Skiing, Munich

Between December and April go skiing in on of the many ski areas. There are too many south of Munich to give detailed descriptions here. If you want to spent 39 Euro for a day ticket the “Zugspitze” ski area is definitely worth a visit skiing and snowboarding on the glaciers below the nearly 3000m peak of Gernaby’s highest mountain. The gondola up to the summit starts close to the town of Garmisch Partenkirchen (take highway 95 from Munich to Garmisch) and in Garmisch follow the signs towards the “Zugspitzbahn” and “Gondel”. After skiing you can enjoy the public swimming hall of Garmisch, which is well marked. This swimming place features normal pools, some hot pools and sauna. The best way to relax after a day of skiing.

Equipment: - skis or snowboard (or rent it in Garmisch)
- warm clothes, goggles etc
- food and drink for lunch if you dont want to pay the high prices along the descents

If you are in Muenchen during one weekend in winter, get yourself and your friends a "Wochenendeticket" (or Weekend Ticket) and travel the entire weekend by regional trains for a fixed price (limited to five persons).

Use the ticket to a day trip to Garmisch to ski (if you already know how to) or to learn or have classes (if you are a beginner, like me)...

Trip takes 1,5 hour and you will enjoy a pleasant day on the Alps.

Ooops: Do not forget to check the weather forecast for snow...

Equipment: You can rent the entire equipment on the ski schools near Garmisch.

It may be rather difficult to decide where to go skiing. From Munich, I usually went to Zillertal since it is rather close and offers plenty of slopes. To help defining where to go, use some of the well done ski-oriented webservices such as:
http://www.adac-skiguide.de/

Equipment: You can rent ones if you don't have. In Germany and Austria, you should go to Skischule- marked offices to rent skis or snowboards or any other equipment.

If you want to go skiing but don't have a car (and even if you have one), there are couple of rather good alternatives: First, DB has either some combination tickets including the trip and the skipass (at least to Zugspitze and to Oberstdorf) or cheap schönes wochenende- ticket (only German areas, however). Besides that, some sport stores offer ski trips by bus which are really cheap. At least sport scheck (www.sportscheck.de).

Munich was bright and cold on my visit in February. If it were not for the fact that I was working with a ski/boardwear company I may well have been in danger of freezing my little touchy off.

Equipment: When it comes to mountain sports it is important that your clothing keeps you warm and dry but also allows your body to breath. Invest in good quality hats, gloves, jackets and trousers.