Skiing in Slovenia

The ski resorts finally opened the latter half of the season. Covid, true to its joy-sucking nature, forced the resorts to close through January... such bitter irony as Slovenia has received more snow than in a decade! We were so happy when they opened again!  We've been able to go as a family a handful of times during the weekends and during ski week in February. Ben and I were also able to sneak away on President's Day go for a DoD sponsored outing.  I've even gotten in a few weekdays with friends Amanda and Maliha.  It's too easy with Krvavec being just a 30 minute drive from Ljubljana...  and it's so affordable!  On promotion days you can get a full day ticket for 25euro, children 15euro.  It's too convenient and too inexpensive not to take advantage.

This season we explored Kransjka Gora and Vogel for the first time.  We took the kids twice during ski week.  That was kind of a wild experience.... I'll share the story below. 

Kranjska Gora during ski week

Em showing her stuff

The backside which had several black runs unbeknownst to us...
Some days are rough

Love the beautiful mountains at Kranjska Gora

Palačinke (Slovene pancakes)

                                             Driving home from Kranjska Gora, mountains are so beautiful

I thought I had everything organized so well for our first outing to Kranjska Gora!  I had enrolled Cosette in a ski school for half the day, I had purchased our tickets online so we could avoid the ticket counter and go through the fast kiosk line, and I had loaded all the gear in the van the day before.  

Well, upon arrival we found that I had failed to pack James' ski boots. Whoops. Ben went off to the rental shop with him.  Meanwhile, I stood in the "fast" kiosk line with the girls only to find a super long line because the kiosk machine was broken.  We had to wait almost 45 minutes to get our tickets.  And the worst part, I showed up at the ski school office for Cosette's class and no one answered the door.  I thought I heard voices so I gave the door a good banging, and finally some ski bum answered and said, "sorry, ski school is closed."  Um, I enrolled my 4 year old yesterday.  "Did you get a confirmation email?"  Uh, I don't think so. "You have to have a confirmation email.  It's closed."  I was suuuuuuper annoyed at this point.  So, I told Ben to take the three kids and go have fun while I stayed with Cozy on the button lifts.  Who needs an instructor when you have someone as awesome as MOM to do the job??  Well, turns out I am a sorry excuse for an instructor.  We stood in a super long line, apparently we chose the busiest day of ski week to go skiing (Tuesday, who knew?). When we finally got up to the button lift, I awkwardly tried to position her on my lap while putting the lift through both our pairs of legs, basically trying to mimic what I saw other skiers doing with their kids.  Of course, we were a complete disaster and they had to stop the lift for us to get ourselves straightened out properly.  There's no such wrath as that of as a Slovenian ski lift operator.  Man, was he ornery!  I think a sense of humor should be a qualification for the job.  Anyway, after we made it very awkwardly to the top, I had her hold on to my pole as I gently zig-zagged down the hill with her, but of course we biffed it on a turn and I landed in the most painful position with her on top of me in tears.  I couldn't move my legs unless I popped off my skis, which I was eventually able to accomplish.  After we made it down the hill Ben met me and offered to switch me out. I was already exhausted. Thank you Ben! 

 I joined the kids and decided to take them to the backside of the mountain since the frontside was kind of a bunch of sissy slopes.  Well, this was our first time back there, and unbeknownst to us, it was all red and black runs... they were a little more treacherous for the kids.  We managed our way down some red runs, and then took a lift all the way to the top.  I told everyone to follow me so that we would stay together and I would guide them on the red runs, avoiding the black.  Well, as soon as we started our way down, James immediately passed me.  He has no qualms about skiing, the steeper the slope the better.  He also doesn't listen. So, with no choice but to follow him, we missed the important left hand turn for the red run and found ourselves on a black run.  I carefully made my way down with Em and Caroline behind me.  James made it down to where it flattened out, and then pretty much launched himself off the ledge of another black run, not waiting for anyone.  I couldn't see him after he went over the ledge.  I didn't know what to do... go after him or stay with the girls who were making their way very gingerly down. Caroline made it down pretty quickly, in her very graceful style (pizza position full blast), but Em was not having it.  She was wrecking, crying, stuck in the snow, wouldn't get up, mad.  I stood and patiently waited.  It took her almost a half an hour to get herself down the hill. At one point she beckoned for me to come up to help her.  Like that was going to happen!  At this point I was really regretting not having enrolled them in more ski lessons... really, they've had very minimal instruction.  In the meantime I called Ben and told him to watch for James, as I was certain he would flush out at the bottom.  But Ben said there was no sign of him.  He was worried and wanted to call ski patrol.  Ugh, no thank you.  I was confident James would show up.  When Emily finally made it down, we had the option to go down the steep black ledge that James took, or take the split off to the left which was a gentler red run, and in theory should have all lead to the same place, but as it was our first time, we weren't sure.  There was no way the girls were going on the black, so I sent them off to the left and I actually headed off in another direction in case James went to a different base.  After not finding him, I finally caught up with everyone at the bottom about 45 minutes later to find them all sitting in the snow calmly eating sandwiches, James included.  I asked for the whole story and apparently James went over the ledge, crashed, and just laid there, waiting for us to show up.  And of course, we didn't.  I said, "Did anyone stop and help you." "Yeah."  "Did they speak English??"  "Yeah."  I really never got the full picture because James isn't the most verbose 7 year old kid, but he did mention rather proudly, "Mom, I know how to say, 'Are you ok?' in Slovenian now" because apparently he's been asked that quite a few times during our stay here.  The rest of the afternoon I chilled out with Cozy and Em who had had enough, while the others skied.  What a day!

 President's Day at Vogel...  Kids in school, Ben off work means the two of us get to enjoy on our own! Score!!

Those mountains!  The scenery reminded me of an illustration out of a Dr. Seuss book or something.

This resort is at a very high altitude... you have to take a huge gondola to get to the top, and the views of Lake Bohinj below are breathtaking!

That's Triglav poking out of Ben's head... the highest mountain in Slovenia!

View from the top of Vogel, Lake Bohinj below.  At the end of the day, Ben and I skied all the way down to the lake!  They had enough snow that the trail was open all the way down to the bottom.  That was a somewhat treacherous and very memorable run. 

The bluebird skies were amazing!

Carefree parents... welcome to the forties!  It's awesome!

A day at Krvavec with friends... really cold and snowy, but they had fun:

Avery and Caroline... BFF's

Ethan and James... BFF's

Mishap on the lift leads to a bent pole

Em, easy to find on any run due to her bright colored apparel.  Note the photo-bomber. 

DoD Outing.  We're pretty much all incognito.

DoD Team

This guy is awesome

Amanda, me, Maliha, Kyle

We are soooooo hip

I'm getting a little too chummy with the troll

And that's a wrap!  I'm sure some of our fondest memories in Slovenia will be tied to these winter days on the slopes.  So much fun!