Chopok at last!

Saturday's weather forecast was for sunshine, so arrangements were made for us to go skiing.  Our Headmistress got free lift tickets for us, and Saška's husband, Ignace, provided our ski equipment from his rental shop, so we were all set.  After a practically nonexistent winter here in Slovakia, we were really excited for our first skiing adventure of the year, but in spring-like weather conditions!!  

While we were waiting for Saška to pick us up in the morning, I noticed that Tim's coat blended in perfectly with the lime green color of our block of flats.  So I told him if he stood in front of it, his coat would be "camouflage", and no one would notice him!!   LOL!! 

Tim and Saška ready to head down Biela Put, aka the "Bunny Slope", as far as we can tell!!  LOL!!  But we had lots of fun with our amazing ski instructor, Saška Bobková!!   :-)   And the weather was awesome - sunny and warm!!  

After a fun morning of skiing, the sun started to melt our snow into lots of slushy spots.  It was such a good time though!!  Last year Tim never fell down at all when we went skiing here.  Well, this year, guess who was the one who never fell once???       ;-)  

Ignace brought us a delicious lunch of kapustnica (sauerkraut soup) and bread.  Our picnic in the sunshine was delightful after working up an appetite skiing.  

Next, we walked up to the ski lift heading up to the top of the mountain - the famous peak Chopok, which we'd heard so much about ever since we came here.  

These are some slopes we did NOT try - a little steep for these novice skiers!  

The views from the ski lift were beautiful.  

After the first ride on a lift.  Next up - another ride to the top of Chopok.  

Finally!!  Almost to the top.  This map shows all the ski runs and lifts on all sides of the mountain.  Notice there are a lot of red and black trails, and not so many blues (easy ones!)  Which is why we were wearing boots at this point, and not skis!  

There's a guy way down there in the lower center of this picture.  It's more like a cliff than a ski slope from here, and it isn't a real trail.  We saw several crazy people with a death wish going over this precipice.  Unbelievable!!  They'd go down at lightning speed, then all of a sudden right before another drop-off, they'd stop on a dime and scope out their next route down another portion of the hill.  

That last peak is the very top of Chopok.  See all the little tiny people at the very top??  Well, of course once we had gotten this far, we felt compelled to continue upward and onward!!   (You know me, right??) 
:-)   

Even here at the base, the climb started looking pretty dang steep!  

But we made it!!  YAY!!  Chopok!!  

The view was breathtaking - a 360º panorama around the Low Tatras and the valleys below, with the High Tatras in the distance.  WOW!!  

Saška kept warning me not to get so close to the edge, that the snow sometimes can give way near the edges, that our colleagues at school would never forgive her if something happened to me, to be careful, etc. etc.   But this was an epic place for one of my classic 'on the edge' photo ops!!   I was definitely singing along with Karen Carpenter: "I'm on the  --  top of the world looking  --  down on Creation!"     AMAZING!!  

Some other guys up at the top of Chopok made this snow heart and photographed it, so I decided to take a picture too.  
Sending love from Chopok to all our family and friends out there reading the blog!!     :-)  

At the top we ran into our colleague (and volleyball teammate) Janka, and her husband.  They had just 'walked' all the way up the mountain on skis.  Yes, walked.  The whole way from the bottom!!  On skis!!   There is a wonderful spin-off ski sport here that is not for the faint of heart or those not in great shape.   Special strips are attached to the bottoms of the skis so that you can glide/walk on your skis up slopes without sliding backwards because of one-way friction on the strips.  Then the strips are removed to ski back down.  It took Janka and Peter about 3 hours to walk up, then they rested a while in the warm sunshine at the top before skiing for about 30 minutes back to the bottom again.  We were very impressed!!  (This also saves the 37 EU per day cost for lift tickets.  It's free to ski if you don't ride the lifts!!  What a terrific and economical workout!!)  

Saška wanted us to try these special "Chopok" desserts, only sold here at the Kamenna Chata (restaurant).  They were delicious!!  And we thought the little Chopok flags on top were cute too!!  

Tim continues to solidify his reputation of running into someone he knows, no matter where we go.  This is Juraj, Tim's English student.  (Juraj goes to a different school, and his Mom, Tana, is also my English student!)  

Just hanging out at the Chata in the sunshine!  We ate our desserts outside on the patio with more gorgeous views, under the bluest of skies!  

Saška and Tim in front of the chata at the base of the last peak on Chopok.  The hill doesn't look so big from down here, but there are teeny-tiny people up there at the top, so you can get some perspective!!  We actually sat down and slid most of the way down on our backsides since it was so steep and the treads on our boots were terrible for traction.  

Views of the slopes on the way down from Chopok on the lift.  Ummmm - can you say, 'steep'??

We really admired all the skiers on the way down the mountain, and the views were spectacular too.  

All in all, it was quite a weekend, between the Teacher Appreciation Day in Martin as well as the Fragile concert and dinner with Katarina's family on Friday, and the skiing at Jasna with the visit up to Chopok on Saturday!! 

Our Sunday was normal - church, dinner, some baking, an online sermon, some Skype calls with family - and a couple of added things.  We went on a nice bike ride, but kept on a flat route to start getting our legs worked up to biking again after the winter.  It was another beautiful, sunny day, and we didn't even wear jackets.  Our landlady and her daughter (Luba and Lenka) came over for tea and cookies in the afternoon, and we had a fun time talking with them.  They are so sweet!  

After receiving our award in Martin, we can only say that we wish we could give awards to all the wonderful people here who have helped us learn so much, have enabled us to give our best effort at school, and have blessed us in so many ways with their generosity, warmth, friendship, and love.  God has provided for all our needs here through our many Slovak 'angels' who care for us!!  They have certainly been living examples of, and witnesses to, some familiar scripture verses.  

John 13:34-35 
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."

Galatians 6:10 
So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.