Neue Welt- Zugspitze

Wow, that was a good day of skiing!

The day started with me staring out my window at the Zugspitze with its summit engulfed in thick clouds. Alex and I had already made plans to head to the Zugspitze and decide whether or not we were going to ski the Neue Welt while we were in the restaurant so I packed my car with all my stuff and headed to the Ehrwalder Zugspitze bahn. In the parking lot I could see that there were still clouds in the upper parts of the mountain but it looked like it was lifting as I watched so I was optimistic.

Once I had arrived in the restaurant I met up with Alex and descended to the first t-bar to get us to the starting place of the skin up to the schneefernerkopf. The weather looked grim as we started the short climb to the ridge but got better the higher we got up and by the time we had reached the ridge the sun was starting to peak through.
At the top Alex and I put on harnesses and got a quick bit to eat  and drink before a large group joined us with a guide. Looking down the first bowl it looked like there were only two other tracks in front of us which was nice because there was a light dusting of snow on top of the firm layer. After getting a picture taken of us we set off down the slope to the first rise to check out the rest of the run. The snow was solid and we both felt very comfortable skiing down the slope.
We made our way cautiously to the skiers left side and then back to the right were you could easily see the rap station out of the rocks. At this point we should have put our skis on our packs but because this was our first time we carried them to the rap station and then had to get our skis in our packs and our ropes out of our packs while roped into the cable.
All worked out and we soon made our way to the base where we stowed the ropes and tried to enjoy the last little bit of the steep couloir. The snow on the bottom section was pretty awful so we took our time and made it out to the wide open basin in no time where we sat and enjoyed lunch before heading to the Ehrwalder Alm Bahn.
The ski to the Ehrwalder Alm bahn was a series of tree slalom and roads but soon enough we made it to the ski area and skied out to the bus stop where we found out our bus wouldn't arrive for another two hours so we asked around and eventually got a ride from guy all the way back to the Zugspitze bahn. Great day and my first ski rappel, GOOD TIMES!!
-Owen

The Rappel 

Turns on the open snow field 

Pulling the rope

Coming out of the bottom 

Looking back up at the run

Zugspitze summit ski and Schneefernerkopf

Just had an excellent day of skiing with new friends on the Zugspitze.

The day started with me driving to Ehrwald Alm before being re-routed to the Ehrwald Zugspitze. At the car I packed up all my stuff and got to the top on the first tram out at 8:30 or so.

Putting the skis on

 I called and found out that Alex and his friend would not arrive for another 20 minutes so I sat at the top enjoying the sun and view with the whole platform to my self. Alex arrived and we talked about ski routes and after a few minutes his other friend arrived so we got started with our ski descent of the Zugspitze which is a pretty big first ski together if you ask me. Alex proved to be a confident skier and was very good on the steeper sections. His friend took his time on the steeper sections and negotiated them perfectly.

little side slip

Shooting out of the apron was a nice feeling as we were able to make large arching turns all the way to the t-bar.
For the second half of the tour we skinned up to the top of the Schneefernerkopf to check out Neue Welt which is my goal for tomorrow (see tomorrow to see if it worked out!). We could only actually see the top of the Neue Welt because of a large roll over but there were tons of tracks so I feel very good about tomorrows plan and also with the ski partners I have just met.
-Owen

Ridge walk

Group shot

Alpspitze ski tour

Here is a brief summary because I'm really tired...

Euro point

I arrived in Garmisch at 3:30am after driving down after work in Grafenwoer, quickly dropping into bed only to wake up at 7:30 to noise being made in the kitchen downstairs. That was all the sleep I needed it turns out as I took a shower and got my gear packed for a day of touring.
After scoring some breakfast dad and I pulled into the Alpspitze parking lot and jumped on the cable car. We arrived at the start of the tour just by 9:50. After touring for 2 hours we had made the shoulder and dropped the pack to put the skis on the pack. At this point dad decided his feet were hurting him enough that he didn't want to go any further so I started booting my way up after two sips of water. After 40 minutes I was on top drinking water, eating trail mix, and talking with a German couple that I had seen from the bottom as I started. Only 20 minutes on top for me as my dad was waiting back at the shoulder so I took of skiing slush and ice in the shade as I made my way down. I stopped once at the bottleneck as the two above me stated making turns and filled the funnel with lots of large roller balls. After that had stopped I kick turned my way down and we both made our way back to the t-bar tired and feeling accomplished.
-Owen

Coming in from the notch

Ridge with summit

Ridge bootpack

 

Summit

Says 45° in the book 

Nice wall