Silvretta Traverse
My flight over here was as flawless as it can get. Hanging on the aisle with an empty seat next to me, slept nearly the whole time. Through customs and Ted meets me at Starbucks just like we’d planned. (and hope this is the last Starbucks I’m within fifty feet of for at least ten days). We picked up a rental car and had a bit of adventure getting out of Munich to the Barthel’s place near Kufstein, Austria. You race along these highways with big trucks blocking your view of the exit signs. You’re driving fast. Before you know it you’re 40 kilometers down the road past your turnoff. Oh well, at least everything is close together. Not like taking the wrong turn in Wyoming or something, where you can go seventy five miles off route if you’re not paying attention.
Ted picks up the rig. A nice guy from Hertz let us follow him out of the airport and got us going the right direction. First job when hitting autobahn was of course to see where the speed limiter was set on the rental car. Dang, it won't top 125 mph! Oh well, we'll have to see what we can do on skis tomorrow.
But of course... I get out of customs at the airport and this tempting array of carbohydrates lures me like a bee to a blossom. The croissants were only about $1.50 US each!
Always good to get with the locals. Turns out my friends the Barthels had been all over the Silvretta over the past decades. Manfred even got us dialed on some trip variations, so we added a two night stay at another hut and canceled one, that way we can do an extra day-trip instead of spending time lugging our gear between the huts.
Today we're headed up here.
Not sure if they have internet at the Heidelberger Hut, but they do at the next one down the line. So if things work out you’ll be hearing from me on Monday at the latest. Glitches so far: having a bit of trouble fitting my whole junkshow in my Black Diamond Alias backpack — seems this computer in a Tupperware box is a bit bulky. I’ll make it work. Oh, and the weather looks nearly perfect, at worst partly cloudy but bluebird this morning!
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.
