Tag: Sport

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Schönsten MTB Touren Kärntens

Yes, finally we made it and managed to get on the bikes… As this was not the first attempt, we decided wisely and properly on time, where to go. Several sites say, the most beautiful mountain bike tracks of Carinthia are around Weissensee, so we had a point to prove.

For our stay we booked a room at the OptimaMed place, which is not a typical hotel for sure, but for a reasonable price it offers a swimming pool and several saunas, great for regeneration.

The first track on Saturday 18th of May was called “Weiße Wand – Alm hinterm Brunn” and with its 22km was suppose to take about 2 hours. Maybe with an e-bike 😅 or in a dream. Those 800 uphill meters with White Wall and wonderful views on Weissensee took us 3 hours, 42 minutes. I was wasted already.

The second track on Sunday 19th of May was something like “Grosse Weisensee Runde” and with 34km it was really quite big. It has also more than 1000 uphill meters and we have stretched it to over 6 hours, with some longer breaks, because it was so beautiful. Afterwards we were truly wasted, but could retrieve some energy in OptimaMed wellness 😉

For the last day – Monday we did not cycle uphill anymore, but ride by the lake shore and took a rest on a small secret beach, somewhere opposite to Weisser Baum im Weissense 😊 For the conclusion, we say it’s possibly true, these tracks are really nice!

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Dream skiing in Cortina d’Ampezzo

It might be from when I first saw the FIS races years ago, but I remember, I was instantly amazed with Dolomite mountains. Since then, it was just a dream to see the beauty of the rocky nature in person.

Back in October 2023 we were talking about the next skiing vacation and the dream started to materialize slowly. Going alone, without our friends, Dolomites with its proximity to Graz, where also reasonable choice. And where exactly in Dolomites? For sure to Cortina d’Ampezzo – the most famous skiing resort in Italy and well known worldwide.

In fact It’s also a very busy place during the winter times, so we actually decided for a wonderful apartment in Chalet Alpenrose by Lake Misurina, just few minutes drive away from Cortina.

On the24th of February we were stunned by the volume of fresh snow while approaching Dolomites. And just to remember, it was heavily snowing also couple of the following days. We were told, the biggest amount of snow was recorded during our stay 😊

First days we were exploring the slopes under Monte Cristallo and Faloria as well as Tofana tracks. For a midweek break we did some snow hiking from Lago Antorno via Strada Tre Cime (covered with at least 1m of snow). Later we went for a day on Tre Cime slopes from Sexten and then got a great wellness treatment in Caravan Park Sexten. This is the most naturally beautiful wellness we have seen so far. Just by an accident we got a “Solo Per Due”private wellness for free 😃

For the rest of the week we stayed around Cortina, visited the town several times (it is really full of fashion boutiques – what a surprise 🙂 and enjoyed the slopes until our stay.

Overall until 2nd of March we managed to ride down more than 140 slope km! But it was definitely that Italian flair combined by old fashioned houses with a dash of prominent atmosphere and the wonderful rocky scenery, which made our vacation great. Dream came true.

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Silvester in Dachstein West

Very sad days separated Christmas and the New Year’s Eve of the year 2023. With all the sorrow it was hard to decide whether to go anywhere or not.

We decided for a journey very late.

Warmly welcomed by our friends at a lovely chalet in Dachstein West – Chalet Dorf, we felt instantly better. And how good was the decision to join them, turned out in the following days. The place was really cosy, just a stone throw from a slope and the surrounding of rocky mountains is truly magnificent.

We went skiing, snowboarding in the morning, then relaxed in our private finish sauna and spent the evenings playing games and having various interesting chats together. Balsamic effect for a sore soul.

 With our honey, little Berry and Diego the cat in the house, we had a lot of fun too. Dear friends thank you for another great experience, wonderful New Year’s Eve party (with unforgettable photo shooting) and lovely days spent with you.  

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Sunny days under Schneeberg – very late report

Well, sometimes it just doesn’t go the way you plan. Upon our arrival from the yachting adventure, we suddenly had a bunch of troubles to be solved, with the puppy… As she was barely walking, not very into running anymore, we took her to a hospital. Unfortunately, the little dog was diagnosed a very rare (less than 2%) patella luxation a needed a surgery asap.

We on the other hand, have our second half of the vacation cancelled and were seeking for a reliable pet doctor. The first knee was successfully operated on 1st of September and the quarantine regime has begun. With the first week isolated in a playpen, we all needed a rehabilitation in the land. There we found this lovely place under the Schneeberg, called Rohrbach im Graben.

Even though we had to split the activities, one took guard on Berry – the other one was free, we still quite liked our stay. Paddleboarding alone on the lake, running round and round the lake, hiking towards the peaks, plus Miska’s trip to Schneeberg are our nice memories. But more important this time, was to keep the puppy curing safe.

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Easter in Klosterle

There are still so many places we haven’t visited yet in Austria. One of the most unknown places for us is the region Carinthia.

Looking for a place to stay, we found this small house in Klosterle a remote part of Arriach. The very comfortable, one bedroom cottage lies in the Klosterle monastery area, but more importantly also just a stone throw from the ski lift. Great, quite couple accommodation, ideal for skiing days.

The first day upon our arrival, we were so much amazed of the place, that we managed just a short Rundwanderweg in nearby Verditz.

On Friday, the weather was beautiful, fully sunny and so we went to try out the Gerlitzen Alpen slopes. Starting on our side we managed to ride through the resort and recorded 33 piste km. As that was a really lovely day we went for an additional 6 km hiking later that afternoon.

On Saturday the weather changed completely, therefore we opted for hiking. Miska chose the so called Mirnock Kneip Rundwanderweg, a thematic route above the Milstatter See, some 14 km long.

As Sunday was again full of clouds and even foggy, we did another hiking trip. The middle point of Carinthea can be reached from Arriach centre. Afterwards there are more options to take, also using the famous Adria – Alpe route. Our statistics showed over 14 km and almost 800 uphil meters.   

The sun showed up on Monday, so we were up for a ride again, the last one in the season. And yet   

another 30 km of fun on the slopes.   Unfortunately, we needed to leave the lovely part of Carinthia on Tuesday, but we did not left it before visiting the banks of Ossiacher See.

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Brixen im Thale skiing vacation

For this year’s skiing vacation we did not manage to convince any of our friends, therefore we had to enjoy it on our own.

Still within a plenty of untasted resorts in Austria we decided to go for Tirol and a place called Brixen im Thale. The “SkiWelt” resort there, accessible from few other villages as well (Söll, Westendorf, Ellmanu, Scheffau), offers total of 270 piste km. With the mountains reaching “only” up to 1829m, the slopes are pretty wide, still passing by forests and in majority blue to red. So, all in all… just great, at least for a backcountry snowboarder 😃

Yes, with the accommodation, we were pretty lucky, I would say. A tiny little wooden “Hauschen” with 2 bedrooms and a modern kitchen, was more we than could have hoped for.  And Miska had an interesting Farm excursion by the owner too! 😊 Maybe as a result, she then ordered us a daily fresh milk delivery, which was very tasty in deed.

During those lovely Tirolian days, when sun was shining and weather was mild we recorded an average of 27 piste km a day in 5 consecutive sessions. More than enough to be pretty wasted!

To get some well-deserved treatment, we headed to the near by “Panorama Badewelt” located in St. Johan in Tirol.

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Zillertal

As we are both keen on slopes, we started to elaborate a plan, to go for snow trip together.

Agreement on a destination was an easy one and as the timeslot suddenly appeared, we were ready to go. Krzysztof arrived to Vienna midday of Friday, 2nd of December. In a half an hour, we were already heading to Finkenberg (Tirol) in Zillertal.

Opening the winter season on Saturday, we enjoyed perfect weather and well prepared slopes of Zillertal3000 among few other lucky ones.  

On Sunday we wanted to conquer the Hintertux iceberg, however a bit stronger wind disallowed our ambitions. Despite that, we found some great tracks also in lower part of the iceberg.

On the 3rd day we opted to return into Zillertal3000 (Mayerhofen) instead of originally planned Hochfügen. It turned out to be a lucky pick as we met one of the best woman skier in the world!!😀 Oh, yes, we saw Mikaela Schiffrin preparing for training  at Unterbergalm station. 🥳 We won’t also forget the way down in the foggy afternoon, with visibility of less than 10 meters!

After that exciting day we still needed to get into Radstatd, which enables us to get to slopes and have shorter way back to Vienna on Tuesday. Although Krzysztof advised to take longer / more comfortable way through the Deutsche Ecke, I insisted to cross the Gerlos pass (1628 m). It was another memorable act for sure. Luckily, we get to Radstatd at the end.

On Tuesday we could accomplish our trip in great conditions on Schladming slopes, before returning to Vienna.  

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Saalbach – Hinterglemm

It’s been long 3 years which broke our favourite winter tradition of spending the skiing vacation with friends. As the pandemic situation ease a bit we could finally find a way to renew the habits.

Five of us; Tomas, Lenka, Senko, Andrej and me landed in Viehoffen on Sunday afternoon 6th of February. The chalet we booked, was just great for us! It had its own sauna plus a hot tube as a valuable bonus. After some heavy snowfalls on Monday, day and night, we were out for the action on Tuesday. Exploring the slopes, we soon understood how large the resort is. On Wednesday afternoon Miska joined us, driving all the way from Graz. The dream team was complete😊

Watching the winter Olympics in the evening we got eager to take on some of circus circuits. The conditions were great, slopes perfect and so some of us managed to ride for more than 120 downhill kms.

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Korcula with friends

Maybe because we had so much time and there was still a plenty of accommodation to choose from due to the restrictions… from 30th of August to 9th of September we chose a place at Picena bay 😊 A place from which we had to run away in kind of emergency, on the very first night.

Afterwards, Miska found a remote house in Crnja Luka (Blato), which turned out to be our destination. Having our own house with direct access to sea and some nice terraces with great sea views, hot water and the gas- operating kitchen didn’t bother. With Tomas and Lenka willing to get on a boat we made two one day trips round the coast. Firstly, taking a boat from Vela Luka we explored western area and the island of Proizd. Latter we rented a boat in Prizba and cruised along the south coast.  Looking for paddle boarding and windsurfing eventually, we also made some car trips. Our favourite place turned out to be Pupnatska Luka.

For the way back, we decided to split the long route and stop by in Zadar. Zadar has a nice historical town centre with many fancy bars, unfortunately not open at night during the restrictions. The very last day, when Kiss family was already reaching home, we still went for some swimming and sunbathing at Kraljicina beach, by Nin. Croatia rules! 😊

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Stiavnicky Kros Triatlon 2021

Well, it took the obligatory 3 attempts to finally participate in a sport event. Although I was not in a good shape and the biking section was questionable, the desire to take part in was strong.

As the beginning of race on 31st of July was shifted a bit due to bad weather, we had a chance to fill in the biker vacancy. Quite swiftly we met Ondrej, an enthusiastic PT teacher, who agreed to compete with us. Even quicker we got the need equipment for him.

The race started with a swimming part of 1km in Kolpassky Tajch, which Lenka has finished superbly.  Afterwards Ondrej took his 2 rounds of 25km cycling. Unfortunately, as he slipped and fell down on a muddy road in the 2nd round, our promising 10th place actualized to 14th position before running.

With my abilities, I had not much more options, than to try to catch and over-run the closest opponent on that 8km run. And that’s also how it finished; 13th place out of 17 participating relay teams. Not bad at all!   

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Weekend in Almtal

On the 2nd weekend of 2021 we went for a little bit of snow action, although it was not absolutely legal, sort to say. Luckily as a company we always have to go for some business trips.

Arriving on Friday, we spent the evening walking in empty Scharnstein streets. On Saturday, we performed a bit late wake-up, to be fit for the new year’s downhills. Kasberg in Grünen am Almtal has 3 main cabin lifts, with plenty of slopes on sides. If everything is open, you won’t be bored riding for 2 to 3 days. In the evening we relaxed having our own private wellness session. Everything was set up perfectly. Sauna, aroma scents, meditation music, rainy shower, rocking comfy chairbeds..

On Sunday we left the apartment, heading directly back to slopes. We managed to ride until the closing times. 😊

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Altaussee and Loser

The 2nd part of our skiing vacation took place between 22nd and 26th of February in Puchen (Altaussee). Just next door from Bad Aussee, the geographical middle point of Austria. The scenery here, with the lakes mirroring the surrounding rocky mountains is very special.

Also during the winter times one can take the 7,5 km walk around the Altausee and experience the beauty of the nature. Above the lake and those tall rocks -> to the north, there is a resort called Loser. Yes, funny enough to try it out… but don’t put your expectations too high! If the weather is so – so, the recommendation would be to stick with Tauplitz. It’s still only 15 min drive away. On the other hand, if the conditions are just ideal, perhaps Loser won’t be that occupied.

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Mitterndorf / Tauplitz

This year’s ski vacation was not the usual friend’s happening, but a bit more romantic trip instead.

The Tauplitz ski resort with its 43 kms of slopes, is located just 250 kms to the west from Vienna. So it takes you some 2 hours and 40 minutes to drive there.

From the 2 possible ski starting points, we recommend to take the “Gondolbahn”. It is reachable by Tauplitzalmstrasse curling uphill from the village of Mitterndorf. By this gondola you reach the top of Mittersteinbahn (1914 m) and can then enjoy the ride down for approx. 10 minutes.

In case one would fancy just to go for “langlaufen”, there are plenty of “Loipe” nearby too.  And if even that is not enough, you can also try one of the pretty winter Wanderweg directly from Mitterndorf.

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Premantura, Istria

As a yearly tradition of our summer holidays, we went to Croatian coast again. Looking for a good windsurfing spot in a convenient distance from home, the selection fall on Istrian treasure Kamenjak. For our 10 nights stay ( from 29.7th until 8.8th) we found an apartment in Premantura, which is a gate to nature park Kamenjak, at the very south piece = the end of Istrian Peninsula.

The nature park offers variety of beaches in small bays different west to east. While the east side has wider, shallower beaches (e.g. our windsurfing spot Uvala Skokovica 🙂 the opposite coast is rocky with hush pine-tree vegetation, featuring beautiful sea sunsets places like Uvala Toreta and Uvala Radovica. Being there, we could not miss the great Safari Bar with its hidden corners and fun attractions.

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Präbichl from Vordernberg

Here we go, on the snow again! Between 8th and 10th of March we took also our friends, the Kiss Family and went, this time a bit further away, to check out the place called Präbichl. This well organised resort offers some 20 kms of mainly reddish slopes, situated on 2 opposed hills covered by forest. As an accommodation we may recommend the Alepnaquarium apartment in near Vordernberg. From here there are plenty possibilities for hiking as well. A tip for an after skiing walk would be a visit of Eisenerz town, old mining place, with it’s interesting sights, especially the Kirchenburg st. Oswald and Eisenerzer Schichtturm.

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Stuhleck from Altenberg an der Rax

Take your ski, grab my board …let’s go! For a weekend shorter than usual, between 22nd and 24th of February we have to go somewhere really close. The closest reasonable resort reachable from Vienna is Stuhleck.  Though quite tough to find a place to stay, we luckily end up in a nice Gasthaus called “Altenbergerhof” almost at the end of world .. erhh, well end of Altenbergar Bach Tal. And still only 18 kilometres away from Stuhleck slopes!!  The resort offers some 26 kms of good and funny slopes.  However due to its location, it is a bit crowded there, especially on Saturdays.

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Lackenhof from Lunz am See

This season there is plenty of snow and perfect skiing conditions. There are many resorts quickly reachable from Vienna, among the others Lackenhof. During the 2nd February w/end we picked up an accommodation in a close town called Lunz am See, some 10kms away from Lackehof slopes. The Land Hotel Zellerhof we can recommend for it’s wide and tasty eating options plus pleasant modern wellness. On the other hand the Lackenhof slopes spreading on Grösser and Kleiner Ötscher offer some 19kms of red and blue tracks well suitable for all.

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Sölden

As a nice tradition within our group of friends, we go year by year for a winter skiing vacation. At the very first years, several times in row, we enjoyed Slovakian Jasná. Later on, not only due to climate changes, we moved a bit higher and visited Austrian resorts like Kitzbühel, Kaprun and Schladming. Suddenly there was this idea. Why not to go to Sölden? Yes, Tirol, yes faaar away… But, what could follow all those wonderful places?! Sölden. The truth is, it is somehow special. Not just because of Spectre and agent Bond, but surely because of those slopes. Amazing! To be there, one feels privileged. Thank you Sölden!

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Windsurfing in Croatia

Not to miss our favourite summer destination, we went to Croatia also this year. This time on a special mission we stayed on Krk in Krk (the main town holds the island’s name 🙂 from 17th till 25th of August. Krk town lies just next to Punat and in between there is one of the well-known Windsurfing destinations. Of course, you should be a member of a Golf club, to get in there. Luckily we managed and could finally practise the lovely wind-salty sport endless.