Snowboarding Trip to the Czech Republic

Saturday we went on an adventure to the Czech Republic (well, we were super close to Germany, but we were still in another country!) to go snowboarding and test out our snowboarding legs in preparation for a ski trip in January!

The snowboarding place was called Bournak and promised to be much better than the other ski areas within a two hour radius of Dresden, though that doesn't say much...  If you've ever been skiing at a decent ski area, this left a lot to be desired... nothing like having only 6 trails and NO CHAIRLIFTS (but more about that later...)

We left at 10 with plans to be there around 11:30.  Yet, we didn't end up arriving until after 1.  Why you ask?  Well, let's just say it was an adventure....

We started out driving in Germany for the first hour or so.  As we drove, we saw more and more snow, which was very exciting.

Look at all that snow!!!

The conditions were going to be great :)  BUT, we still had to get there.

First, we tried a road that was so narrow that if a car had been coming the other way, one of us would have had to back all the way up to the end.  AND, about a mile in, the road just STOPPED! Not stopped like it never continued, but stopped like the plow guy got tired and decided to turn around and go home for some hot chocolate.  Fortunately, he'd plowed a turn around, so we turned around and tried another route.

Well, that went pretty well until about a 5 miles in when we came upon this :

It must have JUST fallen right before we got there because the road was pretty well traveled and cars started backing up behind us right away.  What were we to do?  Turns out big pine trees are pretty heavy.  Not even Bob could lift it with the help of our friend Chris!

So... once again, we plotted a new route.  But go figure: the third road was just like the first- single lane, giant snow banks, sudden stop-- only this time we almost got stuck!

So we decided to go back and check on the status of the tree.

But first, we made a quick stop at this store to see if they had a saw (just in case). No saws, only cigarettes...

When we got to the tree: nothing.  Though the line of cars was much longer and there were some police men...

We didn't have any more alternate routes to take, so we agreed to wait it out for half an hour.  And luckily, within 15 minutes, the tree was chainsawed to pieces and gone!!

There's the pile of tree on the side of the road!

We finally got to the ski area just after 1pm.  I was a little disappointed upon arriving because there weren't any chairlifts :(  And it wasn't a super tiny mountain or anything... I guess T-bars (or schlepplifts) are just cheaper?

Being a snowboarder, you have to ride up sideways with the bar between your legs (NOT comfy!) and balance on your board as you get dragged up the hill.  And these hills were steep... and long... so pretty much by the time I got to the top, I was already exhausted!

But we had a great time-  We snowboarded for a while... that is, until the T-bar broke down... then we sat in the snow for a while... and then snowboarded a little more...

I guess it was a good thing we weren't planning on a tough day of training or anything, seeing as how we only got in 4 runs or so... but it was definitely an adventure!!