(Note from Lou: I’ve got another post re Steve Romeo I’ve been working on. Didn’t feel it was quite ready, more, I just know Steve loved backcountry skiing so much he would have been psyched to see the post below from the old man. So that’s what goes up today. It sounds like a memorial for Steve and Chris will be held tomorrow at Jackson Hole Resort. I’ll try to make it, but that’s going to be difficult. If not, will do something personal here — on top of a mountain if possible. RIP Steve and Chris.)
Fritz Barthel skiing on the Gabler, Zillertal region, Austrian Alps. Click most images to enlarge.
Zillertal is a region of the Austrian Alps just north of the Dolomites (see map at bottom of post). The area has “real” mountains and plentiful ski tours, though resort skiing has compromised huge swaths and you get the feeling that the march of industrial tourism has no signs of stopping.
For today’s jaunt we headed for the Gabler (3,263 meters), a high shoulder/saddle just a hundred vertical feet or so below the 3303 summit of the Reichenspitze massif. Doing this is a big day for average fitness guys like me, about 1,800 meters (6,000 vertical feet). The high terrain around here is good, with some smaller glaciers and ice cliffs to take it up a level. Unfortunately you waste quite a bit of energy on the long valley approach march. But it is all beautiful — especially when you’ve got 20 centimeters of fresh “zero avalanche danger” powder rising your smile. The day in photos:
First, one more photo of what happened AFTER the climb. That's me making up for a few days of rain at the beginning of this week.
Gabler from parking, the goal is the col. You can scramble a hundred feet or so to the summit, but doing so is a bit exposed so most skiers simply opt for the col.
Grinding out the 6,000 vert. That kind of scale makes things seem ever too far away. Fritz and I did ok, making it in just over 4 hours. But that was nothing, of couse, as this is the land of speedy guys. So of course, Benedikt 'Benni' Böhm, head of Dynafit, shows up at parking a few hours after us and meets us on top for the ski down. Terrific that Benni showed up, as we got in some good talk about Dynafit gear issues over a few beers after the pow fest.
On the up, looking north (away from Gabler). Yep, you get to walk up most of that long valley. Eventually, we'd look down and see the faint speck of Benni on the uptrack, moving like a machine.
Me, three packs of GU and a liter of water later.
While heading up, we watch the karmicly provisioned souls who broke trail the whole way make their pow turns down. May they live a long and wonderful life, and return as a Canadian Mountain Holidays heli guide, or if that's too mechanical, one of Beglinger's guides in Canada?
Near the top, nice light on the track sets got my camera clicking.
Another pic of yours truly. Funny how I always find myself wanting longer and wider skis in this stuff. The ride of the fatties is addictive. Benni had a pair of Dynafit Huascaran, perfect. Fritz's Manslu were working good, my short Trab Volare were the ticket on the up and had the width, but I wouldn't have minded a few extra centimeters to play with as once in a while they'd plunge into an inverse density patch. All in fun, everything was immmently skiable on any of our chosen planks.
Benni rides those Huscarans. They're quite a light ski for their width, and he's got them mounted with a Dynafit race heel and Speed Radical toe. No brakes. Minimalist.
Benni and myself, gear business and blogger, can we reach common ground? Sometimes I have a hard time sorting all this stuff out, you know, the gear durability issues; that sort of thing, just how serious they are and what we should do solid reporting on as opposed to avoiding exploitative click bait that does neither the company nor you Wildsnow readers any good. I'm certainly not perfect in this arena, yet I'll keep plugging away at doing something useful. Meanwhile, one of the beauties of the outdoor industry is many of us are still so connected by the very outdoors the gear is for. Yes, it gets unseemingly materialistic at times, but we do need gear to do what we do, so associated issues will never go away. That is, they'll not go away till your skis disappear beneath your feet in a dusty cloud of Austrian powder crystals.
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.
