Sledding down the Alps

The winter adventure continues once again in the Alps, where else? Doing my favorite winter activity. It’s called sledging, sledding, rodelling, rodeln… Whatever you wanna call it. You go up a mountain, on foot or with the lift, and then you ride your way down on your sled (Rodel). So without further a due, here’s the short film from that adventure. I’ve included a first-person-view of the whole ride down (in case you are a Rodel-fanboy like me).

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BG7SYZkeTo&w=1120&h=400]

For more info visit Juifenalm’s Website and Winterrodeln.org

It’s a process

First time I did this, was about five years ago. To my surprise, I got completely addicted to it. Don’t get me wrong, other winter sports and activities are also cool (I am planning to start snowboarding again). My fondness with rodeln though was completely unexpected. Believe it or not, it has a little bit to do with competition. You see toddlers of all ages sliding down the Rodelbahn like pros. Then you take a long hard stare at yourself and… you get motivated! Around Innsbruck there are plenty of Rodelbahnen to go around and fit everybody’s needs and taste. As I mentioned earlier, the one featured here is the Rodelbahn in Juifenalm. It is one of the longest out there, being 6 to 6,5 kilometers long. It takes about 110′ to reach the hut and about 10 minutes to slide down. Sounds crazy right? You might ask, why in the world would you want to do that? That’s the first thing, first time I was invited to do it.

Scenic Landscape

Personally, the answer to that question is quite obvious. Nature and the scenery. Simply breath-taking. All year round. I also shot a lot photographs and got to make a cool vlog about it. Not to mention the exercise. Walking uphill while pulling a rodel for about 2 hours, can lead to about 1000+ burned calories. So basically it’s a win-win. The secret to that is not to eat too much once you are up there. It’s not because it cancels out the exercise, but you don’t want to sit on a rodel and go downhill with a full stomach and in need of a soda. And I am talking from experience. Been there, done that.

I will follow you

Taking photos and making videos is a process that takes time. Sometimes too much time. It involves frequent stops, adjust settings, adjust lenses and whatnot. Most of the time, the person caught up in all this is my girl. And I end up following her all the time. So I have to make it up to her somehow. Take a nice photo of her, upload it and blast it across socials. Trust me, if she’d let me, I’d take more photos of her. She’s camera shy for the time being.

Großes Kino

This is a clearly German expression for amazement or extravagance. Just like watching a great film in the cinema; hence the “Kino”. If you ask me, Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones could have easily used the Austrian landscapes for several scenes. Oh well, at least we got James Bond. Not the same tho… (fanboy-ing so hard right now). What I am saying is that rodelling is very rewarding and you should definitely try it.