After Mandy broke her leg in Zermatt in 2016, she decided that she wasn't going to try and get back to skiing again. She'd talked about giving up, on and off, for years, although always seemed to enjoy herself when we got there, but the injury was the final straw for her (for now, at least).
I sounded out some acquiantances, but it was looking like I wouldn't get to ski in 2017 either and I'd even looked into a winter sun holiday (with some diving, of course), but having skiied for over 30 years, I didn't feel ready to give up yet and I was getting quite demoralised at the thought of not going.
Lauren hadn't skiied for a few years, but is pretty good and now has a job, so I decided to see if she fancied a few days away if I could find something affordable.
She was keen and, not having been back to Garmisch-Partenkirchen in Germany since 1995, when we briefly lived in the area, I had always fancied a short break back and found a great looking deal, flying EasyJet to Munich, getting a rental car and staying B&B at the rather swish looking Dorint Sporthotel for 4 nights for around £300 each.
So, it was, early one thursday in March that we arrived at Gatwick ready to catch our 6:40 flight to Munich.
After a coffee and a bacon roll (and surrounded by people swigging Lager like it was Saturday night - I like a beer, but NOT at 5:00 in the morning!) we boarded our plane on time and around 90 minutes later arrived in a very mild and snow-free Munich airport.
Our luggage quickly collected, we picked up our car from Budget. They offered us a 'discount' upgrade, but when we got outside we had a free upgrade anyway, from an Astra to a DS5, with leather and sat nav and rear view cameras. Not the most exciting car to drive, but lovely and comfortable and spacious enough for 4, let alone the 2 of us!
The drive to Garmisch was fairly uneventful and our first stop was to find the shop I'd rented us skis from. This was quickly accomplished and we headed back to the Kreuzeckbanh gondola, at the bottom of the Kandahar downhills. This modern lift wasn't here in 1995!
Me and the DS5 at the Kreuzeckbahn car park
Unfortunately, it was pouring with rain when we arrived and single white strip led off the green hill to the lift, but we had 4.5 days skiing if we got on with it, so after a quick snack, that's what we did.
The positive of the poor weather was that the mountain was almost completely empty. We had a number of runs on Horn (a black back into the centre of Garmisch) when we didn't see another person and, although raining, the snow underfoot seemed in remarkably good condition. It was little hard, but not sheet ice and certainly not wet slush as you might expect, except right at the lift base station.
We skiied until about 3:30, but then being soaking wet and cold, decided it was a good time to take our leave of the empty slopes and find our hotel.
This took a little while and a few wrong turns, but finally we turned up at the very impressive looking hotel.
The rather nice Dorint Sporthotel
The friendly staff checked us in and we soon found ourselves in our appartment, which, like the car, was far bigger than two of us really needed, with a double bedroom (for me), a sofa bed (Lauren's) in a large lounge/diner with a kitchen locked away (presumably for other season when people self cater) and a slightly old fashioned bathroom, but it provided plentiful hot water, which is what we most craved after skiing in the rain!
Mandy would have approved of the many hooks for our wet ski gear around the place and it was all dried out by the morning.
After the early start, I didn't fancy driving again, so we ate in the hotel and both enjoyed an excellent Wiener Schnitzel, which was really quite affordable. Weissbier at 4.50 Euros for 500ML was a nice surprise too - At home a pint of beer in a pub will cost that, let alone in a nice hotel!
We both slept well and next morning we woke to brighter skies, but no fresh coating of snow.
We headed back to the Kreuzeckbahn lift again and were soon enjoying skiing in the sunshine.
We skiied over to the Reds leading down to the Hochalmbahn cable car to the top of the Osterfeldkopf mountain and then headed back to take in the red Kochelberg and black Horn runs down to the Hausbergbahn. We found the Horn was a bit of a favourite and skiied it many times.
Hochalmbahn cable car
We also took advantage of the sunshine to get a few runs in on both alternative routes of the Kandahar downnhill run.
Ready to take on the Kandahar from the start hut
The weather was great, but impressively even though it was warm, the snow stayed in decent condition except at the very bottom of the runs.
Atop the Osterfeldkopf
That evening we travelled into town and wandered around looking for a pizza place. We found a nice looking one, but were told there were no free tables for an hour, so we carried on.
This turned out to be a stroke of luck as we came across La Toscana, which was a tiny Italian restaurant serving excellent food at impressively low prices and with friendly staff. Dinner for the two of us came to 24 euros, with a drink, much less than I expected. It was so good, in fact, that we came back the following night and enjoyed it just as much!
Saturday used to be a quiet day on the mountains when we lived in Germany, but shops now stay open late and all day Saturday, so many more people are free to ski on a Saturday morning.
We decided to get up early and go the top of the Zugspitze as the forecast was particularly good. Unfortunately, we overslept and by the time we'd enjoyed our massive and excellent buffet breakfast, we didn't get to the Eibsee Cable car station until 9:30 and people were already queueing for the car park.
We decided to drive back to the Kreuzeckbahn station and try and pick up the train to the top of the Zugspitze there. We were warned there were big queues on the glacier atop the Zugspitze, but we decided to go anyway.
The train journey took us about 45 minutes, but getting on there meant we got a seat, many people getting on at Eibsee and having to stand the rest of the way.
I've been on the top of the Zugspitze twice before. First time it was glorious above low lying clound and we had a great few hours. The second time, when Mandy came along, it was blowing a gale and I did one run up there before they shut all the lifts and made us descend on the train - An expensive single run!
Third time was lucky, though, as the weather was stunning with crystal clear skies meaning we could see Lake Starnberg and Amersee and Munich beyond it and more mountains than the panorama photos showed as the view was so clear.
Glorious views from the top of the Zugspitze
We had a few runs, finding the snow quite sticky and hard work to ski on. We even managed a few off piste excursions between runs, although it wasn't pure powder.
We took an extended lunch to travel up to the very top of the mountain, where there are no ski runs, and enjoyed the incredible views.
Lots of snow atop the Zugspitze
Obviously a lot of people had come up purely for the views and lunch and a drink as the slopes themselves were relatively quiet, whilst the restaurants heaved!
We came down fairly early, bagging ourselves a seat on the train and whilst it was a leisurely day with not a great deal of skiing, we really enjoyed our time atop the glacier and felt it was a good way to spend the day.
On Sunday we bought a two day pass (finding out it includes the Zugspitze and we could have saved a few Euros buying two days the previous day! You live and learn.
Lovely weather made it a pleasure to be in the mountains most days
Sunday and Monday were spent on the lower Garmisch-Classic runs, enjoying the conditions and pounding in run after run on the small number of frequently challenging runs. This is no 3 Vallees or Portes Du Soleil, for variety, but the runs are good and tricky enough to keep us entertained for a few days. Food and drink was reasonably priced too, which came as a bit of a surprise. I could get a decent sized beer for 2.50 Euros on the mountain - Try that in France!
Another nice lunch at the Hexenkessel bar
Sunday evening we went to a Mexican restaurant called Sausalitos, near the station. The prices looked quite high after the bargain prices in La Toscana, but the portions were huge, so we had no complaints and were both too full for a desert!
Lauren checking out skiiers on the very steep Kandahar downhill
On Monday, we planned to get back to Ismaning, near Munich airport for a curry before our 21:15 flight, so we finished skiing about 3 (and directly after I took my one big tumble of the trip on the top of the Kandahar - I left skis and a pole behind and slid a long, long way, but was totally unhurt), returned our skis, bought a few gifts for Mandy, Ryan and my Mum and then drove back to Munich, taking the chance to do a legal 200KM/h on the way.
We hit Munich in the rush hour, but made it to Ismaning about 6:15, only to find the restaurant unexpectedly closed for a family event! Oh well, next time!
We filled the car with diesel and headed back to the airport and then hung around there until our flight back. Lauren was driving home, so I had another beer, costing me more than any in Garmisch had! There's very little in terms of facilities in the terminal we were at in Munich, which was disappointing and the e-Passport readers wouldn't read our UK passports either!
The flight home was fine, but Passport control at Gatwick was chaos and then our luggage took ages to come off the plane, meaning it was well over an hour before we set off for home.
We'd both really enjoyed our short time in Garmisch. I didn't recall much about the town or skiing, but it reminded me why I'd wanted to come back, there are some nice runs there.
There's probably not enough skiing to justify a full week, but perfect for the time we were there and our hotel and car were great for the trip too. We'd recommend Garmisch-Partenkirchen to anyone who fancies a short trip somewhere different!
