My friend an I went Skiing this weekend on a Glacier in Austria. The benefit of skiing on a glacier (opposed to a regular ski slope) is that there is still plenty of snow in the Spring/Summer. At over 3000 meters high, the view was absolutely incredible. The snow was all fresh powder, and because it is so late in the season - there were no crowds at all. It was really neat at the very top of the Mountain because the Mountain straddled Austria and Italy - so we could stand at the top of the glacier, with one foot in Italy, and one foot in Austria. I had a fantastic time, and was especially humbled to see a ton of handicapped skiers on the mountain. We had the chance to talk to one guy, and his story was so touching... he was paralyzed at 19 years old during (of all things) a ski accident. Here he was, several years later, facing what most people would never do (by skiing again with extremely specialized equipment). He was truly enjoying himself and taking advantage of the life that he now has (obstacles and all)- what an unbelievable inspiration!!! I was in absolute awe of his ambition! On the trip home, we stopped and went for a hike up to the tallest waterfall in Austria - truly spectacular! It was especially neat for me too because the Waterfall was near the Otzal Glacier, which is the same Glacier where the oldest intact human remains known to man were found in 1991 (the remains of the Man they now call "Otzi" are over 5300 years old). They were preserved for thousands of years because of the Glacier. A few years ago when we visited Bolzano, Italy, we were able to see his remains in a refrigerated chamber - but it was especially cool to be in the area that the hikers discovered him. A great weekend!
P.S. I still have requests in to Bryan and Bailey to write bout their ski weekends as well, but it may be a while... :-)
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