In early 1985, Chris Kalus and I acquired an urge to become skiers. So we signed up for a late-season holiday with Thomas Cook’s Fareham office that was billed as “Learn to Ski Week”. The location was Igls, near Innsbruck in Austria. The ski instruction was to be on the Patscherkofel, a well established resort and the price included ski rental, most meals, a night of “aprés Ski” and transport to and from the resort starting at Gatwick Airport.
This was actually my third visit to the Tyrol. The first was in the Summer of 1965 when I had just turned 16 years old on a “Geographical and Historical Society Trip” from Chadderton Grammar School. The second was a mountaineering trip in 1982. This time however, we would not be visiting the capital of the region, Innsbruck even though it’s only 6.5 km away.
Since this was a completely new adventure for us, we thought that it would be prudent to take a few preliminary lessons at a local “dry ski slope” located in Southampton. I cannot remember how many lessons we took at this place, but in 2020 it seems to still be in operation under the name “Southampton Alpine Centre”. In 1985 I seem to recall that it was operated by the city’s parks department, in later years it might have been taken over by a private company.
These dry ski slopes were (might still be) a big mat spread over a small slope. The mat was a honeycomb of a brush-like material. Frankly, I seem to remember being very timid on this stuff. Our training at this place consisted of the basics of snowplowing and ascending by side-stepping. It was all good fun and gave us some confidence before our trip, but whether it really helped us on snow is a matter of debate. It was also an opportunity to visit the pub afterwards.
Although I had a fair amount of outdoor clothing for winter hiking, everyone told me to get some “salopettes” because skiing involves a lot of hanging around waiting in the cold, so I duly invested in a cheap pair. I also bought a pair of goggles and a warm hat from a local outdoor store. The goggles and hat were useful on some of my winter hiking trips, but the salopettes were not used again for a few years.
On Saturday 16 March 1985 Chris picked me up in his Volkswagen Golf and we set out for Gatwick. I seem to remember that it was a very cold day and there was a lot of black ice. Chris occasionally tested the surface and the car showed signs of sliding. Even in 1985, these kind of conditions were unusual for March in Hampshire. The journey was uneventful and I cannot remember much about it other than the trip leader being the woman from Fareham that had sold the package to us. I believe that the airline was that staple of cheap holidays – Dan Air. We flew to Munich and joined a bus that took us the 60-100 miles to Igls.
Chris and I had arranged to share a double room. It must have been fairly ordinary because I can remember nothing about it. It was probably en suite and that’s about it. We did not seem to have any noise problems, even though both of us were notorious snorers. Our hotel was the “Bon Alpina” which is still there and from the pictures on the internet looks very similar, but it seems to have had a facelift and expansion; almost certainly necessary.
Igls is a well-established ski resort and had been the site of Winter Olympics in 1964 and 1976. It has also been the location of World Cup races at various times. There were Olympic standard facilities that we could see. For some reason I seem to remember a local person making jokes about the name Patscherkofel, but this could have been a recollection from my 1965 trip
In fact, I had visited the town in 1965 on that school trip, my only memory of that day is that we were taken to the bottom of the Patscherkofel and those that wanted to spend money could take the cable car to the summit and those that were too cheap or couldn’t afford the cost (like me) and/or wanted to hike could follow a path up the hill. I watched and waved at the gondola as it passed over us. The hikers (e.g. me) did not get to the summit.
The ski class’s first activity was selecting skis. We were shown what to look for and supplied with skis of appropriate length. We were also shown where to store them for the week – there was some sort of lock for the storage area – I cannot remember the details. I don’t remember any instruction on the appropriate length for skis. The instructor said something special about “Salomon”, but I do not recall what it was.
At some point we were shown a video about good behavior on the slopes. The bad guys wore pirate costumes. It was one of first occasions where I noted how often the villains were depicted with British accents. I have detected this time and again since then in many situations, especially since I moved to the USA. No comment about the implied racism in this…
Our activities were located on the beginner slopes near the top of the cable car. The instructor was a very competent Austrian woman, but this training was for absolute beginners and was limited to snow plowing and using the rope tows nearby. I do not remember any chair lifts. We were told that British and American skiers could always be identified because they would form an orderly well-mannered queue for the lifts; Continental Europeans would scramble and push – experience bore this out and we had to sink to that level when necessary.
By the end of the week we had some freedom to descend by ourselves on the beginner trails, but along the way Chris and I became rather overconfident and one evening we did not take the cable car back to town, but chose to attempt to ski back by on our own. It was way beyond out skills and we were so slow that at some point a grooming machine picked us up and gave us a lift back down.
There was an aprés ski evening at an establishment away from the hotel. Fondue, wine and some sort of entertainment were provided. Non of us were impressed by the evening. the trip leader commented on the poor quality and may have complained. Still it was a change and a chance to mix with others on the trip.
At the end of the week, we were offered a certificate for a price of about £3.00, it stated that we had completed the training. I insisted on buying one, though Chris though it was a rip-off. In retrospect it was pointless other than being a souvenir of the trip.
The journey home was so uneventful that I can remember nothing about it. My next attempt at skiing was in 1987 after moving to the USA. I took a beginners class at Nashoba Valley in Massachusetts. The instructor did not bother with any of the snow plough style – I was told that this was a “very European thing” though frankly I’m not sure if the instructor had ever been to Europe. We went straight to parallel skiing, by then I had bought my own skis. I was soon pushing myself to be more adventurous, but that’s another story.