Schi Fahren in Garmisch

The Christmas holiday was a time for Chip and I to relax and finally "get away".  But, as most of you know, our vacations are never without an adventure.  This adventure took us to Germany's most popular skiing destination Garmisch-Partenkirchen, home of the 1936 Winter Olympics and the 2011 World Cup Skiing Championships.

We got up bright and early on the 24th and drove 3.5 hours to the slopes.  We decided to ski the Zugspitze glacier that day, Germany's highest mountain.  It took an hour to get up the mountain--hauled our gear on this train and up we went.  I always forget how heavy ski gear is, only this year it WAS NOT HEAVY! Yea for crossfit. Don't get me wrong 10lb of boots another 15 or so of skis and poles, plus all the extra layers, ski pants etc...its at least the equivalent of a 20lb weight vest.  Plus, you inevitably have to farmers walk this stuff somewhere. I'm always sweating before I even clip my boots to the bindings.

Chip is a beginner skier so we started on the bunny hills.  I like to say I'm advanced, but after all my knee surgeries I have to settle for intermediate. No more crazy out of bounds madness for me!  We had a great day skiing for about 5 hours and took naps on the ride back down the mountain.

Christmas day brought rain, so we opted for breakfast, a beautiful pastoral mass at St. Martin's (for Christine and Tamara and other catholics...do you know what a pastoral mass is? I didn't, but do now...amazing!) naps, and a big german dinner with my godmother and her husband who joined us for the 24th/25th.

We had a full day - 6 hours - of skiing the Garmisch "classic" on the 26th.  I love skiing and all, but this is the craziest resort.  All these "wegs" that you basically had to crosscountry ski for what seemed like miles to get to other parts of the resorts.  Also, lots of t-bars, instead of chair lifts since the place is so old.  My arms were fried at the end of the day, not to mention my legs. But, the next day I wasn't even sore.  We did a half day more on the 27th because we just couldn't get enough.

The snow wasn't fabulous, but it was still a fantastic trip.   On those icy patches and sleep slopes I had to dig in hard, find my core, my balance, etc and every time I was thanking all of CFOT for making me totally CROSSFIT.  Any doctor would say I'm absolutely nuts for continuing to ski after 3 knee surgeries and minimal cartilage left, but you know what? It doesn't hurt. My knees did not hurt once, during or after.  Granted, I go to extreme efforts not to fall, but that too requires extreme fitness (and some skill probably).

Thank you again Crossfit for allowing me to do all the things I love to do.