the name of the place I frequented the most, highly recommended by the locals and a really damned cool place to chill out after a day on the slopes. It's my secret.. OK, fine.. It's called Paletti Pizza Bar, right off the main Kaprun thoroughfare.
You really can't get any more international here. Owned by an Austrian, the man tossing the pizza into their wood fired oven is an Egyptian, the really cool lady who works there is Italian and the regulars I hung out with there hail from every corner of this amazing earth.
When you get a Malaysian hanging out with folks from Germany, Slovenia, Holland, Spain, Slovakia, North America; not to mention patrons from Northeast Asia and Australia, it really is as diverse as a United Nation's general assembly. All I need is to find someone from the South Pacific.
Never say Auf Wiedersehen
Suffice to say, every place I visit almost always leaves me yearning for more. Never mind if it's in the middle of the scorchingly hot desert during my one-month sojourn on the fringes of the Sahara desert; or the plateaus that used to be the domain of great mongol Khan in Kazakhstan.
 |
| be prepared to hustle and shuffle for the chairlift.. |
Kitzsteinhorn is no different to my time in Africa or Central Asia. This despite the fact that you do have to be prepared to contend for every inch of available space in the queue for the chairlift; and use the opportunity presented by the rather intimate ride on the bus back to the village to cure claustrophobia.
I also almost always say I fall in love with certain aspects of any place I have the luck of visiting. And in the Kitzsteinhorn's case, it was not difficult to fall in love with her. She is stunningly majestic, even if she isn't the highest peak in Austria or the Alps.
Even if the temperatures refused to drop or the warm air from the south refused to release its stranglehold to allow the cooler arctic air to bring some much needed snow, the runs are well groomed for a really nice ride. And at that altitude, you really can't complain.
Like all things one loves, it's what one can't keep that keeps one yearning for more. That the snow did eventually come literally 24 hours after I left really made me feel like a jilted lover. How could you?? hahaha.. well, if anything, it's definitely teasing me to come back..
PS - this post is dedicated to the guys and gals still shreddin' it. Be well and stay safe y'all.
How apt.. "you're the air in my lungs, you're the fields where I run, you're the sky where I'm floating.. it's you.." lol!
 |
| i really need to find myself a nice small power-packed camera next time.. this place is stunning.. masya'Allah |
