(This post sponsored by our publishing partner Cripple Creek Backcountry. They don’t have Erdinger weizen and they don’t yet have an Austrian location, but they do have skis.)
Back to the Tyrol. Nice to be here. I’ll check out the ISSW avalanche conference (Innsbruck) and make a few industry visits, but mostly I’m enjoying friends and that old-country flavor. No skiing this trip, though they do have the lifts spinning on glaciers such as Hintertuxer.
They’re all farmers around here. Instead of skiing, I was going for the apple tree. I did not jump the shark on this. The NDAs are in full force under punishment of death, but I’ve got insider backstory on ski gear to help fill the gaps over coming months.
The Dreamliner did not over-promise. Beautiful aircraft. You notice the fresher air, better organized interior, with landing and takeoffs hardly noticeable. They climbed the thing to 38,000 feet, then dived into Franz Joseph flaughofen almost like doing a glacier landing in Alaska, 11 hours from San Francisco that I hardly noticed (with the help of modern pharmacology and a few sophomoric movies I’d be embarrassed to name).
On the way from Germany to Austria, on a whim we stopped at Erding: “Might as well see where all that weissbrau you drink comes from!”
I actually don’t drink all that much beer any more, but had a kliner Erdinger just to avoid being run out of town if I’d followed my instincts and asked: “Have you got a nice Napa cab?”
This is Bavaria, so a bit of meat and potatoes was in order as well.
In English we call it a BHM, or a big hunk of meat. The German way is a process that creates an irresistible crust.
Ebikes. Everywhere. Though after that high fat schweinhaxe it might be better to burn it off with 100% human power.
Interior of the Erdinger gasthaus. Classic.
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.
