We took the Salzburg Snow Shuttle, which takes skiers and snowboarders to a different mountain each day of the week. The shuttle, sponsored by Toursimus Salzburg, leaves Mirabellplatz at 8:30 a.m. and departs the mountain at 4 p.m. It costs 13 euros ($15) round trip to ride on the shuttle and 37 euros ($44) to ski at the mountain all day, along with a three euro ski pass deposit. Ski passes are electronic keys that scan when getting on the lift. As long as the ski pass is returned at the end of the day, the deposit will be returned.

We didn’t arrive to Gastein until 10:30 a.m., which I consider to be a late start (I usually start riding at 9 a.m. back home). By the time two of my friends gathered their rental gear (I brought my own), it was already 11 a.m. However, we were amazed to discover that there were no long lift lines and we had our first run all to ourselves.

We rode the gondola up again. There were two more lifts that we could take further up the mountain, so we went on those. On the side of the packed snow trails were areas of powder snow that we tried to slide through. Riding through powder is a lot harder, since you need to shift your weight differently than riding on the marked trails. The snow can build up on the front of the board, forcing it to sink. It is also harder to turn when carving through deep powder.

Trying to ride through the powder was the best part of the day. When I fell, it felt like I was jumping into a giant foam pit. My body didn’t hurt because I wasn’t slamming onto a hard surface. After my friends and I tried out the powder, we hopped back on to the trail and continued gliding down. We kept repeating the process through the day because the variety of snow conditions made the session unique and incredible.


AIFS students Marnee Peterson and Jessica Schaefer taking a break on the slopes.