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| Okay, after getting up to the chalet and enjoying a good night’s sleep, we did head up to the Gerstinger Joch (as mentioned in comments on yesterday’s blog) and met Basti there while he was on his second lap (if you ski 8,000 meter peaks, you’ve got to keep your cardio up there where it belongs). |
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| As mentioned before, this area of the Alps is not gigantic cliffy features like those around Chamonix, for example. Instead, you’ve got what seems like thousands of square miles of perfect moderate touring terrain, with plenty of steeper but smaller summits if you do care to touch a couloir now and then. In my view, this stuff is as near to perfect alpine ski touring terrain as one can find. It’s similar to our best terrain in Colorado, only with a snowpack that’s frequently more predictable in terms of avy danger. Only downside is you don’t always have the powder of places such as the Wasatch or Selkirks, but the access is incredible, with outstanding culture. In other words, you don’t have to finish your tour at a restaurant in downtown Salt Lake City, but rather stop halfway through the tour at some bar up on the side of a peak — stuff like that. |
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| A few shots of me skiing. I have to admit I frequently don’t feel that on top of it when I’m here. All the traveling, different food, etc. makes for sometimes awkward athletics. During this trip I did feel better than last year — my strategy was to come a bit more prepared in fitness, and try to avoid catching a cold. Both worked out, so it was definitely more fun. The difficult snow did get the better of me at times, but there were indeed turns to be had.
I’m still using the Green Machine boots, and have to say they’ve helped as they’re light going up, but give more support going down. I don’t always need this much boot, but when feeling tired and awkward it’s nice to just lean into a stiff cuff and feel the love. Funny thing is, these things are so stiff I ditched the power strap before I left the States, and have not been latching the top buckle more than one-finger tight. Wimp settings, I guess… |
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| The “kid” again. |
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| Fritz is a beautiful skier who needs nothing from the new school. He never falls, carves breakable crust like it’s powder, and smiles the whole time even with a tricky knee driving one ski. |
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| And me again, with a word from our sponsor a la ze Green Machine. |
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| Myself with Sabastian “Basti” Haag. It was extra fun spending a few moments with these guys, as they knew of my early mountaineering and rock climbing career in the States, as well as my brief stint as an extreme skier on the fourteeners, and they thus made it clear I was welcomed as a fellow climber as well as a journalist. That’s appreciated, as my years as a mountain boy (aka climbing bum) were a beautiful time of life, but somewhat of a sacrifice that seems to sometimes become lost to me as I franticly try to focus on current ski alpinism and web work. |
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| Oh yeah, another WildSnow sticker that seemed to appear out of thin air on top of the mountain. Note endless touring terrain in background. |
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| And to close today’s presentation, another Guess That Pastry. This one is known to my wife as “Dutch,” but we need the German name for a winner. Good stuff, Fritz and I split this and still gained a kilo each. |
WildSnow.com publisher emeritus and founder Lou (Louis Dawson) has a 50+ years career in climbing, backcountry skiing and ski mountaineering. He was the first person in history to ski down all 54 Colorado 14,000-foot peaks, has authored numerous books about about backcountry skiing, and has skied from the summit of Denali in Alaska, North America’s highest mountain.
