From 2019 Feb, I decided to start a nice winter outdoor sport – ski. This year was my 2nd time to attend this sport course from Uni Tuebingen, which open also for publics. The teachers are very experienced, and the whole program was well organized with nice 3-star hotel with sauna and pool. 3-days ski pass, accomodation, coaching and transportation by university minibus were all included in the course price.
Ski area
It is at Ehrwald, locating at Austrian side of Zugspitze. Zugspitze is the highest mountain in Germany with 2,962 m (9,718 ft) above sea level. Compare to other ski area, this area is relatively small but very suitable for beginners.
For more details of Ski area, please visit: https://www.bergfex.at/wettersteinbahnen-ehrwald/panorama/
Accomodation Hotel Feneberg Ehrwald
The main picture was taken from the balcony of this hotel in the morning.
We had double room or triple room with half pension (breakfast and dinner).
The food there in 2019 was very good. However, in 2020, it became buffet style, which was not so tasty compare to 2019. (I remember in 2019 it was still 4 or 5 -stars hotel, perhaps it leveled down?)
Course
This course was mainly for absolute beginners and beginners, i.e. have none or only a few experiences, e.g. less than 10 days ski experiences in total, or not good at skiing parallelly.
Coaching
the teachers have the coaching license from Deutscher Skiverband (DSV) Ausbildung (Ski – und Snowboardlehrerschule) with several years of coaching experiences. They are the sport teachers of the university Tuebingen, Germany.
Although the teachers can speak a bit English, the course was hold in German. Perhaps you would like to have a crash course of German ski terms.
| German | English | Mandarin (Chinese) |
| Skigebiet, Skiort | Ski area, ski resort | 滑雪場/區/聖地 |
| Skipiste, piste | Ski slope | 滑雪道 |
| Skihang | Ski slope | 滑雪坡道 |
| Skilift | Ski lift | 滑雪纜車 |
| Sessellift | Chairlift | 坐著的滑雪纜車 |
| Schlepplift | T-bar lift | T-桿纜車 (不能坐,只能撐著你的身體上山坡,要穩住 Ski 或 snowboard) |
| Ski | Ski | 滑雪；雪板(雙板) |
| Snowboard | Snowboard | (單板)滑雪板 |
| Skistiefel | Ski boots | 滑雪鞋 |
| Skibrille | Ski goggles | 滑雪眼鏡 |
| Stock (Stöcke) | Stick (s) | 雪杖 |
| Skihelm | Ski helmet | 安全帽 |
| Der Pflug (pizza) Pflug fahren | the plow Drive the plow | 八字滑降；犁式滑降 |
| Parallel | Parallel | 拼腿/平行滑 |
| Kante (-n) | Edge | 雪板鋼邊壓邊 |
| Gewicht verlagern zu linken/rechten Seite nach vorner/hinten Seite | Weight shifting To left/ right side to the front / back side | 重心轉換 向左/右 向前/後 |
| Bergseitig <>Talseitig | Mountain side <> valley side | 上坡面<>下坡面 |
| schwingen-Schwung | swing | 搖擺/晃/甩 |
| Mogul | Mogul | 饅頭；丘狀障礙物。 不整地雪面、亂雪堆 |
| Skilehrer (-in) | Ski instructor | 滑雪指導員，指導一般想進步的滑雪者 |
This time, in Feb 2020, I could see clear differences between last year from the climate change. Last year, the thickness of the snow next to the road was higher than 1.5 m and on the rooftop was at least 30 cm. The ski area made some artificial snow, which is of course energy consuming. That makes me concern more whether to keep this hobby. However, at least I do my best to concern the environment with simple steps. It could be simply seal the pockets of your clothes well, so that your personal belongings or trashes will not drop out while skiing. Or pick up the trashes on the snow. After ski season, the snow melt, there are always lots of trashes at the ski area. My friend even dropped his phone in the thick snow and cannot find it back at all. Hope everyone could pay a bit more concern for our beautiful nature while enjoying our time! I might not give up skiing easily, but I will keep those eco-friendly concern in mind.
