The secret to going on a ski holiday as a married couple in midlife
It’s the end of the day, the light is flat, and my carved turns have morphed into controlled slides. Mentally, my lifeless corpus is already collapsed atop a fluffy towel in a steamy sauna. I make a hard skid and come to a stop beside my husband, the brilliant one who suggested “just one more run.”
“The snow is better near the edge of the slope,” he chirps. “Why do you keep skiing down the middle?”
“Oh good, more advice,” I think.
Sound familiar?
Whether you’re a blue-run couple or heli-ski veterans like us, taking a ski trip means different things to different people. The reality of skiing à deux – woke arguments to the contrary – is nearly always a balancing act. A minefield of unmatched speeds and strengths, map-reading fracases, and varying desires to withstand DJ Otzi for longer than you can hold your breath. Alongside canoeing and ballroom dancing, skiing together can require more patience than landing on the surface of Mars. So why do it?
Because this story will end happily.
It’s a ski holiday – but it’s not just about skiing. A holiday is spiritual ground indeed – a chance to learn new things, create shared memories, to make each other happy. By making it a combination holiday – part ski, part city – you’re guaranteed a hit of high-altitude excitement alongside a dose of cultural enrichment. Vive la différence with this four-step plan for success – and just one extra change of clothes.
Step one: Choose the right resort
For us, the Austrian province of Salzburgerland ticked all the boxes. On the culture side, its capital Salzburg is a bijou gem dotted with Baroque cathedrals and Mitteleuropa cafés.
Mozart is a mini-industry here and each year his January 27 birthday is celebrated with a week of some 60 events attended by 25,000 music lovers (about one tenth of its summer festival counterpart, making winter even more appealing). Keen to join them last winter, we booked tickets for the magnificent Vienna Philharmonic, for what we both agreed would be a welcome change to an alpine blast of oompah-pah Schlager music. The Salzburg visit was also a chance for my husband to explore the town where his father was born in 1928.
Next was to find the perfect ski resort to combine with our finale in the city – luckily the province has 66 to choose from. Including Bad Gastein, which lies just 90 minutes away from the capital via direct train. Sold on its Belle Époque beauty, there’d be no sharing cramped transfers or rows over who was driving.
Step two: Don’t be afraid to call in the experts
“Men want to play with their toys, their cars, their skis. They just want to go fast,” explained Werner Scancin, our ski guide. The Gastein Valley’s 200km of slopes over several areas – Bad Gastein, Hofgastein, Dorgastein and Sportgastein – make it an easy choice for the modern visitor – and there’s more to it.
Since the 18th century, it’s lured the likes of Goethe and Kaiser Wilhelm to take its thermal waters and breathe the clear alpine air. True to form, Werner and my husband were way out ahead of me breathing deeply but I didn’t mind. With glittering views as far as Grossglockner and the Black Forest, I embraced my inner free-spirited Empress Sisi and happily soaked it in.
When the Schlossalmbahn lift delivered us to the top of the 10.5km long Hohe Scharte, the region’s longest run, Werner paused to share his advice on marital harmony. “Men may get older, but they remain children. If the man is too good only in his own mind, tell him you want to hire a guide.”
Sensible words (if slightly self-serving). I’ve taken many solo lessons over the years, including some excellent women’s-only clinics, to great benefit. As Werner added: “Men overestimate their ability while women tend to underestimate – and men are often reluctant to hire an instructor.” There’s no doubt that a few hours away from your partner with a trained professional boosts confidence, sharpens skills and is just good fun. After all, who needs the pressure, except on those ski edges?
Step three: Agree to each other’s plans
From our sun-soaked deck chairs at the Angerblick hut, we squinted into the eternal postcard of the Austrian Alps. For me, this storybook perch was a destination unto itself. For him, it was a pleasant diversion from a go-go ski day. We split the difference as midday clouds began to assemble, plotting an afternoon of watery wellness back at the hotel. (Ok, I plotted and, as per our agreement, he agreed.)
Austria’s centuries-old wellness culture is alive and well in the Gastein Valley. Unlike most accommodations, our Das Goldberg Hotel was ski-in/ski-out in addition to being a spa paradise – a pursuit the Austrians have elevated to art form. Whatever fractiousness might take place on the slopes, it was put to rest right in the dimly-lit, 46ºC degree Gold Mine sauna. Constructed of 420,000kg of rock hoisted from the nearby massif, it’s a cocoon of warmth and humidity.
Step four: Be flexible
Après ski – literally, anything after skiing – is an opportunity to a) try something unusual, and b) try something at least one of you is interested in. Our afternoon forest bath began at the mouth of the Angertal (Anger Valley in English). Led by local hiking guide Theresa Sommerbichler, she shared her encyclopedic knowledge of all things flora, including walking amongst the terpenes – substances released by trees that are thought to activate the immune system and prevent various diseases. “Kind of a waste without the dog,” my husband muttered as we set off. After an hour of stress-reducing tree action, he had inhaled the essential oils and drunk the Kool-aid (Nettle tea, in this case) and was ripe for my next assault: a romantic sleigh ride.
After three days of skiing, it was time to switch gears. Scarcely an hour from Bad Gastein, Salzburg’s annual Mozart Week was in full swing and there was just enough time for a walking tour. There’s the Strudel Tour, the Stube Tour, the Church Tour, there are even mapped-out beer tours.
Local guide Sissy Schur brought alive the trials and triumphs of the child prodigy on our Mozart Tour, adding new dimensions to the concert to come. Frau Schur even embraced our hunt for the grave of my husband’s ancestors, duly discovered in one of the ornate snow-dusted arcades of St. Peter’s cemetery, low in the shadow of Salzburg’s massive 11th-century Hohensalzburg Fortress.
History is complicated but our last evening was simple, pure pleasure. An early dinner at Gasthof Goldgasse (signature fried chicken soaked in milk since 1719 and an airy-light Salzburger Nockerl for pudding) wrapped up just in time for the great moment at the Great Festival Hall. Conductor Robin Ticciati and pianist Maria João Pires weaved Mozartian magic with the Interlude Music of Thamos, King of Egypt, and the Linz Symphony.
Nothing can beat that for harmony. Except, maybe, one more run with my beloved.
How to do it
The next Mozart Week takes place from January 25 to 4 February 4, 2024. Das Goldberg Hotel in Badhofgastein offers doubles from €195 (£168) per person per night, full board. Hotel Stein in Salzburg offer doubles from €150 (£130) per person per night, B&B. Fly from London Gatwick to Salzburg with British Airways from £45 one way, based on a return fare, valid through January 2024.
Buses operator between Salzburg Airport and main station every 20 minutes, daily, from less than €5 (4.30) per adult. Book rail transfer between Salzburg and Gastein via Austrian Railways one-way from €38 (£33) per person.
Leslie Woit and her husband were guests of SalzburgerLand, Gastein, Salzburg City, Das Goldberg Hotel in Badhofgastein and Hotel Stein in Salzburg.
