Christine in Zell am See, Austria

Stay on top of the mountain.  Yes.  Great idea.  Ski out in the morning.  No lines for lifts up the mountain.  Until you have to take your skis, boots, and luggage on a gondola to the top.  And then you ride the gondola and start at 100 and subtract 7 from the last number to keep your mind off of the fact that you are afraid of how high you are.  And sometimes you do the math wrong and have to figure out where you left off.  And this actually happens 4 or 5 times, trying to subtract 7 from the last number.  Completing subtraction in your head does not help you forget you hate heights.  Just sayin'.

Looking down the gondola line.

The map states that Schmittehohe is 2000m (6561 feet) high.  But not really.  Based on some scientific instrument, the top of the mountain was actually 1982m (6502 feet) high.  The hotel reminds me of a 007 movie.  Someplace James Bond went.  I think this picture proves it.

The hotel Berg

The hotel price includes breakfast and dinner.  Because where else are you going to eat?  Since the gondola's last run up the mountain is at 4:30pm.  But fear not, dinner is tasty.  You receive 3 courses.  I loved the soup, as usual.  Oddly, or maybe not, they served minestrone soup one evening.  Usually there are creme or tomato soups in Europe, or at least the ski countries.  I recommend the roast beef main course.  Hotel people-keep working on the desserts.  The bar upstairs serves better hot chocolate.  Well, they give you way more whipped creme.  That counts as better in my world.  

Staying on top of the world, er mountain, has its perks.  The best being ski out.  Yes, you put on your gear and you are ready to go.  It snowed Saturday evening.  So the skiing was amazing on Sunday.  Not lots of powder, really 2 or 3 inches of new snow, but enough.  There is no better feeling then just flying down, making fresh tracks, and going.  The blacks were not difficult in these perfect conditions.  Well, it was freezing cold.  Like your fingers and toes may fall off cold.  But you can't have everything.  Can you?  Sunday morning I had the best runs of my life.  Run 13.  So far.  I'll get the chance to duplicate the feeling.  One day.  I'm sure.

Run 13

A view from the mountain.  Run 11 I believe.  That's the lake back there.  Frozen over.  People walk between the 2 towns over it.  I wonder if I am that brave?  I was too busy skiing to find out.

A church on top of the mountain:

More:

Me being brave:

I always sit facing up the mountain.  I ask people to switch seats with me if necessary.  They are kind enough to do so.  It seem less scary watching upwards.  Sometimes it's not though.  I just close my eyes.  Some Germans got a good laugh when we momentarily stopped.  I instantly closed my eyes, covered them with my hand and said oh god I'm afraid of heights.  They laughed.  You can't blame them.  Then we started moving again.  I kept my eyes covered for a bit longer.  

Christine