Soll January 2003 - my first time at London Club week -  04/02/2003 Brendan West

It's a long way from the South of England to Austria if you are driving! I was bitten by the skibob bug a few years ago and I wanted to test out the Keeda skibob I had modified during the summer (Kindly given to me by Ray Holland MBE, thanks Ray). Belinda and I arrived in Soll 1.5 days later after on overnight stop and the biggest meal I have eaten in my life. After booking into the Hotel Maria Fuchs, threw open my suitcase and departed for the slopes for the first test of the Keeda.

My modified Keeda	View from the Top

Soll is part of the Ski-World Area (SKiWelte) which in the largest interconnected ski area in Austria. It has 93 lifts and 250km of pistes.

Where now?
In my excitement to get on the snow, I didn't pay much attention to the piste map and got lost. I didn't even pay attention to the ski station I departed from. After much heartache and a lot of head scratching, I found my way home at around 5:15pm when it was getting dark.

We had arrange to meet up with and stay in the same hotel as Henry and Ingrid Wuga. Apart from ski-bobbing during the day we spent many gourmet hours tasting and learning about Austrian food. Henry and Ingrid are fantastic and entertaining people to be with. 

Dead Mans Handle 
Henry had brought along some interesting items. The most interesting were cunning devices to help using drag lifts. The "Dead Man's" (photograph to follow) handle is a steel device tied to the centre stem of the handlebar with a hook that opens and closes with something that looks like a brake on a bike handlebar. To use. The ski-bobber holds the brake handle. The T-bar is placed in the hook and hey presto, off you go. At the top of the lift, the ski-bobber lets go of the handle, the hook opens and the t-bar is released.

I spent most of the week with Henry and Sydney Eden. I sure they won't mind me saying that they are veteran bobbers. Age did not prevent the guys from doing 6 metre jumps and 360 spins.... only joking. They are pretty quick though.

Henrys Broken Skibob
Before I arrive Henrys Brenter Downhill ski bindings had broken in the middle of the piste. He could no longer use the skibob and while he was puzzling how to get home, he saw a small hut. The hut was run by a lady called Maria (see pic below). "Can you fix this?". asked Henry. "I may be a little old lady, but I am engineer" came the reply from Maria. With that she set about repairing the ski in a very professional manner and at very little cost. Henry returned with me, Sydney and a box of Scottish Shortbread. When we arrived, Maria opened a small hand made cupboard on the wall, produced 4 glasses and a bottle a of something strong. If you look behind Henry and Maria you will see the tools of her trade.

Henry and Maria	Sydney leading London Club

I had a great time with the London club guys, they are a very friendly and sociable bunch. I plan to go with them next year.

Food and Racing
Henry took me on a tour of all the best eating places in the SkiWelt area, unfortunately I can't remember the names of the dishes. The best eatery was near Hochbrixen where food was cooked to order and was also extremely fresh. Unfortunately, Henry left his wallet in this restaurant and HAD TO RETURN THE FOLLOWING LUNCHTIME to collect it. He did seem to be gone a long time.

During the week we met up with Jacek Stalmach the 4 times world skibob champion. He does not race anymore, but coaches the Austria team. He brought along a Stalmach Snow-Horse www.stalmach.com skibob for the London Club people to try. He and his friend Chris skied with us for a day which was great fun. The Snow-Horse is a Fun bob aimed at the leisure and touring market. We didn't race, but it was impressive to see Jacek handling a skibob at speed. Wow!

Jacek Stalmach with Snow-Horse	New Skibobber have a blast

New Skibobbers
Around 7 or 8 people tried out ski-bobbing for the first time. Without exception all of them had great fun. The picture above was from a guy trying a bob on his first run. He said he was interested in hiring one.

Whacky Races
We bumped into a ski school who had organised a slalom race with K2's and something that I can only describe as a seat with 2 handles and a small ski. They looked like they were having fun.

What is this thing	Girl on a K2

Snow Cannon
In early season (December/January), there is sometimes limited snow because the resort is not at high altitude. The Skiwelt have plenty of snow making facilities. The cannons are basically high pressure hoses that only run at -2 degrees Celsius or lower. This fine high pressure water jets instantly turn to ice/snow as they leave the jets.

I would recommend that anyone interested in this event books up early to avoid disappointment. There were 41 people from the London Club in Soll.

For More information relating to Soll look in the Resorts section of this site. There are also lots of pictures in the Galleries Section. Have a looks at the snow cannon.