Skiing in Kitzbühel and Youthful Carousing

Cable cars above Kitzbühel

In February the Majornas high school closed for Winter Break.  As it was explained to me, Swedish students needed to escape the long dark nights and get out into the fresh air and sunshine.  Our school organized a ski week to Kitzbühel, Austria.  We were housed in a gasthaus, which was a student pension. The accommodations weren’t fancy, but comfortable. We had fluffy duvets. These were new to me since they hadn’t hit the American market yet. The furniture was rudimentary and the bathroom was down the hall.

Our pension looked a bit like this.

We were located a little out of town but close to the ski runs.  I had not skied much in my life.  When I was 10, I was invited for a ski vacation in Vermont with a friend and her family.  I fell down and broke my ankle, on the first day, so I spent the week on the sofa, reading.

Here is a picture of Gudrun taken that fall by an apple tree. I should have included it earlier.

During the week in Kitzbühel, my skiing improved quite a bit and I became increasingly adventuresome.  As I remember Gudrun was more experienced than I.  Along with racing down the mountains, we were also entranced by the ski instructors who seemed incredibly handsome and alluring.

A view of Kitzbühel

The gasthaus provided nourishing meals.  I remember the delicious kaiser rolls served for breakfast. Wikipedia tells me: “Kaiser rolls have existed in a recognizable form at least since prior to 1760. They are thought to have been named to honor Emperor (Kaiser) Franz Joseph I of Austria."

Every morning they were served with butter, jam and a delicious white cheese. I enjoyed this repast at a sunny table with a view of snow covered mountains.

Dinners were hearty with pork roast or sausages or maybe Wiener Schnitzel.  Then maybe there was a piece of apple strudel or Gugelhupf for dessert.  I doubt we had Sacher Torte but I’ll include a picture of it here…with plenty of whipped cream. Austria has so many delicious dishes.

Crispy Wiener Schnitzel

Apfelstrudel

Sacher Torte from the famous Sacher Hotel.

One evening we all loaded into a bus and went into town to see the sights and visit the cafés and bars.  I went with a group of friends into a rollicking bar.  There was singing and toasting. Being a neophyte I drank several glasses of sweet Austrian wine.  It probably tasted like soda pop to my uneducated palette.  That night, back in the hotel, I was sick as a dog.

Now let’s get back to those ski instructors.  Three of them invited, Gudrun, me and another Swedish girl to go dancing at a local hot spot.  We got all dolled up with skirts, high heels and stockings. (I can’t believe we even brought such finery on a ski trip.  But this was the 60’s)  One of the ski hunks had a car and we piled in.  It was a drive of some distance on narrow, icy mountain roads.  We never arrived at our destination because the car broke down.  The guys fooled around under the hood for a while but couldn't get the vehicle to start.  It was decided that we would begin walking until a car drove by or we passed a chalet. In retrospect this seems like a bad decision.  Perhaps the ski gods knew of a house down the road.  My German was rudimentary so I probably didn’t understand the decision to venture forth into the cold.

I don’t remember how long we walked in our high heels and stockings, slipping and sliding…and freezing. At long last we arrived at a snow-covered chalet.  A middle-aged couple welcomed us in and hustled us before a roaring fire.  They brought steaming mugs of tea laced with rum or maybe Schnapps.  I remember that my feet were freezing and my teeth were chattering uncontrollably.

Much later we got back to the Gasthaus.  It was past curfew. The door was locked so our companions hoisted us up onto a low roof and we managed to open the window to our room and climb in.  That night we three girls piled into one bed with extra comforters and cuddled to keep warm.

The next day, when I really looked at the ski instructors, I realized that they had lost much of their shiny veneer.