After nearly 3 years of living in Europe, we FINALLY went snowboarding in the Alps!
It’s ironic that it has taken us this long as snowboarding was one of the opportunities we were most excited about when first moving – it’s the Alps after all! Luckily, the Sufrinkos wanted to come back for another taste of Europe and so we had no excuse to put it off any longer. So, without further delay, I give you (as Whitney has so aptly named it)…
The Shwitfrinko Snowboarding Adventure!
Innsbruck
Our adventure begins in Innsbruck, Austria. For a quick back story, if you are going skiing in the Alps, you have multiple countries to choose from – Switzerland, France, and Austria are among the most popular. We chose Austria for no other reason than we had yet to visit that country. So, as I was saying, we began in Innsbruck. For Whitney and I, it was a short one hour flight from The Netherlands. For the Sufrinkos, not so much. So the first day was just causal exploring of Innsbruck and jet lag recovery.
We stayed in Innsbruck for two more days, exploring more of the city,
completing an escape room,
and of course ringing in 2017/celebrating Whitney’s birthday!
January 2 saw the end of our Innsbruck stay (we would return again at the end of the trip) and on to Ischgl for snowboarding!
Ischgl
For the next 5 days, we stayed in Ischgl. When we arrived, the entire area had snow, but it was all man-made. However, by day 2, the real snow started and we ended up with nearly a meter of fresh powder (2-3 ft). The view from our room really shows the difference: from no snow to dog sleds in the period of 4 days!
before… 
after.
Speaking of rooms, if you happen to travel to the Ischgl area, we cannot recommend Hotel Verwall enough. Great family-run hotel with amazing food!
…conveniently located on the border of Ischgl, not-Ischgl.
The views from any given piste/gondala/mountain top in the area were spectacular! Photo credit to Brian for many of the snowboarding and scenery pictures, as he manned our camera for a large portion of the trip.
He also commandeered my phone…
As an added bonus, you can ski into Switzerland as part of the “Smuggler’s Run” challenge. Two countries in one trip! Now Whitney can claim that she has been to Switzerland as well.
All-in-all, a fantastic snowboarding trip! Aside from the pictures posted here, I’ve also put together a video of the GoPro footage shot throughout.
Check it out!
Innsbruck – pt. 2
As I said before, we returned to Innsbruck after snowboarding for one more day before our flights the next morning. Despite the fact that we had already spent three days there, it was a completely different experience – no more holiday festivities and lots of snow! Naturally, we spent the day indoors, relaxing in the hotel sauna and getting massages. The perfect end to a vacation!
Until next time,
The Shwits 
2 Comments