Stubai Glacier and SportScheck GletscherTestival 2015

Our first ski trip this season was two weeks ago from 5th till 8th of November. We have never been this early on the mountains but I felt like I was more than ready for a short vacation and I’ve never been to the Stubai Glacier so we took the opportunity with the SportScheck GletscherTestival 2015 that was on the same weekend and decided to spend a long weekend at the glacier.

We packed on Thursday morning and drove without any traffic jam to Neustift where I booked us a nice 4-star spa hotel. After checking into our room, we decided that it’s still early, the weather was warm sunny and there was still light outside so we went for a walk in the village and checked the surroundings.

I discovered the Run Walk Park trails along this beautiful water where I planned to go running on the next days if the weather stayed so nice and warm. I did not expect such a warm weather and I didn’t pack any outdoor running clothes so I would had to buy some but unfortunately I ended up not going running at all because I couldn’t wake up so early before breakfast. 😦

We returned to the hotel when it started to get dark and went for a swim to the indoor pool at the hotel spa. The spa was mostly empty when we got there and we enjoyed our swim and some tea afterwards before the big crowd came back to the hotel from skiing and they all came to the spa at once. This is when we quickly packed our things and went back to the room to get ready for dinner.

Dinner was a five-course meal every evening: salad bar for starters, warm appetizer, cold appetizer, main course and dessert. The salad bar and dessert was the same for all and we selected the appetizers and the main course upfront from 2-3 choices of meat, fish or vegetarian dish.

Next day on Friday I wanted to go to the top of the glacier and enjoy the nice weather and the first snow this season. We had breakfast and drove about 15-20 km to the ski lifts. We initially planned to drive back on early Sunday but we quickly changed our plans due to the beautiful weather and decided to spend Sunday morning on the glacier and drive back later on Sunday evening instead.

Unfortunately the Ice Cave on the glacier was closed but I loved the “Top Of Tyrol” viewing platform at 3210 m on the glacier overlooking the Stubai Valley.

I spent the rest of the day at Eisgrat enjoying the sun, reading on my Kindle, checking the sports store and buying too many sport stuff again, checking the SportScheck GletscherTestival 2015 and eat the best apple strudel with vanilla mousse I ever had. It got very cold when the sun went down so I was ready to head back to the hotel.

It was cardio day for me and I needed to compensate for such a lazy day on the mountain with some exercise so I went to the hotel gym before dinner for some cardio on the cross trainer, the treadmill was broken. I also skipped the appetizers and dessert at dinner, I am so proud of myself! 🙂

On Saturday I decided to stay at the hotel and go to the gym again. I did a long resistance training and then went to the hotel spa for the rest of the afternoon. The weather was gorgeous and I had the whole pace to myself.

Our last dinner was a buffet with many many choices but luckily it wasn’t self-service because the chefs served us on our plate so I just tasted a little bit from everything that looked good.

After one last breakfast on Sunday morning and checking out from the hotel, we headed one more time to the glacier where I once again checked the GletscherTestival and sipped cappuccino and green tea at the cafe bar.

After a quick lunch at Eisgrat, we took the lifts down, got the car and drove home.

SportScheck GletscherTestival 2015

54 manufacturers for ski, snowboard equipment and accessories came to the GletscherTestival with their newest products. Upon registration at the SportScheck booth, a Test Card (20 euros) was given which can be used to test any and all equipment. Typically the equipment had to be returned after 1,5 hours.