ST CHRISTOPH SCoM TRIP 2020

Reporter: Liz Moore

We arrived to a resort piled up with snow. The Sporthotel is well-equipped and pleasant, with great swimming and sauna facilities, which is just as well, as there is nowhere else to go in St Christoph.

The first couple of days were very cold, but the snow was excellent, soft & fluffy. As the weather warmed up during the week, the snow hardened, but as compensation the sun shone every day and it was almost deckchair weather. The Arlberg area has lots of itinerary runs and off-piste opportunities, which were made good use of. Fast piste skiing was also on offer, getting faster as the week went on and the snow became more hard-packed. The best snow seemed to be around Warth (the snowiest place in the Alps), accessible via taxi to Lech, which also had quiet slopes.

On the last day we skied the quieter runs around the Zürs bowl (pretty, but too much poling), down the two itineraries to lovely quiet Zug, and then back via deserted runs above Lech. We were just on our way down to Zürs on the last run when %*&@!! I lost my balance and crashed out of skiing for the season. Taken down in the blood wagon by lovely first-aider Gerald, we then went by ambulance to the private clinic of Lechdoktor Dr Reinhard Muxel, who with the help of x-rays and an MRI scan diagnosed badly torn ACL and medial ligament, fractured head of the tibia, and two fractured ribs. But thanks to the excellent Austrian medical system, I was provided immediately with knee brace, crutches, ice pack, medication, souvenir DVDs, invoices (!) etc, and a taxi back to the hotel. This all came to about 3000 Euros, which I hope my insurance will pay.

Just time to eat my dinner, pack up and go to bed in time to get up several hours before the crack of dawn for the 03:30 pick-up on Saturday morning. The Inghams reps were very helpful in arranging transport at the airport, medical lift onto the plane, and an extra seat in the front row. At Gatwick there was wheelchair and buggy transport off the plane, through passport control and baggage, and right to the door of our van in the valet parking! Excellent service all round.

This isn’t really a review of the skiing, but other reviewers can talk about that. I was impressed by the efficiency of how my (hopefully) unusual experience was handled.

Thanks to everyone for their kindness, sympathy and good wishes — we have lots of good friends in the club — and to David Shepherd and the committee for organising another great holiday. I’d be sorry to miss next year’s, so I hope I’ll be back to full fitness by then.