Dripping Into the Grind — Just arrived München

Six hour layover in Chicago was ok — better than the alternative 45 minutes which would have required Olympic caliber terminal hopping skills… Interesting airport, worker’s paradise of the future, when we all live in steel caves? Nooooo, to the mountains I go!

Blade Runner? Click to enlarge.

It’s morning here in Munich. Before taking the train to Innsbruck area, espresso is required. In fact, two. For fun, I sample the German food counter first, where the half decent pastries are. Then, for the best wireless, yes, I sit down in the airport Starbucks. Slap me. But oh my gosh the Starbucks espresso was better. That’s heinous. Luckily their pastries don’t even come close.

Heading to the train station now. Look for a somewhat erratic blog schedule as I get situated and de-lagged.

Thanks, Lou

14 Responses to “Dripping Into the Grind — Just arrived München”

1. Toby January 6th, 2012 7:45 am

   Welcome to Europe Lou. (best part of it ; ) I just came back from skitouring. Lots of snow around here, but the weather (and traffic) is terrible right now. We had some nice powder today. But watch out: the current official avalanche warning needle is on the red arc. Have good time in Austria

2. George Reed January 6th, 2012 8:51 am

   Isaac Asimov wrote Caves of Steel; it would be scary to live in one. While you are playing in europe the california people have some nice big surf to ride.

3. Lou January 6th, 2012 9:19 am

   Hi George, good to hear from you! They do have a lot of snow here, but it’s been raining as well… no matter what, better than the alternative, unless the alternative is surfing, anyway….

4. Lou January 6th, 2012 9:21 am

   All, I guess those caves of steel got to me more than I thought. Am fighting a bit of a cold. Won’t start doing ski trips till that’s under control, as I don’t want to miss the Dynafit press event. Stay tuned, even if I’m not doing trip reports we have plenty of stuff on tap. Lou

5. James Broder January 6th, 2012 11:22 am

   Hi Lou,

   I’ve been in Kitzbühel all week. It has been dumping and dumping and dumping here. You are in for a treat. There has been, as you mentioned, a little rain too, but only under 1000m. The remainder has fallen as snow, and it has puked buckets.

   I feel like I’ve stumbled into a wrinkle in the space/time continuum I flew here from Utah, where normally there would be around 300 inches of snow by now, yet the skiing was terrible and the temps were warm. Snowbasin wasn’t even half-open on Jan 1. I flew to Tirol, where the snows are typically modest and the weather temperate, to find almost two meters of fresh pow on the Hahnenkamm.

   The forecast is for continuous dumping through at least Tuesday. Plenty of touring action here on the Kitzbühelerhorn side of the valley, although most of the lifts on the Hahnenkamm side were shut down today due to high winds up top. Today (Friday) I had to take a day off anyway, due to heel blisters from touring hard all week.

   The cars can’t get through the streets due to snow piled up on the curbs. I’ve spent the last 6 Januaries here and I’ve not seen anything remotely like this. It’s as if Alta and Kitzbühel have swapped weather patterns.

   Today was FIS “snow control” inspection for the Hahnenkamm-Rennen downhill. Typically this is a serious affair, as the mild conditions in Kitz usually make the snow coverage tricky for a race where the finish line is in the middle of the town, and the town is at only 700m. This year, the “snow control” consisted of a couple of face-shot powder runs down the course, and a lot of joking around.

   A couple of my friends from Kitz are over at Adelboden for tomorrow’s mens GS. They are suggesting that the GS be replaced by a Powder 8 contest, because there is zero chance of any racing taking place.

6. Lou January 6th, 2012 12:17 pm

   Hi James, I’m actually amazed at what I’m seeing here in Bad Haering above Kufstein, (near Kitz) lots of white and it’s snowing hard tonight. I’ve never seen it this white though legend from locals is that it used to be this way every winter…. I’ve got a few days to tour so it’ll be good, perhaps even better in a few days as right now it sounds like the avy danger is pegged anywhere in avy terrain. Lou

7. LarryB January 6th, 2012 12:54 pm

   Question for James Broder in Kitz.. I lived in Kitzbuhel from 1945 through 1947 at the Hotel Ehrenbachohe at the summit of the Hahnenkamm. I heard that the hotel had burned down. Can you confirm that for me? Thanks.

8. James Broder January 6th, 2012 2:05 pm

   LarryB – It’s still there.

   http://ehrenbachhoehe.at/

   Cool spot. You can hit it with a tee shot from the Kitzbuheler Ski Club clubhouse (starthaus for the mens DH) at the top of the Hahnenkammbahn.

   A bit of a haul to get out to the local Billa or MPreis from there if you forgot your toothpaste ;=)

9. Rob Coppolillo January 6th, 2012 9:30 pm

   Trust you visited the beer garden in the Munich airport…if not, make sure to hit it on the way out. Good skiing to you, Lou! RC

10. Lou January 7th, 2012 3:25 am

    Hi Rob, where is it in the airport, and what’s it called? Probably not a good stop on the way in, but would be a fun last stop on the way out…

11. Rob Coppolillo January 7th, 2012 12:37 pm

    In between the two concourses, in the covered outdoor area…

    http://tinyurl.com/7zppgp4

    Just as for the “Airbrau” and they’ll point you in the right direction….

    Rest up, feel better, and hope you get some turns….ciao man!
    RC

12. Wookie1974 January 9th, 2012 4:08 am

    Lou –

    The beer garden is closed in the Winter….but the restaurant between the terminals is open. Pretty good beer brewed on site.

    For better: in the city you can go to the Weisses Brauhaus, Im Tal 1 I think, just off the main square, Marienplatz. If you have the time, it is MUCs oldest restaurant, something like 500 years, and has a lot of beer hall ambiance without as much of the tourist crowd at the more famous Hofbrauhaus – which only has north Germans, Americans and Japanese in it these days.

    Kitz was rocking the last few days. Have fun.

13. Lou January 9th, 2012 5:34 am

    Thanks Wookie, I’ll check some of that out if I have time. Am pretty familiar with the open area between terminal and transport station, as I walk across there to get trains. Was wondering why I’d not seen a beer garden there… but it’s a chilly shady place in winter so I understand why it would be gone for the season.

14. David Gerrard January 9th, 2012 7:25 am

    Lou, forget sipping beer in a chilly, shady airport bar. Head over to the Therme Erding (thermal spring sauna), 20mins drive from the airport, where you can enjoy the town’s own brew (Erdinger) while having your aching skiing muscles soothed in a choice of around 20 different saunas, each one with a different theme. There’s an Aufguss every hour, a sauna done out like a bar, a real bar in the swimming pool and a “celtic throne” sauna. Not to be missed, a real eye opener, and a definite blog experience!