Skiing above the clouds

Gondola at Vogel Ski Center

 On January 26th we finally got to do what we came to Slovenia to do. GO SKIING!!!! I was beyond excited, this was something I had wanted to to for too long. We went to Vogel Ski Center in the Julian Alps, and to get us to the top of the mountain one giant gondola car was our transport. About 30 plus people and all of their gear were tightly packed onto the gondola (good thing we rented our equipment!). Once the gondola began moving we were quickly taken up through the gray cloud line and up to the top of the mountain where the sun shone bright and made for the perfect day!

Fresh off of the Gondola and about the clouds

View of the Alps from the top

View of the main ski run

On the Chair lift after getting my equipment

Another view of the mountain

Pure Beauty

Looking down the main run

  

Me and the mountain scenery

So excited!

View off the top most run!

Representing MSU!

Picture Perfect!

This would not be as exciting/insane as it was without what happened towards the end of the day. On one of the black diamonds that I and another girl decided to go on, my fellow travel partner and skier lost control of her skis and zoomed past me. After I went after looking for her I could not find her. I had this gut feeling something happened after seeing how out of control she was, but it only became a reality when on the ride up the chairlift on my last run of the day a helicopter came to the hill and picked up an injured skier. Only did the rest of us find out it was our friend who got the fancy helicopter ride, when we went to return our equipment. The ski patrol was in there waiting for us, we then found out she flew off the edge of the cliff and landed a good 50 meters from her take off point we went into action mode. She had been flown to the capital of Slovenia, Ljubljana. The ski patrol man said she was conscious when they flew her out and that she would be fine. At this news we were definitely relieved, but the urgency at this point was to get to the capital some hour and a half away.

So we returned all of our equipment, and headed down the gondola and barely made the bus back to our hostel. By the time we got back, the management team at the hostel already knew the situation. We checked out of that hostel and booked another one in the capital. Thus far we had heard great things about the care of patients in the hospitals in Ljubljana, and that the country we were in was among the safest countries in all of Europe. The even more comforting part was the hospitality of all of the people. Every one was incredibly helpful and super genuine in their quest to help us.