Austria

Our yearly ski holiday. Following a recommendation from a friend at work, Marc, we planned our trip to the small family resort of Warth/Schroeken in Vorarlberg, Austria. We flew to Zurich, took two trains to Dornbirn, and then an hour and a half mini bus to the hotel, located about 1500m above sea level.

The main mountain was Salober. 

The hotel was great, and so was the snow! 2 metres deep on the top of the mountain, and about 165 cm at the hotel. Perfect skiing!  A couple of eager skiers ready to hit the Piste! Photographer Cameron in action! Phil and Nicole at Saloberkopf. In this photo, Cameron is at the front, and Alexander is coming behind (Phil is out of the shot in front of Cameron) - skiing back to the hotel after ski school.

After ski school, Phil and the boys would ski back over the mountain to the hotel. On the first day, the concept of 'stay behind Dad' really didn't sink in. Alexander and Cameron past by Phil on a slope they didn't know.

Alexander went around the outside of a route marker to do a 'jump' - not knowing what was on the other side! In this case it was a serious drop off and steep section off piste. He jumped all right, out into nothing with a long drop onto the snow! He must have flown about 5-6 metres (arms and legs waving) and slid about another 30 m down the slope. Cameron didn't jump, but hit the steep piste at high speed (straight down) and had a massive spill. He joined Alexander at the bottom of the slope.

The 'Flying Kangaroo' was fine - he was covered in snow and his face was icy where it had ploughed through the snow. After picking up the scattered ski gear, and getting the boys organised, Phil explained why 'follow dad' is not such a bad idea - or at least don't go crazy on parts of the mountain that you don't know!