Reaching Similaun Hut as the storm gathered.
Bummer. Using excellent weather reports from the hut keepers at Martin Busch, we knew that Day 3 of our Otztal (Austria) ski tour would begin with semi-visibility, but soon devolve to a foehn wind and whiteout. With GPS in hand and guided parties to follow, we knew we could make it to the next hut in our chain, the Similaun. But after that?
One of the things you dread on these trips is having to just sit at a hut all day, or else climb some peak during a full day of one-meter visibility, staring at your GPS like some meth-head watching rerun cartoons for the tenth time.
Similaun is nice hut, however, and the tour burned enough calories to allow enjoyment of the victuals even if the ‘hut hanging’ got a bit old compared to the beautiful alpine touring we’d had yesterday. Our time at Similaun Hutte, in photos:
Leaving Martin Busch Hutte for Similaun we faced a gathering storm. Normally, with such a short ski to the next hut (a couple miles and minimal vertical) we'd also do a peak that day. Unfortunately, by the time we reached Similaun Hut it was time to go indoors and play checkers.
Similaun Hutte door sign. When you reach these huts during bad weather they sometimes look deserted, then you push open the big thick door and enter a bustling civilization of backcountry skiers in the warm interior. The contrast is striking.
Myself and Ted strategize, knowing the weather may be ok tomorrow but then deteriorate again. As we sit in the stube, a steady gale scours the front of the hut and deposits a large drift outside the window behind us. Rather discouraging, but not the first time we've been stuck in a hutte during a storm. Better than a tent.
Being slightly more remote yet served by a freight cable, Similaun is a nice mix of quality with a mellow spirit, different than some of the larger more run-down lodges.
Huts during this trip had a lot of excellent artwork hanging.
Your friendly blogger in Similaun stube, contemplating something, waiting out the storm. I did bring my Acer netbook on this trip, and found it quite useful for setting routes in our GPS, but with only a 1-hour battery I had trouble getting much else done since most of these huts only have a few electrical plugs, and they're frequently not in convenient locations. Next trip I may change the whole computer system, as this rig is getting rather archaic (same stuff used on Silvretta traverse several years ago with Ted, and after that on Denali). At this point, I feel like I might be able to figure out something smaller and lighter, with better battery life. On the other hand, the Acer Aspire One with a solid state hard drive has simply been amazing. It's still cooking along after being most of the way up Denali, and traveling for years to everything from huts to vacation jaunts. Highly recommended.
The Kerasote Solution.
This is embarrassing, but worth sharing. One of the only electrical plugs available in the building is in the first floor ski and boot room, with this set of stairs leading to the basement. Other hut guests kept using the plug for their smartphones, so I figured I'd get up in the middle of the night when they were done and give my computer a charge. In the dark, while fiddling around plugging the Acer in, I stepped with my left foot an inch to far and ended up taking a header down these dozen concrete steps. On the way down, I thought, 'this is going to hurt, or, I might not even live...' Bruised and battered from head to foot, I lay at the bottom of the stairs thinking, 'wow, I lived, now can I get up?' Amazingly, I was still functional (and continued the ski tour). Let me tell you, prayers of thanks were uttered and I got the stuffing scared out of me. Stupid maneuver, for sure. I was shocky for hours after, and finally got a few hours sleep towards morning with an ice pack on my hip where it had bounced over about six of those twelve steps (the others were missed while I was in midair).
Ted in the kitchen stube, the hut has two other dining areas for times when it's crowded. As many of you have alluded to, this hut is a mere killometer or so from where they found the 5,000 year old Otzi Iceman mummy. We'll pass by that spot tomorrow. I'd seen the Iceman museum in Bosen (Italy) a few years ago, so was enjoying seeing all the references to him, including several books at the Similaun hut, one in English I ended up reading from cover to cover.
Myself and my bride. She's an ace and I'm a hacker, but it's all fun.
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.
