After spending Christmas in the UK we flew out to Austria for New Years. We would be staying with some of Hannahs extended family near Linz. As soon as we stepped off the plane we could feel the icy air hit us, it was cold!
We spent a few days hiking in the hills and exploring local Christmas markets. We also crossed the border into the Czech Republic to visit Český Krumlov which you can read about here. We also had our first experience of Hungarian chimney cakes here. They are incredible!
Most of the time I was wearing my snowboarding gear as the icy air seemed to cut straight through and made me very cold. We walked into the hills and explored a winter wonderland that had frozen ice and snow everywhere. We also had a large fresh snowfall while we were there which was great.
We had a great New Years party and the locals let off fireworks in the streets which was very exciting. We would be leaving the Linz area the next day and heading off towards the mountains.
We drove to Salzburg and explored the city and even saw some of the filming locations for the Sound of Music. It is a beautiful city with a castle sitting on a hill overlooking the town. We checked out the markets and beautiful little streets before driving to our airbnb in the mountains.
We arrived at a beautiful old farmhouse building with a large wood burner to keep the home warm. We sat with our backs up against it as we all warmed up. We started having large amounts of snow falling and the two days we spent snowboarding in the mountains were fantastic. Lots of fresh snow and real winter conditions. When it is as cold as this though you have to keep moving otherwise you can get cold very quickly and for snowboarders who end up sitting down a lot the coldness can catch you very quickly.
Our first day snowboarding we had beautiful clear blue skies. The weather was cold but the conditions were perfect. We could see right across the mountain range. The second day though it snowed all day and visibility was pretty low. I really enjoyed it though as it felt more challenging.
On our final afternoon snowboarding in the Mountains Hannah's brother Ed and I decided to go up for one last run while the others warmed up and waited in the car. We had found a run that we really liked and we were speeding our way down and cutting through large piles of fresh snow. Our goggles were constantly being wiped so we could see where we were going. This is the first snowboarding trip I've been on where I haven't felt hot under my jacket, in fact I wish I had more layers on. It is also my first trip at this time of year. It was a great way to end and start a new year before heading back home.
