By Curtis Bell, CMSC Trip Chair
On January 11, 2019 a group of 22 CMSC members traveled across the Atlantic to do some skiing in St Anton, Austria, the birthplace of modern skiing. Right after we arrived a major snowstorm hit St Anton dumping several feet of snow the first day and a few more the second day. This made the avalanche level high causing many parts of the mountain to close. What remained open had epic conditions and on Tuesday many parts of the slopes started opening with great conditions. During those first two days we had so much snow and wind that we had very low visibility, but that didn’t stop several die-hard skiers in our group to go out and ski from 9 to 4.
On Monday several of us planned on taking the train on a 1 ½ hour train ride to Liechtenstein but due to an avalanche our train was no allowed to leave the station. On Tuesday several people decided to go to Innsbruck for the day via train ride but that too was canceled since we were isolated due to both roads and train tracks being closed. This did not worry us or dampen the enjoyment since we were surrounded by great snow.
Monday night before dinner we had a group picture with the owner of our hotel Karl Schranz, a former champion alpine ski racer from Austria, one of the best of the 1960s and early 1970s. He won a silver medal in giant slalom in 1964 at Innsbruck.
Tuesday the sun came out sand so did the rest of our skiers chomping at the bit to get out and ski the fresh snow. Tuesday after skiing many of us stopped at Mooser (Mooserwirt) known as the best Après ski bar in all St Anton.
Wednesday even got better as many more places were open to skiing and we took advantage of that. After skiing about 10 of us stopped at the Underground, another great après ski bar where we partied with several great people from Great Britain and Ireland. Partying with Brits is always a great time, and this was no exception.
After the great week of skiing about half of the group had to head to home while the rest of us went on to Paris for 4 days of sightseeing and enjoying the magic the city has to offer. We were happy to find out that the riots Paris had before we got there didn’t affect us at all nor did it affect the charm of the city and its people. During our stay we had a sunny day followed by a little rain and the city received a few inches of snow letting us see the city in white. We really saw snow in Versailles which painted the landscape in white when it had received 4 or 5 inches of snow. We enjoyed great meals and wine while in Paris making this a very enjoyable ad on in Paris.
In conclusion this trip to St Anton followed by 4 days in Paris was a great experience and once again reminded me and a few others how magical Europe truly is.