Fritz Barthel sniffed out the powder like a local. Because he is one. Click images to enlarge.
I’m back in the USA now, had an epic but ultimately functional journey from Europe, through LAX and then to Aspen.
Thankfully, the day before my 13 hour Airbus ride, I got to hang out with a few Austrian folks and eke pow turns from their somewhat thin snowpack. It felt like we were miners from the eighteen hundreds, wandering over the mountains in search of gold and silver, going on faith that the goods were buried just under the surface — only we were going on faith that a large rock was NOT just under the surface!
Trust me, they do have snow in the western Europe mountains now, though it varies quite a bit by what zone you’re in. Photos below are from the Kitzbuehel Mountains, we did a nice long “double lap” day with two peaks. (I’d done a previous tour with locals Peter and Yoshi, but before a storm dropped a few more centimeters, that one was a bit too rocky for my taste though I appreciated Peter getting us a few pow turns nonetheless. Due to conditions, I did quite a bit of resort uphilling as well, mostly at Kelchsau, in case anyone is interested.)
First summit. Skiing with a few of my Austrian friends, and their friends, and their friends’ friends from Germany. And a French guy.
Anda. He lives even closer to this stash than Fritz, so he’s an uber local.
Riki.
There was this French guy…
Guilhem Tremeau, Dynafit Bindings Product Developer. He showed up with DNA carbon race boots and some kind of cool prototype binding that was wrapped in a NO PHOTOS FROM WILDSNOW.COM bag that Dynafit made especially for people around mouth breathing gear bloggers like me.
Eventually I convinced Guilhem to let me snap a photo of the secret gear. Why not compete with all the other guys publishing spy shot? Note the details.
Okay, the snow is not thick and rocks exist. No one got hurt, but the ski did.
End tour at a small gasthaus, involving wurst.
Barthel bonus shot. By the way, he was also testing some uber secret Dynafit stuff. I could blog about that, but then I’d have to become scuba diving instructor in Aruba, with a false passport. I’m allowed to say, interesting things coming.
A rare sighting of His Blogness, photo by Guilhem. A framed legs, it appears he could benefit from cuff alignment!
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.
