JD30 and JD31 – Long Live Janathon

Twenty five years ago, I was a frantic sporter. I loved cross country skiing. The fate (and good reviews 🙂 ) brought one of my former co-racers to our guesthouse this week. Of course we fixed an evening on the snow together (Day 30). Weird feeling to be catching up after so long.

And then the last day of January, I shoveled snow – again. For me, this was a Grande Finale, a finish in style. I live the life I always wanted to live: with a great family, in the mountains. Looking after 40 guests (and 2 little Duracell rabbits) sometimes takes all my energy and on those days Janathon helps to put everything in the right perspective.

Thank you all for joining, reading, commenting and sporting daily. Your (virtual) support is magical. I will be there in June again!

January total: 31 days of 35 activities totalling 38 hours.

JD28 and JD29 – cross country

More of the same really. Plus beer. And friends.
Day 28: cross country ski
Day 29: cross country ski

P.S. If I manage to maintain the alcohol level under control, I may very well be able to finish this Janathon :-).

JD26 and JD27 – Still white

and still loving it. A lot of mist on Lechnerberg which makes it harder to localise and catch E as she races down. And a lot of (wet) snow which makes it harder to run. Made it from Uttendorf home today, partially through the woods.

Day 26: ski
Day 27: run

JD24 and JD25 – another snow combo

No surprise that we went skiing again, on Sunday. The kids can now manage 4x Lechnerberg. But since the temperatures started to become normal again (and a fellow blogger commented on my lack of running :-)), I went for a run (in the snow!) today, for a change. The uphill section actually followed an official 1974 European cup sledging track:

… which had to be rewarded later on:

Day 24: ski
Day 25: run

JD22 and JD23 – More of the same

If you don’t like snow, stop reading. This Janathon is truly special for the amounts of white powder that we are happy to play in.

Yesterday, we discovered another kids slope, this time in Maishofen, at Schloss Kammer. Baby lift and sledging free of charge, nice sunny slope, horses watching us from the white meadow next to us… and NO people at all, just the four of us!

And today, I went for another cross country workout to Uttendorf. Turns out there are now 3 different loops (the one around the lake is good for evening training just like last year). Perfect days, what can I say…

Day 22: ski

Day 23: cross country ski

JD20 and JD 21 – Cross country, snow hikes

More of the same, really: the snow conditions are PERFECT, there is not even a beginning to describing how wonderful these days are. My first ski alpine tour took place this morning, then I taught V. some cross country moves and there was another longish snow hike yesterday…. I simply cannot get enough.

Day 20: snow hike
Day 21: ski alp tour, cross country

JD19 – Cross country

It seems like this Janathon, April does everything except running. But as I woke up this morning with the thermometer showing -18C, running was out of question (sorry, I know I am a softie).
So I went cross country skiing (well, skating) instead.

Day 19: cross country skiing

JD17 and JD18 – More powder and finally also sunshine

After a few days of reather heavy snowfall, we woke up to the perfect winter day. I took my chances and hiked Naglkoepfl from Walchen side. The frozen calfs were worth it!

Day 17: ski, snow shovel
Day 18: snow hike

JD16 – Snow Blower

Who needs diamonds?

Day 16: snow cleaning (shovel included…)

JD14 and 15 – What skiing with kids actually entails

• Start all preps early in the morning;
• Talk positively about snow and mountains in front of THEM;
• Let THEM eat and drink well;
• Force  Patiently convince THEM to dress up using the clothes YOU selected (HIDE summer dresses and swim suits);
• Load the car with ALL the gear;
• Ignore you neighbor laughing as bits and pieces cannot be fitted in the trunk;
• Strategically place chocolade, cookies and other treats in all your pockets and backpacks;
• Forgot gloves? Don’t despare, it happens to all of us despite double checking;
• Ignore their tears when gearing up under the slope;
• Ignore their tears when getting on the lift;
• Ignore their tears when reaching the top station of the lift;
• Ignore everything;
• Push them firmly gently towards the bottom of the slope;
• Continuously yell: “Make a pizza point!”, “Turn!” and “Stop!” – chances are they will ignore you just like you did earlier but you do diminish the risk of them getting killed;
• Enjoy!

Day 14 and 15: Skiing