Back at the ranch.

After a 15 hour train ride we arrive at Amsterdam Central Station again. Rather knackered...

Marjolein took a train home and I walked towards the ferry with about 350 other orange jackets for one last parade ;-) The busses were waiting across the water.

Welcome back. Yay. So excited... not.

First aid.

The Kitzsteinhorn, again!

Click the photos for bigger, sometimes JUMBO-TRON sizes!

So this morning I open the blinds and low and behold, the clouds have gone and it's bright and sunny!

The plan for today was to walk around the Zeller see but since the weather is so good we decided to go to the Kitzsteinhorn one more time to actually enjoy the views.

We caught the bus at the train station, which is next to the Zeller see. Never miss an opportunity for lake photos!

It was quiet and calm and even the ducks were lazing in the sun.

So here we are again. This time we can actually see all the way up the first part of the mountain.

There were icicles the size of a small tree!

That sky...

Below we saw traces of little mountain creatures everywhere.

Pretty soon we felt like we were on top of the world.

...

Marlon came with us because Alex was ehm... not quite fit enough for anything at the time ;-)

My sunshine.

Me.

Mountains.

The Kitzsteinhorn with the Gipfelwelt lookout point.

Lookout point.

The view was sensational. It felt like there was nothing higher. (Actually there is a mountain called "Großglockner" not too far away which is Austria's highest mountain and stands 3798 metres tall).

Being high.

Compare this with yesterday's photo. There is actually a view!

"Is the photo done yet?" I was a bit quick with looking back...

More view.

We only had time for a quick tea but it was a nice rest.

Then we had to go down again. This is the tallest pylon in the world.

One of the rides.

Awesome-ness.

Marlon. She was actually quite brave today because she's afraid of heights!

Marjoleintje :-)

One of my favourite mountain tops.

...

When we came back we had a few drinks.

Alex' drink, my new drink, my old drink, Bas' drink.

After an early dinner at 4PM we packed up and the exodus started. Here Bjorn and my boss Hans are walking past.

Marjolein with Geert, Norbert, Alex, Marlon and Ira's sister in the background.

"Chippies" (ChipSoft employees) started walking towards the station from all directions like little streams forming a river.

Marlon and Alex.

Bye bye Zell am see. Till next time! :-)

Gipfelwelt 3000

Click the photos for bigger, better versions!

On the menu today was the Kitzsteinhorn near Kaprun. It's a big mountain with a lookout point / restaurant at 3029 metres which is called Gipfelwelt. It takes 3 rides to get there. They start at the left most parking and then go up.

We hoped for good views but instead we got a snow storm. But up we went, into the unknown...

Snowboarders were having a good time.

Waiting for the last ride to go up we were informed of the temperature. Not bad.

We had a photo taken which could be downloaded at www.photopoint.kitzsteinhorn.at. Normally you'd have mountains in the background but ehm. Well, not today...

To keep everything in place the top of the ski lift is anchored in the mountain by very long cables that end inside a tunnel that was dug especially for this.

When you click this picture you will see how it's done.

The tunnel is open to the public and features a few noteworthy sites. Part of it takes you through a permafrost part of the mountain.

Since the tunnel is on a 25% incline and it's at 3000 metres high they warn not to walk too fast. Walking down you don't notice a thing. I got dizzy after 10 steps and could only walk up quite slow. I remained dizzy for a few hours :-(

Marjolein at the lower end of the tunnel. It was VERY bright there!

After some un-impressive lunch we went down again.

The church in the centre of Zell am see.

Our hotel. Next time I would like a 100% non-smoking hotel please.

During today's apres-ski the management was thanked for taking us all on this trip once again. It got quite orange.

During our stay in Zell am see we were asked about our jackets a couple of times. Some folks even remembered us from 2 years ago. Back then, we turned Zell am see bright yellow :-)

All eyes were on the balcony.

ChipSoft is now sponsoring a mandril ape called "Ndoki" in the Amsterdam zoo.

The table next to us during dinner. Sam's wife, Ira, Ira's sister and Sam.

Last night there was a bit of a party going on downstairs. Drinks were on ChipSoft till 11PM but the party went on till about 4AM. Marjolein and I were in bed by midnight but couldn't sleep from the disgusting cigarette smoke entering our bedroom.
The next morning a few people found a booze-bill in their postbox ;-)

Avoiding the smoke we went to another hotel, the Tirolerhof, where I stayed last time. Here all the public spaces are completely smoke-free which is nice!

Me and my sunshine.

Ray "Alex" Charles.