HUGGINS TOURS |
Bad Gastein 2002 |
Lavish Accommodation High Quantity Wines and Food |
Photographs Holiday PreviewThe HolidayThe holiday was booked through Inghams with several late additions taking the party up to 25, plus one late arrival, John Barker. The town was an old spa resort which used to have 6000 beds but is now declining and has several derelict hotels and some very smart ones, though none were better located for the ski lift and station than the hotel Krone. The waterfall at the bottom of town has 3 drops totalling 314 metres, so the walk back up from there was not for the faint-hearted. The HotelThe Hotel Krone still had many rooms in the "local style" which meant that they hadn't been decorated for about 30 years, but most of us were able to switch rooms to smarter ones, and even to single rooms when doubles had been booked. The food was not up to the standard of previous years with the manager stating that fresh fruit and vegetables were too expensive for us and the desserts included such classics as 1½ slices of tinned dwarf pineapple with a squirt of cream and dessicated swiss roll with a squirt of cream. Main courses did improve when we all started ordering from the á la carte menu. The barman was friendly and adept at pouring a weisenbeer, but one surly waiter appeared to have escaped from the last Rolling Stones tour and the waitress was variously known as Elsa Klemm, Cruella de Ville and the sour kraut. In all the catering left much to be desired, only some of which could be purchased at the Spar supermarket next door. Next door on the other side were the spa baths, including male, female and mixed saunas, though not all of our party realised that there was an alternative to the mixed one, and another was ejected for not removing his trunks. The SkiingWe were treated to glorious sunshine all week meaning that most of the lower runs were either closed or were a thin strip of snow which became almost unskiable in the afternoon. The best place for afternoon skiing was the top half of Sportgastein which had 3 long red runs and a blue, but Francis persuaded Rafi and Phil to try the lower black there - not the best of ideas. The best black was the wide B20 which ran down to Angertal and which the fast group tried 3 times in a row on Thursday, each time with slightly softer snow. The less fast group varied but included Jill, Sue, Stuart K, Margaret and John H. Due to the warm weather, many of us decided later in the week to start early (8:30am) and do very little in the afternoon. The fast group was usually Paul, Simon, Ian, Chris, Linda and Stuart M, sometimes joined by Margaret, Vince and Stephen. The first six had a private lesson on the first afternoon, Paul and Simon's first for at least 10 years. Six of the group tried snowblades on the final day at Dorfgastein with hilarious consequences. Under Ian's tuition they all set off down the first slope with tips wiggling madly, but they were soon getting the hang of digging their edges in. Soon they were trying red runs and mogul fields where the shorter skis made the turns much easier unless you tried to do them in a snowboarding style. Thus Vince provided excellent entertainment (along with Paul's sideshow) for the rest of the party gathered at the botton of the run, as well as for the skiers passing above in the chair lift. Ian then had an unfortunate encounter with a muddy puddle to add to his grazed chin from the first day. Earlier in the week Paul managed to break his 1980's vintage ski boots, allegedly by leaning back too far, but at least the front-entry ones that he then had to hire were more comfortable. In what must be a Huggins Tours record, ten of the party joined ski school, some for three days though most booked six for an extra 10 Euros and did four or five. The selection process seemed fairly arbitrary with Sarah put into a fast group on day 1, and by the second half of the week some of the classes had to be combined, mixing skiers of very different standards. Delboy had mastered parallel turns by Tuesday, but apparently lost the skill on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday - it must have been the conditions. Rafi and Phil were in the same class and were ripping down red runs by the third day. The nursery slope at Angertal was popular with Marilyn, Delboy and Sarah, giving the opportunity to practise technique at low speed if you had the patience to wait for the toddlers to ascend the drag lift. The only injuries were: Sally's knee (aggravation of last year's injury), after which she enjoyed a few mountain walks with John in summer-like conditions; Vince's head-over-heels on the snowboard; Anthony's sprained muscle in his leg cause by an awkward fall; Stuart Killen's knee. A few of the party remembered the Aeroplane bar affectionately from the trip to Bad Hofgastein in 1994, and it became our most popular lunch and afternoon stop, despite being at the bottom of a long slushy section of red run. Lunch had to make up for the evening meals, so a surprisingly large number of people tried the Tirolergröstl and the Germknodel, not to mention the Apfelstrudel, though very few plumped for a beer due to the warm weather. Aprés SkiEarly evening activities were mostly confined to the thermal baths and the Silver Bullet which had live music. The later evenings included the usual parlour games - charades, pictionary & call my bluff, plus a controversial game of scattergories. Most of our party went to the Tirolean evening where the thigh-slapping, hat-swapping and log-chopping were made more entertaining by audience participation. Huggins Tours were the last to leave after doing the limbo dance. The other major event was the shooting at the Bockstein Shooting Club, the same one as visited 8 years ago by Huggins Tours. The same Herr Pils ran through the procedures in excellent English before we were let loose with the firearms - air rifles. Some of the early targets looked very good after puncturing, but the eventual medallists (with scores out of 120) were: Gold: Linda Perle 116; Silver: Ian Huggins 115; Bronze: John Barker 114. NightlifeLike last year Francis, Stephen, Rafi, Vince and Delboy made the most of the town's nightlife by slipping in sneaky naps during the afternoon and evening. This year they were often joined by newcomers Hetesh and Anthony at the Silver Bullet (manned and frequented by Swedish blondes) and the Metz night club. Other good venues included the Eden bar and Central Park, but the Brazilian Jazz dance night was only bearable if you were gambling in the attached casino. Francis became so addicted to the Hey baby song that he had to buy a teddy which sang it when you squeezed his tummy. Top Back to Ski Trips Back to Huggins Tours | The Party (26)Paul Huggins | |