Skiing Herlikovice

One of the conditions of Nik's visit to the Czech Republic, was that we had to think of somewhere fun to go for a quick trip while he was here. We thought of lots of different places but eventually decided that skiing was the best and probably the most exciting idea. Each having little to no skiing experience we decided that it would be a good opportunity to learn together as well as a bit of fun.
Jon booked and organised everything, all we had to do was make it to the bus station by 6:30am on the 26th December - thats right, the day after Christmas. We were feeling a little worse for wear but luckily we made it to the station without too much difficulty.
We went to a ski 'resort' called Herlikovice, which is located in the Krkonose (Giant) Mountains about 120km north-east of Prague. This particular mountain range is very popular for families as there are plenty of ski lifts and slopes of all levels. As far as amenities go there were none, or very little, but we found we didn't need any. Most people come to Herlikovice for just one or two days. Being so close to Prague, it is possible to go there for just the day.
Once we arrived, had checked in to our room in the hotel and had been fitted with our skis, we headed off for our first skiing lesson with our instructor Eve. We all struggled at first and found it difficult to get the hang of things, but after a few hours we were definitely improving - that is, we spent more time standing up and moving than on our backsides.

Eve, our instructor 

After a bite to eat we then headed out for our first go on the ski slope, with Eve in toe to help us out. She helped us to work out the T-bars ("Don't sit down!") and showed us to the nice beginners slope we could practice on. Setting off down the slope for the first time was magnificent, as long as you didn't run into anyone or get in anyone else's way. We called it a day a few hours later and headed out for an early dinner at one of the local restaurants. We were all so tired we were asleep by 8:30 pm, dreading the delayed onset muscle soreness that would inevitably come in the morning.
The second day of skiing was interesting as we were all very sore from the day before and we were still very shaky on our skis. By about lunch time we had kind of got the hang of things, managing to get to the bottom of a slope which was a little bit harder. The prize of getting to the bottom of this slope was the chairlift, which was a lot more comfortable that the T-bars.

Using the Chairlift

Pizza and Becherovka for lunch then back out for an afternoon of skiing. We had dinner at the same local restaurant, which was actually really delicious, then sat out and watched some of the night skiers fly down the mountain. It is really amazing watching people who have been skiing their whole lives; they look amazingly graceful and make skiing look like a walk in the park!

Night Skiing 

So the third day dawned with us feeling even more sore but still with no serious injuries and high spirits. We decided today was the day to tackle the bigger slopes. As we found out, the Herlikovice slope has a very tricky little section right in the middle of it which we weren't expecting! There was nothing to do but go down it, as we certainly couldn't go back. It is scary how quickly you find yourself at the bottom of the slope, especially as I didn't feel like I was going very fast. We spent the whole day going up and down the different slopes until we were so exhausted that we literally couldn't stand up on our skis anymore. We could tell when we were getting tired as skiing became harder and we would spend equal amounts of time on the floor as we did actually skiing.
We hopped on the bus home in the afternoon and all fell asleep for the ride home.
It was a really wonderful trip and I am glad that we were able to experience it all with Nik. Now we can show up Dave on the next New Zealand ski trip!

Nik on the Ski Slope

Herlikovice slope