Austria & Switzerland - Ski Tour

Brother Brian, sister Anne Devoe and middle nephew Cam arrive mid day Sunday for a two week 4 venue ski adventure. I am taking the train up to the Zurich Airport tomorrow morning, where we will rendezvous. Our adventure takes us first to Austria for the 1st two venues and then back to Switzerland for the final two venues.

First on our circuit is St. Anton am Alberg. St. Anton is a family favorite. We skied St. Anton Christmas week 2005 -- with all the younger Lawler boys (Evan and Pat MIA on this trip) and I was in my first season of returning to skiing after a 30 year long après-ski break.

St. Anton is the cradle of modern skiing. Early in the 20th century, Hannes Schneider, a local ski guide, created a skiing technique that became popularly known as the 'Alberg Method'. I learned to ski in the 1960s according to the Alberg Method. Ironically, I had to unlearn it to ski contemporary shaped skis.

St. Anton is located in the Tryrolean Alps. The upper pistes connect down the valley to St. Christoph, Lech and Zurs; Lech and Zurs are upscale ski destinations of distiction.

Fresh snow is in the forecast for this weekend, followed by sunny to partly cloudy for our Monday through Wenesday on piste days.

From St. Anton, we head to Kitzbuhel, also in the Tyrolean Alps. We are going to Kitzbuhel for the annual World Cup races on the Hahnenkamm. Thursday is a travel day; time and weather permitting, we may be able to get a few turns in on the mountain. We have tickets to the Super G (Friday) and the Downhill (Saturday). Races are held on 'der Streif' (the Streak). The Streif is ranked as the most demanding, extreme, and perilous piste on the World Cup circuit. For a preview, watch: https://youtu.be/uAIKDik79h8 (Highlight the entire link and click it open for a the youtube pop up video).

The Streif is 2.058 miles long, with a vertical drop of 2,822 feet. The course features both reverse bank and high compression turns, requiring exceptional strengh and precision skiing at speed. Historically, Europeans have dominated winning the downhill on der Streif. Franz Klammer (Austrian) held the a long standing record with 4 wins and then was surpassed by Didier Cuche (Swiss) 5th win in 2012. Buddy Werner (1959) and Daron Rahlves (2003) are they only Americans to achieve the top podium.

After the raucous excitement of the Hahnenkamm, we will traveling to the more stately St. Mortiz in Switzerland. Our route includes dropping Cam off in Innesbruck for his flight home. We will undoubtably miss Cam's ever brimming enthusiasm and graceful skiing. I suspect Brian, Anne and I will dial back our pace en piste after Cam's departure.

St. Moritz is the archetypal and quintessential Winter destinaton resort. For the past 150 years, many have emulated St. Mortiz, including the Lawler brothers home ski town, Sun Valley, ID ( opened 1936 as the 1st American destination Winter resort ). St. Moritz evolved from a Summer resort in the 1870's after an enterprising hotelier convinced several wealthy Britons that the climate would be superior to London in the Winter. Initially, Winter sports included curling, cricket, and ice skating/hockey. Bob sledding was added, and the famous Cresta Run, an all natural ice track, was completed in 1904 and is still in use.

St. Mortiz has twice hosted the Winter Olympics, in 1928 and again in 1948. The 1928 Winter Olympics (officially II) were the 1st games actually held in the Winter; they did not include Alpine skiing. Olympic alpine skiing debuted in the 1948 Winter Games in St. Moritz. Gretchen Fraser (Sun Valley, ID) took the Gold in Slalom and the Silver in Combined.

Alpine skiing was introduced to St. Mortiz in the early 1930s. The first 'official' Swiss Ski School was established at that time. Presently, St. Moritz has a well developed pistes on Corviglia -- its main ski mountain.

St. Mortiz is reputed to have 300 days of sunshine a year. We are hopeful for a classic 'dump' of freshies before our arrival, followed by several bluebird days of skiing.

From St. Moritz in far southeastern Switzerland, we will reverse direction for our final venue - Arosa. Arosa is year round resort destination, located in the Grisson region and near (but not directly accessible to) Davos. Arosa originally evolved as a remote summer resort and healthcare (TB cure) destination. Mountain Winter sports were introduced in the late 1930s with the opening of 3 ski lifts. Post WW2, Arosa gained prominence as more modern lifts were installed, expanded and upgraded. For the past three seasons, Arosa has been on the FIS Ski Cross World Cup circuit.

Arosa offically became Arosa-Lenzerheide in 2002 was part of a consolidation of smaller municipalities in the valley. Arosa and Lenzerheide were linked physically in 2013 with a cable car connection.

I am ending this with an upbeat speculation that there could be a day where 3 generations of Lawler men are together on skis. I receieved an email with photos last evening from Anne, announcing Lauren & Pat had their 2nd child ..another boy. Congratulations Lauren & Pat..and grandparents Brian & Anne.

More blogs to follow on our ski tour, Kevin