Wife in the Fast Lane: KRONPLATZ, ITALY

February 1st

After a hair raising 3-hour drive up to Kronplatz from Sacile, we sat and had a delicious coffee before starting 2-days of snowboarding.

We chose Kronplatz because most of their slopes are beginner levels, and because they were actually open! Many of the resorts closed due to avalanche risks. Also, many roads were closed because we got dumped on! There was so much snow!

I still definitely consider myself a beginner, even though I technically started snowboarding in 2009. Each year I've only gone a few times. That's not really enough to advance. I had felt like I had plateaued.

The weekend before, our squadron had a ski trip to Austria. I took my first "official" ski lesson. It was incredibly helpful, even though the instructor didn't speak English well. I couldn't make any excuses any longer for myself, and I wanted to get my money's worth out of the lesson....and I did! Since then, I've continued to progress.

Nick still had a great time despite the fact that we were on fairly easy slopes. He worked on some of his more advanced tricks. At one point, he fell and hit his wrist pretty hard. His hand turned black and blue, but he just kept on going.

Thanks to the low-visibility, these photos look a little more intense than they actually were.

The sun came out for a few moments!

I've been so spoiled by European ski slopes. They almost all have heated gondolas! That means I can stay warm and avoid the embarrassment of falling off the chair lift at the end. :)