Skiing in Austria (Part 1)

During the year I lived in Austria, I skied in many fascinating areas. The first place I ever skied in Europe was actually in Sued Tirol (the German-speaking region in Northern Italy) at a place called "Rosskopf" (literally, "horse head") near the town of Sterzing (called "Vipiteno" in Italian). Here's a link to Rosskpof, called in Italian Monte Cavallo: http://www.rosskopf.com/en/home.html
This was the first big snow of the year and a few of the Notre Dame Innsbruckers hopped into a car and drove the 30 or so miles south through the Wipptal, through the Brenner Pass, to this Italian ski area. I remember Charlie Schaffer, Tim Barry, and Bob Wingerson and possibly Leo Lensing being there and probably a couple other guys. I quickly found out that skiing on the Alps was different than skiing on the hills of Northeast Ohio! I broke one of my skis in half that day--and most importantly, I decided to try to find some ski lessons!

During the Christmas break that year (1967), Brian Wilson, Tim Forward, Bennie Thomas, and I were able to get into an Austrian ski school in the high alpine town/ski resort of Obergurgl. This ski school had one of those astonishing long German names, which I can no longer remember (it wasn't "Forstlichebundesversuchsanstalt," but along those lines). Obergurgl is fairly close to where the famous "Ice Man" (known as "Oetzi" because of the Oetztal or Oetz Valley there)was discovered.

The Austrian approach to ski school was very interesting and it involved heavy-duty conditioning. We always had to walk up hill after skiing downhill, using either a side-step technique or a herringbone technique--there was no using the lifts. This helped strengthen our legs and gave our hearts and lungs quite a work out! We seemed to take lessons about 5 hours a day, both before lunch and after lunch, and this program went on for a week or ten days, if I remember correctly. By the end of the program we all were much better skiers and confident that we could handle the alpine runs. Of course it took all of that year and many years after to really master skiing, but that very solid base was established at the Obergurgl ski school.

Besides all the skiing instruction, we were provided with three simple but hearty meals per day, and if I remember correctly, the entire program, all inclusive, cost us about 20 dollars (maybe $18). It was an astonishing bargain. We did not have separate rooms in Obergurgl but slept in dormitories filled with mattresses up on platforms (I think called "Matrazenanlagen"). The "students" were quite a strange and motley crew, with one older student reading Kant's "Kritik der Reiner Vernunft," The Critique of Pure Reason, in his down time. Not my idea of liesurely reading! There were some nightclubs in the little village but things were so expensive there that we rarely bought more than one small Coca Cola per night. On Sylvesterabend, New Year's Eve, Tim and I met two great Austrian girls, Liselotte Schartner and Caecilia Werth (now Cilli Kirchmair) and remained friends with them after the ski school ended. For a view of the village of Obergurgl, click on this link or paste it into your web browser:
http://www.austria-trips.com/Obergurgl/Obergurgl.htm

[more coming]

Making Music (Part 1)

[Part 1]. Music must be one of the great consolations, one of the great pleasures of life. I wish that my parents had encouraged (cajoled, threatened, forced) me to take music lessons as a kid. We didn't think about making our own music in my family, alas, but I began to make music for myself junior year at St. Joe's High School in Cleveland. The inspiration was Pete Gasper, my classmate, and the music of the Beatles. Pete was also my inspiration to begin writing poetry. Pete was one strange and interesting dude, a fellow living in Eastlake, born of Portuguese heritage, who discovered that he could woo girls via poetry. Where is Pete today? Did he continue his pursuit of poetry? and girls?

Anyway, Pete set me on the path. I bought an inexpensive Hohner harmonica and began playing by ear, with absolutely no instruction and even without many musical models. Eventually, the models became the harp riffs on some Beatle songs and the harmonica parts in Bob Dylan songs. I eventually got pretty good on the harmonica, at least good enough to entertain myself.

A couple years later, I roomed with Brian Wilson (the Hilo Pediatrician, not the Beach Boy) during a Sophomore Year Abroad program in Innsbruck, Austria. Brian had a guitar and was an excellent player. He taught me to play a few chords and a few simple songs (the first being "G-L-O-R-I-A, Glo-ri-a," written, I've heard, by the great Irishman, Van Morrison). I played these songs fairly well. We had great fun in Innsbruck, banging on guitars at informal sessions at the Weisses Kreuz Gasthaus, right in the heart of Innsbruck's Altstadt. The Innsbruck guitar bangers included the late John Higgins, Mike Celizic, the MSNBC.COM sports columnist, Brian Wilson, Mike Gerrity, and myself. Other guys joined in on guitar and on harmonica, including Charlie Schaffer. [more coming]

Julia and Eddy's 1st Anniversary: Part II--Wedding Guests

There were a bezillion guests at Julia and Ed's wedding, including my brothers, shown in the top photo: Jimmy, Kevin, Sean (Denny and Sher's son), Denny ("Little Cogs"), and me.

The bottom photo shows my friends from the University of Notre Dame/Innsbruck Program (1967-68): Tom Heinen ("Spider"), me ("Wilder Mann"), Tim Forward ("Rudi"), Chris Cotter("Wheat"), and Mike Gerrity ("Misha").

We all had a terrific time the weekend of the wedding.