Solden/Otz Valley Review

7-10 Oct 05 Great times despite some mis-adventures. Me, Scott and Dena had some excitement going up Passo del Rombo(Timmosjoch). Off the highway, up the mountain 2500 meter. Fantastic drive...in the day...our ascent was in the dark, no streetlight, and it rained, sleeted and snowed. At one point, the road turn to dirt, and at another, we got stopped by mountain goats! They just stood in the road looking at us like, "dumb humans, what were they thinking". After honking/blinking, Dena had to get out and herd the goats away! Baaahhhh!!! We got to the top at 7:59pm, the pass closed at 8:00pm. Close call. The decent was a bit hairy, in second gear the whole time. Bit tense!

Things started looking up after we got there. The HotelPark was fantastic. Rooms with view! Friendly staff, nice breakfast spread, with eggs, bacon, sausage even! Dinner was good too, w/plenty of drinkies. Nightlife was decent for early season. Everyone went to the Bierhimmel. Live band Fri/DJ Sat. Whole town emptied on Sunday though.

Drove up to the glacier. Clear roads/smooth driving all the way up, until Beth's car overheated up a 40 degree incline! No Scott, that wasn't a smokescreen! We parked it at a curve, put the triangle out, and piled into the other car and went skiing for the day. The car stayed there the whole day too!

Skiing was a fab time. Ski legs were bit rusty, but we had a blast. Not crowded/no wait. Plenty of chairs/gondolas. The snow we passed through in the pass, laid a nice layer down. Not much ice and we had coverage everywhere! People were off-piste!! Really incredible in Oct. Got slushy at times, but blame that on the awesome weather. All 3 warm days w/sunny blue skys! Can't remember the last time I saw a deep shade of blue like that...but then I can't remember yesterday.

-Master Chang