Innsbruck for the winter continued...

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow! Yep it kept snowing, it snowed so much that the lift companies had to close the lifts because the avalanche danger was too high. One day it snowed about a foot so we got up early to catch some fresh runs but after 3 hrs of waiting were advised that they would not be opening as the danger was too high, so sad we had to head home :( But the next day the snow was amazing and probably one of the most epic days we ever had... and by this stage we had had a lot of epic days!
























The mountains we rode in Innsbruck were; Axamer Lizum (amazing tree runs), Patscherkofel (fun hills to ride and a small park), Nordkette (rode the steepest runs we have ever ridden 70% gradient, plus amazing views of Innsbruck!), Muttereralm (small but fun for an afternoon), and Schlick. All public buses were free if you had your snow gear on so it was really easy to get to and from all the different lifts.


























Second week of January Innsbruck was hosting the first ever youth winter olympic games; we got involved and went to a couple of the events as you could get tickets to most of the events for free! We saw the half-pipe, ice-hockey, figure skating and speed skating. The kids were amazing especially considering most of them were under 15. Marc loved the hockey games especially as we got to see two of the canadian games both of which they won, however in the end the other teams were a little stronger and Canada went home with bronze. The only bad part of the youth olympic games was the weather, it was bloody cold (-18) most days and nights especially to be a spectator when your just standing around watching.

During the week of the youth olympics we also made a trip back to Munich to pick up our flashy new German resident cards. One of our couch surfing friends met up with us after we picked up our cards and showed us some more sights of Munich. That afternoon we got to see 'The Cooper's Dance' that only happens once every 7 years. The dance was really special to see, men in red coats, black pants, white gloves, dancing around with green tree branches. The music was very traditional and the 2 jokers went around making the spectators laugh and marking their noses with black soot for luck.

At the end of January our friend James came back for a visit and stayed with us for a long weekend to snowboard. It was great to have someone different to go ridding with. We had a lovely couple of days ridding around Innsbruck and even made it up to Ischgl for a day trip. The weather was extremely cold though which made ridding a bit more challenging. -18 plus windchill Marc and I were both fighting off frostbite on our noses and cheeks brrr so cold.

Early Feb we got tickets to go to the Billabong Air and Style comp. Unfortunately the weather had again turned freezing. As we knew how cold it was going to be we rugged up, pretty funny as we both had multiple layers; thermals, tracksuit pants, 2 pairs of socks, snow pants, jumpers, snow jacket, scarf, beanie, 2 pairs of gloves and snow boots. Walking to the bus was funny as we shuffled along in our multiple layers. Even with all our clothes our feet still got a little cold but overall it was not too bad. The competition was really cool to watch, all the competitors were amazing and the tricks were huge.

The rest of February was pretty quiet; we went ice skate a few times, Marc got his hockey stop dialed and I managed to go around fast without falling over! Celebrated our 3 year wedding anniversary (Marc surprised me with a rose for every year we had been married and a pancake breakfast), more snowboarding, travel planning and counting down the days till mamma Currie would be arriving for a 2 week visit at the end of the month!  

Towards the end of Feb the weather changed and started to get warm again, we could not believe that spring was already on its way and March was not even here yet!