The skiing and the scenery doesn't get better than in the famous Lech, Austria and we were lucky enough to make our 2012 family ski vacation there!
We loaded into the car for a 4.5 hour drive into the most beautiful place. Set beneath the Flexen pass in eastern Austria, this small town is nestled in the valley of the Austrian Alps. The town of Lech is quaint and about as traditional-looking as modern ski resorts get, and has over the years been frequented with some incredible visitors. Princess Diana used to vacation there and the Jordanian royal family still does – so too Princess Caroline of Monaco, former tennis champion Boris Becker and Russian president Vladimir Putin.
Todd organized a babysitter for Stew at our hotel so that he and I were able to ski 2 days during our stay. PS - if you don't already know, Todd is our travel planner and his trips never seem to disappoint. Next year Stew will hit the slopes, but at 2 years he's still too little to give it a whirl at this point. While with our babysitter, he chilled in the kids room of our hotel, was pushed in a nordic sleigh around town, and spent time playing in tons of snow blanketing Lech. Every female employee at the hotel was on a first name basis with Stew, offering him warm cookies at every turn, so he was quite pleased with himself : )
What is cool about this area is that there are a cluster of little towns you pass through as you drive in that you can ski your way into thanks to strategically placed ski lifts and pistes. Todd and I started a tour of the Weisserring (white ring) starting in Lech and passing through the other resort towns as we climbed and skied down mountain after mountain. Of course when we (Clark and Ellen) are navigating our own using the massive map we were bound to make some wrong turns so we eventually had to hop on the ski bus to make it back to Lech!
This scenery was straight out of a movie as far as beauty goes....but the scary part of getting off that lift almost 2000 meters above sea level was the fact that we had to make our way down. When I say 'we' I mean me! We both loved every slope, I just wiped out 10 to 15 more times than Todd did : )
A fabulous ending to our hours on the slopes was coming back to a happy little boy and sitting fireside relaxing before dinner. The hospitality and "Gemuetlichkeit" (romantic atmosphere) at this hotel was off the charts.
One highlight of our stay was a horse drawn sleigh ride through town and into the forest with a group from our hotel, followed by a torchlight walk back with a short stop on the bridge for a shot of Austrian Schnapps to keep all of us toasty warm along the way. We came back to a party on the terrace complete with all the traditional Austrian fare and some piping hot Gluwein.We also were lucky enough to be in Lech during Advent, which means we were able to partake in the traditional Christmas Market that they have there every year and were even treated to an impromptu performance of Alpine Horns in the Market Square.
We are keeping our skis sharp for our upcoming trip back to Austria in February with Barb & Tim!
Here are some more pics and videos….
Pictures...
https://picasaweb.google.com/100058394167996772160/LechAustria?authkey=Gv1sRgCN3L3rGmtITAWg
Videos...
http://youtu.be/djRjw4ypt7M
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIWxn06U_mY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gR17rtxPg3I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LQg0qM0ylw
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