Gilletts Abroad

Gilletts on a mountain. 

Special thing that happened: A Gillett Euro trip! My parents came to join Christi and I in Innsbruck for a bit, and we ate lots of good food, hiked, and even went skiing! Then the four of us met Molly in Venice (try finding someone in Venice without either of you having internet or a real plan sometime...), where we ate lots of good food and got lost in the canals and alleyways. Christi, Molly, and I bid the parents farewell and the younger Gilletts hopped on a bus to Slovenia, and spent a few days in Ljubljana eating lots of good food, drinking great coffee, and enjoying "The Greenest Capital in Europe". All in all it was a pleasure to travel around with family showing off our stomping grounds, and seeing new sights.

Skiing Gilletts.

Nighttime is especially mysterious in Venice.

Posing Gillett.

Gilletts on a boat.

Mmmm pasta. Why we went to Venice really.

The Greenest Capital.

Gilletts on a bridge.

Normal thing that happened: Christi and I have done a bunch of hiking and climbing, made many goals for hiking and climbing this summer, and spent a lot of time looking through maps and guidebooks (well maybe that was just me). We're continually blown away by  just how much there is to do around here in the mountains. Hundreds of years of recreation history in the Alps mean everything is explored and developed for hikers and and climbers. Thirteen distinct summits are found on the Nordkette range alone, where in half an hour from our door we can take a gondola to 2300m and start a quick hike or multi-day epic. Sometimes we do miss the wildness of the Canadian mountains, but we're determined to make the most of the accessibility here while we can. It always blows Austrians away to hear that no one even knew what the the tallest mountain in the closest range to Kamloops was until 2005, and still no one knows who the first ascensionists were!

Posing Gillett.

Gilletts with sheep.

Caption included!

Not every climbing area is non-sketchy.

New thing that happened: I got another job! At the time of writing, I've only worked two days, but... I'm teaching climbing with Naturfreunde! This is an outdoors club similar to the Alpine Club, and I'll be working with them on a variety of climbing and hiking related stuff with kids and adults. This probably won't bring a ton of hours and I'm currently looking for supplementary work as well, but it's a very cool opportunity.

Portrait of  first day nerves.

Explaining something or maybe rapping.

Future thing that will happen: Lots of guests! We're very excited to host more family, friends, and the BTTR here this summer at Hotel Top 55. It simultaneously reminds us that we're in a foreign country and that Innsbruck has really become our home to show people around here and take them to our favourite spots.