From Fans for Fans

There I am, on the summit and looking over at the mountain panorama of Ski amadé. The blue sky is so blue that it almost hurts, the sun so bright that I still have to screw up my eyes a bit behind my sunglasses to see well. In front of me is the mountain world that I have called my home for over 40 years. Behind me the Gastein Valley, in front of me the Grossarl Valley, the Peak of the Hochkönig flashes across, I can even see the Dachstein, white over white.

Just the same as usual.

Thousands of meters of massive alpine power. Impressively unimpressed by COVID-19. And yet everything is different. In the many years that I found words and pictures for Ski amadé, there have always been some challenges. The snow came late or the weather was bad… None of this mattered much. Neither for the region here, which means living space, workplace and home for so many locals, nor for YOU far away, booking your dream vacation to explore the winter paradise with us. This year, for the first time, I am almost speechless when I try to send a good, correct and, above all, authentic message.

The slopes are empty. The huts closed. It doesn't smell like Kaiserschmarren or cheese dumplings. We are wearing FFP2 masks on the lift and keep our distance – the recommended two meters where possible. But the distance to you out there, who are not allowed to visit us, is much greater than anything else. Without our international guests, our ski region is still great, but lonely. We all have to gnaw at this virus bone – some more, some less – but the closed hotels, the cut off life and the daily corona marathon in the median depress the most solid optimists.

After a year of pandemic, what felt like 5 years in lockdown and one social zero number after another, the staying power is unfortunately getting a little shorter. The humor helps us over the mountain every now and then (beware joke!), but honestly, we all are 1000% ready for the usual life. And we want nothing more than to greet our friends with a high five without running paranoid into the bathroom to wash our hands.

From us, and I just cheekily count myself as part of the big Ski amadé family, there is a promise: We are and will be there for you, now and in the future. The mountains are young, only 250 million years old and many millions still ahead of them. At the moment we can only share pictures, stories and situation reports with you. We can show you that we still exist and that the sun will rise again here even after the Corona storm (at Skikeriki, for example). When? Nobody can really tell. Like often in life, time is both a blessing and a curse: it heals, lets people forget, and moves things out of focus. But it also makes us wait a hell of a long time.

Dear fans, we are yours too!

We stay connected, telepathically and via the all-rounder Internet. Don't feel fooled when we send the bright sunshine to your feeds. Enjoy the good view – this all shall pass - and the joy of seeing you again will be even greater.