Activities between Christmas holidays and New Year
Inhalt/Content
Skiing in Oberhof
The biggest event we had planned for the time was skiing! Neither of us had skied before, so we had to buy the right clothes (snowproof jackets, pants and gloves) and a place nearby where beginners could ski. So after some research we came to Oberhof, which is “only” 2 hours away by local transport and where there are providers of beginner courses. So we signed up for such a course and also reserved equipment in the form of skis, ski boots, helmets and poles. We got tips from friends on how to prepare for the sport, but nothing could have prepared us for what happened to us that day…
We leave very early, already in our ski outfit, to take the train to Gotha. The first thing we noticed here was that the train station and bus station that docked there didn’t look as shabby as they did on our last visit (Gotha Zoo). Everything had been refurbished quite nicely and modernly. At the bus station we had to wait more than half an hour until our bus came. Since I didn’t just want to wait at the bus stop, I walked to the nearby Netto to get some provisions. When I came back, there were already a few more people at the bus stop who probably also wanted to go to the ski area. The journey should take another three quarters of an hour and in fact all passengers got off in some small villages before stopping. Even a group of drunk teenagers got on so early in the morning, but got off a mountain before the last stop.
When we arrived in Oberhof, we really noticed that this place only lives from its ski area, since you hardly saw any houses or other things on the street here. Nevertheless, we had to walk to the bottom of the ski slope, which was another 20 minutes walk. When we got there, the stalls were just about to open and we could borrow our equipment directly because we had reserved. Our driving instructor was waiting for us and we first walked to the foot of the slope. Here we should learn with our skis at the beginning how to move forward, how to align the skis correctly for driving and braking and how to move around turns. When aligning the skis, one usually speaks of “chips” (i.e. parallel) for skiing and “pizza” (i.e. tapering) for braking. Since Nathalie doesn’t like greasy food, we agreed on other code words: “asparagus” and “pointed cabbage”.
After a while we walked about 50 meters up the mountain to practice real descents there. We managed this relatively easily, but we also noticed that braking can be difficult if the path is a bit icy – in addition, our skis were only just waxed and were therefore even smoother. The next exercise was about making turns by really leaning on the outer ski. I hardly managed to do this, but Nathalie mastered it over time.
After more than 1.5 hours, the beginners’ course was over and the finale was supposed to be a complete ride down the mountain. Our ski instructor advised us to repeat the exercises we just completed a few more times before going up. On the one hand because we hadn’t fully mastered all the exercises yet, on the other hand because he couldn’t come with us because his next class would start in a few minutes. We practiced a bit and then went back to the huts to eat a roster there (after all, it was exactly noon and after almost 2 hours of skiing practice we were really hungry). After that we had a choice: should we let it be and just walk back to the bus stop… or should we take the lift and venture up the mountain – after all, we had also rented the equipment for the whole day. So we plucked up our courage (I especially because I’m afraid of heights and the lift easily moved 10 meters above the ground), got tickets, which unfortunately only came in packs of 5, and queued at the lift. After that it would all just be a nightmare…
Many people were already standing at the lift and we joined them. We noticed how the lift sometimes stopped for a few seconds. Probably because there was a traffic jam at the top. After the ticket check, a conveyor belt came, on which you stood with your skis, and every 5 seconds the gondola came, onto which you were practically thrown – so far, so good. The ride up took about a minute and the skis were dangling down, which is why I was particularly afraid that they might fall off my shoes. Nathalie said that would definitely not happen, but I had already lost a ski when I fell during the previous exercises, so the danger seemed more real to me. Once at the top, the shock was suddenly great because you were thrown down a small hill. This shouldn’t have been a problem even for us as beginners, but since we were thrown off the lift at a decent speed, we fell down just a few meters later. At first I thought the lift operator would stop the lift because of our fall – but, no. The lift was still running so many other people had to ride around us which was quite embarrassing. After a while we were able to get up again and went to the beginning of the slope. In fact, we weren’t the only ones who didn’t make it out of the elevator properly.
From the top the mountain looked pretty steep (which it was) and it had started drizzling since the lift with the lift, which made everything more slippery – so the situation had changed abruptly. Nevertheless, we were still confident that we could simply “brake down” the mountain by always making “pizza” or “pointed cabbage”. So we started and it didn’t take long for me to realize that I just couldn’t slow down. So I deliberately let myself fall about every 10 meters so that I didn’t uncontrollably pick up more speed. I tried this two more times, always getting the same result. After that I gave up and just put my skis on my arm while I continued to walk down. Nathalie, on the other hand, was a little more confident on the skis and got about 50 meters further than me. But then I found her lying on her back. She lay there on her shell like a tortoise and couldn’t get up. She also had to brake when it got too fast and otherwise she would not have been able to avoid other people. She was also pessimistic about the further descent and therefore joined me in running down the rest of the mountain. Although there was also a path to the side of the piste, it was anything but well developed and was sometimes used as an extreme run and in summer as a mountain bike route with more curves and jumps. So in desperation we kept descending here and often came to points where we ourselves didn’t know whether we should rather go back to the actual slope.
After quite a while we finally arrived in the valley area of the piste (where we had also practiced before) and at least we were able to practice a little more skiing here. This is also where the last photos were taken, which should at least show the appearance of how much “fun” we had. When we got to the bottom, we simply handed in our equipment and headed home, defeated. Since we still had 4 rides left on our tickets, we quickly sold them to other people who also seemed to be beginners. It was funny to see that a car accidentally drove down the small hill from the parking lot to the slope and couldn’t get up. Since it only had rear tire drive, after a lot of trial and error, it only got back up the mountain by reversing – after which the spectators all applauded.
Not much happened that day. The way back to the bus station in Oberhof was snowier than before and therefore slightly more uncomfortable. At the bus station itself we had to wait about half an hour, which is why we looked at the area a bit. We found a bobsled that Nathalie sat in, a bridge with a beautiful view, and a shopping center with an exoticarium, but we didn’t have time to visit it. After the bus ride we were back in Gotha and then took the train back to Weimar.
(Note Nathalie: What rounded off the ski fiasco was that my ski shoes were obviously too small. It was said that they should be a bit uncomfortable and should also pinch a little, but the shoes were so tight in the long run and have so depressed that some of my toes turned blue! Of course, these are not good prerequisites for skiing.)
