Skiing in the 2025-2026 Season

Gerben Jacobs 📝 Feb 25, 2026

After 6 years, I finally hit the slopes again in Gerlos, Austria. It was a great trip with family and friends and we had lovely weather! ⛰️

After such a long time I was worried that I had lost my touch. But it turns out skiing is just like riding a bike, and I was able to pick it up again pretty quickly.

Standing on top of a prepared piste, a gondola lift on the right side, looking out at the mountains in the background. Clear blue sky, snow covered mountain tops, but still a lot of green pines, as there hasn't been fresh snow in a bit.. — Standing in Salzburg, looking back into Tyrol (Opens in new tab)

I went with my parents, one of my sisters, her child and boyfriend. Our parents paid for the trip, as part of their 40-year wedding anniversary.

We went the second week of February, one week before the school holidays to a place, Gerlos, that's (in)famous for the amount of Dutch tourists. We stayed in a nice hotel and were super lucky with the weather, we had one day that was cloudy, one day that had broken clouds and the rest were clear blue skies. The temperature was just enough, personally I would have liked it a bit colder. The snow quality also degraded rapidly after 2pm.

The last time I went skiing, as I said, was 6 years ago. We were driving back home on March 13th, 2020, the day that many European nations went into lockdown.

And that's a long time between trips, because between 2011 and 2015 I went every year. But things like family and money happen, and so it became less often, until we got this present from our parents.

I also said it felt natural, like riding a bike, but I had to finally admit that I'm getting old. I'm not very fit to begin with, but even with planning the days more relaxed, I really noticed I wanted to stop around 2pm. While as a kid I'd probably do a couple more runs alone.

A winding street in a valley, a river runs next to it, pine trees cover the sides and in the distance a couple of snow covered mountain peaks. — The view from my hotel room window. (Opens in new tab)

It was a lot of fun, we joked around, helped each other get up and played some games in the afternoons.

I really hope I can turn my own family into a skiing family.. and that climate change allows us to keep going. The last two (maybe three) times I went skiing I remember it being quite warm and barren.

It's also a ridiculous amount of money, now that's partly because of the hotel and area we chose, but still, it's not a cheap hobby. I have to think of were I want to take my own family, because all three will have to learn and so I probably won't need a resort with many reds or blacks.

📸 Here some more low-res photos to give an impression of the trip.