During my January travels in Europe, I returned to Austria from Switzerland feeling strong and ready to tour. Much of western Austria was a bit light on snow, but my friend Fritz looked at the reports and figured the region south of Innsbruck (near Italian border) had enough white stuff to be fun. Schoberspitz is another rocky alp, moderately high at 2,602 meters. It’s not quite as heavily traveled as some of the other areas I’ve been in, but as much of this terrain does, it still gets tracked up fast.
Your friendly blogger on the Schoberspitz
Indeed, the number of people who ski tour in these areas of Austria continues to amaze me. The sport is simply huge. Even simple up-skiing at resorts has gotten big. For example, at one resort just east of Innsbruck it’s said they get more people on skins than buying lift tickets. That was a problem for the ski lift operator but the restaurant loves it as the up-skiers eat even more than the lift skiers. Luckily these areas of the Alps have a vast variety of access so the use gets spread out. If we had these levels of use here in Colorado, we’d have big problems because we have so little access in comparison. At any rate, the day was bluebird I’m pleased at how mine and Fritz’s photos turned out. Enjoy.
The closest restaurant to the trailhead is always an important component of the plan. Gasthaus Olpererblick and Schoberspitz above on left. The huge peak to right dominates views around this area, forgot the name, but over the hill is the ski resort where Fritz and his father tested the first pre-production skiable Dynafit binding (then known as Low-Tech).
Maria came along on this trip. She's a long-time friend of Fritz's family who's always game for a ski tour. She had some knee problems during this trip but it sounds like she's getting that taken care of. We wish Maria well in her healing!
On the up, looking southwest.
Me at the summit.
Ride those Manaslus Lou!
Looking down at Toldern and gasthaus.
Riki hits a light patch in the trees. Some of the timber skiing was good as well, but we did get into some tight bushwhacking that was uncharacteristic of the usually civilized skiing I've gotten used to in this area. No problem with that, not like I haven't bushwhacked before.
Obligatory kuchen at Gasthaus Olpererblick. Last year I had a gigantic schnitzel here, but that was after about 1,000 more vertical feet. One extra pastry a day seems to work for me, but giant schnitzel as an afternoon snack might no be sustainable.
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.
