Zedlitzdorf is a tiny village in the Austrian state of Carinthia. Sam’s mother grew up holidaying in the area, and about 20 years ago she decided to build a holiday home here in this village. In the summer, it’s a popular destination for hiking around and swimming in mountain lakes; but in January, we came planning to ski. There are three different ski hills within a 25-minute drive and lots more if you’re willing to drive for 90 minutes, so we were spoilt for choice.

There was a significant snowfall just before we arrived, so we started our ski adventures with great conditions on near-empty mountains.

In the days that followed, we had days where we skied in 25cm of new snow:

….days where it was overcast and cloud hung low around the mountains…

….and days of brilliant sunshine and endless blue skies, warm enough to drink your hot chocolate outside.

One of the best parts about skiing in Austria is stopping at the huts. In Canada, the default approach to ski food is overpriced and over-fried at a big central chalet. Not so, in Austria. There are lots of little independently-run huts scattered all around the mountain, so you’re never far away from a drink or a sausage with pommes.

One of the lovely things about skiing as travelling parents is there is a built-in mechanism for childcare: ski school! Max and Abe did six days of lessons while we skied unencumbered. By the end of those lessons, they were quite comfortable on the easier runs, and we had two fun-filled mornings skiing together. Followed, of course, by lunch at huts!

Although our stay in Zedlitzdorf was mostly about skiing, I’m too old and out of shape to ski every day. We also enjoyed the indoor-outdoor pool in Bad Kleinkirchheim…

…and a few wintry walks through the woods.

We had brilliant luck with the weather and the ski conditions over our two weeks. We’ll be back again for a few days in late February, and hope our luck holds out for a few more days of skiing in the sunshine.