Ah yes, leave the perfect Colorado pow and dive into the euro-mank like I was born to it (let me dream.) First day in EU, hit a small ski tour peak near Alpbach, Austria. Snow on ascent looked thin, but we actually had some surprisingly good turns (between berry bushes and rocks). All in a thick whiteout so no hero shots. Really just a warmup and jetlag cure. I need a day in the office after all the fun in Colorado, so I’ll take a rest day tomorrow and catch up on work, then ski again the next day. Beyond that, I’m still thinking about driving down to Italy and checking out how they make ski boots. Will plan that over the next few days and see what happens. Focus of this trip is of course hitting the Dynafit yearly product launch. Rumor says Dynafit might have more skis that are not solar heat collectors (is black out as a ski color?), as well as making some interesting changes to the famous binding, and more. Stay tuned for that!
Heading up to the Standkopf out of Alpbach, Austria. This classic chalet in the Greitalm (pastures below the peak) reminded me of our Colorado huts, both private and public such as 10th Mountain.
Onward through the backcountry skiing fog. Fritz does photo-map duty while Peter and Ricki look on. Fritz really has that 6th sense for navigation one develops in his home mountains -- he's been skiing this stuff his whole life. If it had been me, I probably would have ended up down in some unknown valley trying to get a ride out from a farmer on his tractor.
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.
