Snowshoeing perhaps?

Nerd’s eye view
http://www.nerdseyeview.com/blog/?p=127

Finally, here I am reporting about the blog I’m reading. It is not that I haven’t read some entries written by Pam Mandel yet. I did, but it sounded somehow off-putting to me, which is why I couldn’t sit down and report about it. Since I’m a bit bored now, I thought it is high time I did something useful. How about spending a day in the alm? Snowshoeing perhaps?
Do you know that Austrians are zealous hikers? And do you know that Austrians have no preference for snowshoeing? First of all, what is snowshoeing? I don’t know either! So let us have a look at our beloved http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snowshoe.

Just don’t ask me if I am a hiker, snowshuer, skier or whatsoever. Unfortunately, I’m not. For this reasons I haven’t been aware that there are different routs to hike an alm. How should I know it? I have just once in my life “climbed” a mini mountain in Croatia and this was some long long time ago. I’m not that old, though. However, I am not a skier either, which is why I don’t know what a XC skier is. When I was a child I tried it hear to become acquainted with the skiing paraphernalia, as did I try hard to become friends with the skis. Unfortunately, despite my strenuous efforts, they (the skis) didn’t want my company. They rebelled against me whenever I wanted to ski in a particular direction. That was cheeky of them!

Honestly, I have to admit that I quite like Austrians for their sporty disposition. As far as I’ve noticed, there is always a sporty soul on the streets jogging or riding a bike, which is, in comparison to where I come from, an infrequent occurrence.

VOCAB
high altitude - We are flying at an altitude of 6 000 metres.
a finger-numbing minus 15 degrees - numbing cold / fear • Watching television had a numbing effect on his mind.
balmy minus 4 degrees - warm and pleasant: a balmy summer evening