Wow, this much snow down here, I wonder how much in the mountains?
Got up this morning, opened the skylight window in my bedroom, and pushed up through about 8 inches of fresh. I have to say that’s amazing, as almost every year I visit Austria during January we simply do not get much precip. We’ll see how it skis today and I’ll report back. But don’t forget I come here for the pastries, not the skiing. So I’ll try to report on the gastronomic side as well.
Meanwhile, below are a couple of maps.
First map shows the village of Alpbach, one of the zones where the Barthels graciously take me touring when the higher mountains are too sketchy due to weather or avy conditions. If you look north of Alpbach you’ll see the A12 autobahn, which leads westerly to Innsbruck and easterly to Kufstein and Bad Haering, which is the village where I’m staying.
The second map shows the St. Antonien/Partnun area of Switzerland, where Dynafit is having their Press Event at the Berghaus Sulzfluh. This is said to be quite the luxurious “hut” and is in an area where they have plenty of snow. That’s good, because they get us out on the new gear and it’s a drag to test skis on grass.
View Alpbach in a larger map
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.
