Today was a day of kid and adult-sized adventure. It started after an early hotel breakfast with a bus ride up beyond the Olympic village to a community called Iglis and the Summer Bobsled Track. The owners arrived about the same time we did. Peter & Birgit Knauseder made our group very welcome. Peter gave the initial bobsled rules and instructions and boys and leaders soon loaded into the back of a panel truck for a quick ride up to the start of the bobsled run.
Boys and leaders came down in a five-person bobsled piloted by an expert driver in the front position. I don’t remember the exact specifics but you can read about them on the company’s website at: www.knauseder-event.at. I do remember that the sleds would reach speeds of somewhere around 66 miles per hour and would encounter something like 40 turns in this nearly mile long track. Each run lasted just a minute and a few seconds but these memories are going to last a lot longer. There wasn’t any (or much) screaming as boys were holding on and trying to keep their heads straight within the cage.
Peter and Birgit are supposed to post photos on their Facebook page at: www.Facebook.com/knauseder. Check them out.
After their run, many boys bought “I did It” t-shirts and were also presented with “congratulatory certificates” from Peter and Birgit. Our gracious hosts then gave us directions and hints for a major hike in the Alps and we were soon walking through an “enchanted” forest to a gondola station to take to the starting point for the hike. This was shaping up to be an incredible day of adventure.
From here, the guys hiked through a really neat forest to a gondola station for a ride up the mountains to start an amazing hike in the Alps high above Innsbruck. The hike of several miles took virtually the whole day. Elevations ran in the 6,000s to over 7,000 feet. To get off the trail, the group had to descend by a couple of ski lifts.
The group returned to the hotel around 6:15 and by 7:15 we were heading to the old part of Innsbruck for a final dinner here. It was a wild scene in the old town tonight. There were DJs, dancers on stilts, guys rolling around in large wooden treadmills, and more. Maybe this was a special celebration, or maybe this was just a Friday night, or maybe this was just Innsbruck. From bobsledding to hiking to a night in Innsbruck…this has been some great day!
(And on a side note to our Innsbruck stay and this hotel, the staff offered to wash and dry clothes for 5 euros a load. Many boys took advantage of this.)
Tomorrow, we head to Munich (under two hours away) and the final stretch of our trip.
Boys and leaders came down in a five-person bobsled piloted by an expert driver in the front position. I don’t remember the exact specifics but you can read about them on the company’s website at: www.knauseder-event.at. I do remember that the sleds would reach speeds of somewhere around 66 miles per hour and would encounter something like 40 turns in this nearly mile long track. Each run lasted just a minute and a few seconds but these memories are going to last a lot longer. There wasn’t any (or much) screaming as boys were holding on and trying to keep their heads straight within the cage.
Peter and Birgit are supposed to post photos on their Facebook page at: www.Facebook.com/knauseder. Check them out.
After their run, many boys bought “I did It” t-shirts and were also presented with “congratulatory certificates” from Peter and Birgit. Our gracious hosts then gave us directions and hints for a major hike in the Alps and we were soon walking through an “enchanted” forest to a gondola station to take to the starting point for the hike. This was shaping up to be an incredible day of adventure.
From here, the guys hiked through a really neat forest to a gondola station for a ride up the mountains to start an amazing hike in the Alps high above Innsbruck. The hike of several miles took virtually the whole day. Elevations ran in the 6,000s to over 7,000 feet. To get off the trail, the group had to descend by a couple of ski lifts.
The group returned to the hotel around 6:15 and by 7:15 we were heading to the old part of Innsbruck for a final dinner here. It was a wild scene in the old town tonight. There were DJs, dancers on stilts, guys rolling around in large wooden treadmills, and more. Maybe this was a special celebration, or maybe this was just a Friday night, or maybe this was just Innsbruck. From bobsledding to hiking to a night in Innsbruck…this has been some great day!
(And on a side note to our Innsbruck stay and this hotel, the staff offered to wash and dry clothes for 5 euros a load. Many boys took advantage of this.)
Tomorrow, we head to Munich (under two hours away) and the final stretch of our trip.
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