theNYCphysio

In 2017, I left the states just after Thanksgiving. When I landed in Zurich, I had time to explore the city. Having a day to myself, I spent it wandering the Christmas markets and streets. Being out in Europe, it always hit differently than back home in NYC. The old-world charm and quiet streets and markets seemed to bring me peace and calm unlike the craziness of NYC.

While in Zurich, I had time to visit the FIFA World Cup Museum. I had wanted to visit this museum since I attended the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. It was fun, educational, and interactive. 

The next day I took the Train through Western Austria to the Pitztal Glacier where the US Snowboarding team had camp. This year, they had a camp mixed in with a Europa Cup (generally a regional competition considered a level below the World Cup circuit). 

The Pitztal glacier sits at 3440 meters (approx 11200 feet) so it usually has snow year round. Being so high, the views from the top are surreal, especially during sunrise. But it gets really cold when in the shadows!

This was my first Europa Cup with the SBX team as I usually travel on the World Cup circuit. On the World Cup, usually the top 30-60 athletes in the world compete. The Europa Cup lowers the rankings bar a bit which makes the event a little more unpredictable (and dicey) during the turns and jumps as the skill levels vary quite a bit. Fortunately the US Team came out unscathed, but it was super sketchy at times. 

After our camp and the Europa Cup, we headed to Reiter Alm for another team camp. This mountain sits much lower at around 7500 feet and is located near Salzburg at the border with Germany. Usually at events, we are allowed to cut the lift lines. But because we were attending a camp, we had to queue with the rest of the holiday skiers and snowboarders. I think this may have been one of the first times I really experienced the European ski culture. Unlike in the States where lift lines are somewhat “orderly”, it’s a essentially a free for all in Europe. I think one of our athletes even almost got in a fight with a local skier while in line!

Again, the views at the top were amazing. 

Ski in Ski out Cabins!

I believe this was the first time our team had been on this mountain as the course was newly built. Once we found the start gates, they were super stoked. For the most part, they practiced their starts. However, at some point they decided to have more fun and practice some tricks on the first bump.

At the end of the trip, I finally experienced a couple local Austrian Christmas traditions, Krampus and Hammerschlagen!

Since we didn’t have a World Cup on this trip, it was nice to hang out with the team without the stresses of a major competition!