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ST. Anton, Austria — After leaving St. Moritz, Ch we boarded a train to St. Anton, Austria where we were greeted by the Tourism office and sunny skies.  We arrived late in the afternoon so we spent the day walking around the beautiful town taking pictures and time-laps video.  We had a cultural experience at the Wellness Center, where the Austrians displayed their comforts with nudity, then got some dinner and exhausted from travel and activity we went to bed early but awoke to a blizzard. 

We got dressed for skiing, but after walking only a few hundred meters to the store down the street, my cloths were soaked from the heavy wet snow falling at an incredible rate.  I went to the lift office to learn that the mountain would not be opening up top so we spent the morning enjoying our Bed & Breakfasts called the    The spread of food was amazing with fresh roles, cheeses, meats, pastries, coffee, and other delicious goodies.  The spring like morning did not yield great skiing conditions or visibility so we stayed low on the mountain and played around on a few small features that a group of snowboarders had created and took it easy as we watched the snow accumulate.

We met some locals as we walked off the hill and they told us about a party that was taking place that evening.  The theme was a beach party, although ironically the snow was falling the hardest it had in months in St. Anton.  We got ready with a slight level of trepidation because the guys we spoke to said it would be a little crazy.  When we walked in there was no sing of normality considering it was a blizzard outside.  Everyone was wearing bathing suits, bikinis, hula-skirts, etc.  In one corner there were two blow-up kiddy pools filled with water and people candidly frolicking about.  As the night drew longer the bar gradually became one big water fight and about two inches of free standing water covered the floor.  Corey and I sat back in amusement and watched as the locals completely drenched themselves, only to walk home wet in a blizzard.

The next morning however 65cm of snow had accumulated.  I sat in line waiting for the mountain to open, but due to the conditions it took a long time.  However, when it did there was ample snow given that most European skiers stay on the groomed trails.  For two days Corey and I skied fresh snow, but only on the lower two thirds of the mountain.  So much snow had fallen the patrol never popped the top of the mountains where the good terrain is, but we still had a great time.