Always chasing the next challenge

The author's life has revolved around sport, fitness and pushing physical limits. Ski holidays meant skiing hard from first lift to last.

A birthday trip to Austria

Invited to Austria's Gastein Valley, the author expected good snow and fast skiing. What he didn't expect was to rethink what he wants from mountains.

A spa town with skiing attached

Gastein feels different from typical ski resorts. It's an old European spa town that happens to have a ski area, not the other way around.

Centuries before skiing existed

Thermal springs were discovered around the seventh century. By the 19th century, Gastein had become one of Europe's fashionable health destinations.

The Belle Époque heyday

Elegant hotels appeared across the mountainside in the late 19th century. The Tauern Railway in 1909 made the valley accessible to international visitors.

Five million litres a day

Water enters the mountain at altitude, heats underground and emerges through 17 thermal springs. Around five million litres surface daily at 44 to 47 degrees.

The radon question

Gastein's thermal water naturally contains radon. Controlled low-dose therapeutic exposure is very different from prolonged environmental radon exposure.

Looking for gold, finding healing

Miners searching for gold in the 1940s found hot, humid conditions inside Radhausberg mountain. Some reported improvements in rheumatic complaints.

Inside the healing gallery

Today patients travel 2.5 kilometres into the mountain where temperatures reach 37 to 41.5 degrees and humidity approaches 100 per cent.

“There are no LED face masks, cryotherapy chambers or sophisticated performance dashboards involved.”

What does the research say

Studies show longer-term pain reductions for chronic musculoskeletal conditions. A 2026 review of eight studies involving 2,100 patients reported improvements.

Still a serious ski destination

Four ski areas provide access to more than 180 kilometres of pistes. Schlossalm, Angertal and Stubnerkogel offer long, wide runs for strong intermediates.

Empty pistes at dawn

Early Morning Skiing at 7.45am meant freshly prepared pistes before normal operations. The surface untouched, the mountain quiet, nothing ahead but corduroy snow.

“There is a particular pleasure in skiing an empty piste.”

Racing down on three wheels

Early Winter Mountaincart involves descending 500 vertical metres on a large three-wheeled gravity kart before the ski area opens. Fast, ridiculous, entertaining.

Recovery is part of training

After days of early starts and skiing, thermal bathing at Alpentherme made sense. Ski hard in the morning, recover properly in the afternoon.

“We pay a considerable amount of money for a lift pass and therefore feel morally obliged to extract every possible minute from it.”

When dinner becomes an event

Gastein's restaurant scene combines traditional mountain huts with creative cooking. The Skihauben concept brings award-winning chefs and mountain dining together.

Welcome to OFF

Switching off doesn't mean becoming inactive. One moment carving empty pistes, the next exploring Belle Époque architecture or soaking in thermal water.

Fitness changes as you age

Keeping your body capable of doing what you love matters more than pure performance. Strength, speed and cardiovascular fitness matter, but so does recovery.

Asking different questions now

Future ski trips won't just be about piste kilometres and lift heights. What happens when skis come off? Is there history? Somewhere genuinely good to recover?

Learning when to do less

There's still joy in skiing hard all day. But there's also something satisfying about getting off them and experiencing the mountain differently.

“For someone who has spent a large part of his life thinking that wellbeing should involve doing more, Gastein offered a surprisingly convincing alternative.”