You may have seen my recent staff snaps taken in Egypt, where I saw the New Year in with my family, and you’ll be pleased (or shall I say really jealous) to hear I’ve spent the past week carving up the ski slopes in Austria! I’m not sure how I wrangled two holidays in January, but I did, and I loved it.
I was very excited to be back on the snow as I hadn’t been skiing since 2009 in Tignes. Also, when phones 4u got in touch with the chance of borrowing the snazzy Nokia Lumiar 1020 to take pictures with, I couldn’t turn them down.
I tried out the phone’s cool functions and 41 mega pixel camera, which definitely made my eight mega pixel digital camera pretty redundant! Here are some of the great photos I took whilst testing it out…
My good friend Jenny, her dad John and his wife Judith flew in to Zurich and looked around the city for a few hours before catching a train to St. Anton in Austria. The train took us through picturesque hamlets, alongside misty lakes and between valleys with snow dusted mountains. It was beautiful. We stayed at Hotel Grischuna, a lovely hotel with a cosy chalet feel, complete with a sauna which was heaven after a day skiing.
The first day on the slopes was great: the sun was shining, the snow was powdery and I found my skiing legs again surprising easy.
We covered a fair amount of piste on the first day too; we made it over to St Christoph for morning coffee and took the Rendl lift up the other side of the valley to enjoy lunch in the sun. The staff all wore traditional Lederhosens, which in German means leather trousers.
I did some research about the resort and knew it was well known for two things. Firstly difficult slopes; it has a lot of under classified slopes and Ski Routes. Ski Routes are off piste runs which are not groomed or patrolled. In the picture above, you can see Jenny and I at the top of a Ski Route we completed – it was a narrow, unpisted, moguled out challenge but still lots of fun!
Secondly, St. Anton is well-known for its après ski, which we definitely put to the test. Some of the best and most lively bars to warm up with a Glühwein after a chilly day of skiing were the Krazy Kanguruh, the Mooserwirt, Taps and Base Camp. Most of which were only a two minute ski down the mountain, which in the dark after a few mulled wines wasn’t easy – and if you ask your friend to do a 360 in these circumstances, she will, inevitably fall over! Sorry Jenny.
One of the functions I really liked on the phone was the Smart Cam. You hold the phone still and it takes 10 pictures in quick succession that you can edit to create an action shot where each image is layered on top on the previous one. You can also use motion focus to focus on the moving object for sharper images, change faces and also remove moving object.
One night we went to a ski show, aptly named the Snow Must Go On. Ski instructors and locals demonstrated how skiing has developed over time, showing off impressive synchronised moves down a flood lit slope. They performed amazing jumps and the Smart Cam function on the Nokia Lumia really came into its own.
We had a couple of snowy days, which made skiing more challenging, but also set the scene for some fantastic photo opportunities. The pictures above remind me of a winter wonderland or an expensive M&S Christmas card.
original on blog.lowcostholidays.com
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