Das DEUTSCHE Abenteuer!: Hannenkamm in Kitzbühel

Sorry that this has taken SUCH a very long time to get around to, but as you can imagine, things have been a bit hectic around here. Finals finished up at the end of January, and immediately following finals, we started our month-long break. Finally, I now have some time to update you all as to what exactly has been going on on this side of the world!

In January, Madelaine, Al and I decided (last minute) to go to an international skiiing competition held yearly in Kitzbuehel, Austria. Hannenkamm, the world ski cup, is somewhat comparable to the "Austrian Super bowl." About 30,000 people show up each of the three days of the competition, watch the events, and then many stay in the city to party it up that night.

We had to take the early train out, and made it there around 9.30 in the morning. As we walked through the city, we could see remnants from the parties held the night before...definitely looked like they had fun (and didn't have enough time to clean up either...)!

It was definitely a GREAT experience, and we were glad that we decided to throw caution to the wind and just take off (not really knowing exactly what to expect). It was so interesting to see so many nationalities brought together - personally, I've never been to such an international competition. We walked by groups of people with flags painted on their faces, as well as flags hoisted over their shoulders. We climed the rather steep hill to about halfway up the run. We had to dig into the snow/ice with our shoes in order to get decent footing (it was VERY steep - each of us nearly wiped-out about five times).

All in all, a great experience of the Austrian sports-scene!

Al and Madelaine on the train to Kitzbuehel...