1st day shooting skiing with the T2i!

So I finally got around to taking my new DSLR up skiing with me and took some nice shots of guys skiing some fresh snow that was dropped here on the Zugspitze last Wednesday. There will be more to come but chances are more park skiing and riding because it looks like the powder season is over. Enjoy!

 -Owen

Hohe Munde Attempt

The day started with my mom and I driving out of Garmisch in the direction of Mittenwald so we could make our turnoff to Leatasch and on to our final destination of Moos, a small town with a big mountain right beside it called the Hohe Munde.

After making the drive on small mountain road we finally pulled into the parking lot around 8:45 and were on the trail by 9:00. The coverage was pretty good on the bottom half of the skin going up an cat track that was in use back when the ski area was functioning. We got to the Rauth hutte around 45min after leaving the car and began the real tour which goes to the left of the hutte and up the shoulder of the Hohe Munde. After climbing for 20 minutes I put on some sunscreen and took off up the mountain with mom following the skin track behind. At this point I got pretty far out ahead and wished I would have picked up the Motorola radios at home but as they say,"hindsight is 20/20" so I kept on moving getting little peeks of her slowly making her way up the skin track before I headed out on to the face to the left.

Zoom in to see many wet slides. This was shot from the
Rauth Hutte

At this point the snow was getting a little unfavorable for my taste due to a hard crust just underneath a very slushy layer that was getting more and more slushy every minute. I toured for 20 minutes more and decided to turn around within 200ft of the top. It was a bit angering to turn around this far from the top but with the snow getting wetter and wetter I could tell it was the right plan. After skiing down to mom and helping her change from skinning to skiing we started making turns down the face and back to the Rauth Hutte. After 20 turns we got to a small convex roll where we went skiers right and as we were turning all the snow that we had just skied on started to slowly roll passed us. Even after we had stopped to turn around (5 or 6 seconds) the snow was still rolling passed where we had just skied and had accumulated into a sizable mass of snow. The slide itself was nothing that would have hurt anyone because it was moving so slow but my mind was put to rest as to whether turning around on the much larger upper face was put to rest.

Dirt!

After making it down to the Rauth Hutte we eat our food, drank some water, and took a small rest before heading back to the car on the old ski run. On the ski run we were amazed to find that the terrain that we had toured up just three hours earlier was nothing but dirt now.We had to take our skis off for a 30 foot bare section before enjoying the slushy ski all the way to the car where some cold waters were waiting.
Overall this was a great day that tested me mentally and physically. I'm happy that my intuition in the mountains is strong and I can tell when it is time to head down or when it is time to head to the top.
I think for my mom this was a new experience because she has toured a few times with me but never in a place that getting a late start can mean the difference between safety or danger and because of our fairly late start we were close to that line.
If I had to redo today I would say that being in the parking lot at 5:30-6 would be top priority to make this tour as safe as possible before the spring conditions loosen up the snow.

-Owen

MTR 1-Lauterbrunnen Day 3

After finishing up glacier travel and rescue yesterday we moved on to avalanche rescue. For this we had Daniel and Chuck go ahead of the group and set up a scenario.

After the scenario was made we got radioed and skinned up into the scenario where we found a guy (chuck) who had lost his buddy in an avalanche. He said that his buddy was skiing without a transceiver on and there were two backpacks with transceivers in them because his buddy had left his in his pack. We quickly located the two backpacks and got started on a probe-line and found the buried victim.
All and all it took the group something like 12 minutes from the time we came upon the avalanche scene to the time we found the buried victim with the probe pole. Chuck said that it was the fastest he's seen and from my experiences in other avalanche classes and scenarios I have to agree.
From this exercise I learned more than anything how important communication is in a fast moving rescue environment.
-Owen

MTR 1-Lauterbrunnen Day 2

After such a long day the day before we were on schedule to meet at the bar downstairs at the hostel at 8 which left us enough time to make close to the first tram up to the Schilthorn.  Ben Reed and I made a quick trip to the bakery before meeting with the group and slowly making our way to the tram to start what looked like it could turn into a very wet day.

After taking the tram to the second exit point in Murren we walked our skis over to a lift and skied a few runs before after dropping our packs are the top of the lift. After one run we had decided as a group that it would be more fun to practice roping up than ski in the flattest light conditions I have skied this year so after regrouping at the top we skied to the side of the run and Daniel showed us how to rope up for glacier travel and how to ski in a group while roped up. This turned out to be a good lesson because the weather was flat enough that on a glacier I would have wanted to be roped up in these conditions. 

We did one small run while roped up to a nice place next to some tree to practice self arresting and glacier rescue. This was the best instruction for me in all of the four days and I got it pretty cemented into my mind how z-pulleys work and how the system works in general. With a little more practice I think I could stop a fall and get an anchor built all by myself if the person was around my weight. Of course thinking I can and doing are totally different and making an anchor in fry snow packs would have been more difficult than the cement we had on hand. We practiced the z-pulley three or four times and I learned something new every time I did the exercise. When I go out on a more glacier focused trip I will be sure to pick up a mini-traction because that tool made rigging a z-pulley extremely fast and hassle free. 

It was a great day and I learned a lot about glacier travel and rigging z-pulleys, good times!
-Owen

MTR 1-Lauterbrunnen Day 1

I just got back from MTR 1 in Lauterbrunnen Switzerland and despite the weather (fog and rain) we had a great time learning and even got a few powder turns in! Here is a little overview of how the trip went.

We headed out of Garmisch on the April 12 at 11:30 after getting something for dads camera and grabbing a subway sandwich for the road with a little rain coming down in the valley around Garmsch but a nice day nonetheless. After driving for a little over four hours we finally pulled into the hostel parking lot. Walking into the bar we found out we were only the fifth to arrive at the hostel even though we got a pretty late start. After a few beers almost the whole group had arrived except for two who had driven into two staus along the way making their trip especially long. 

After devouring pizzas  we get some bad new: the hut was too buried for us to dig it out. the guide Daniel had heard from other that the snow level was above the third story window, the highest he had ever seen it if this was true. After giving us the bad new we got some good news: we would still fly out to the hutte in the morning if weather permitted so at least check out the hut and get a very long ski down into the valley. After getting the plans we all had a few more beers and called it an early night.

The next morning we woke up to partly cloudy skies up the valley in the direction of the hut but we decided to have an optimistic attitude and head up the road to the Air-Glacier headquarters. As we walked the clouds started to lighten a bit but it was still looking pretty thick. 

When we arrived the helicopters were wheeled outside and it started to look more and more like we were going to fly. Ten minutes later we were throwing our skis into the heli and taking off up the valley. My family and I were in the second helicopter and as the first was searching for a landing zone we had enough time for our pilot to take us around the valley checking out different ridges and valleys along the way. After 10 minutes of searching for a landing zone we were finally allowed to land right next to the hut.

When he came in for the landing all we did was jump out and get down as Daniel got all of our skis and backpacks out. It was a great flight and it was amazing to see how fast you can gain a lot of elevation in a small amount of time. The most amazing thing for me was how fast it got quite after the heli dropped us of and took of down the valley for the next group. It took seconds for it to go from loud as it can get without you wanting earphones to dead silent.

After getting a quick drink and watching the next helicopter land and drop off the last group we put our harnesses on and took some pictures of the hut which as reported was COVERED in snow. The snow was above the third story window and allowed us to walk directly onto the roof from the backside. After getting a group picture of all of us on top of the hut we clicked into the skis and took off down the valley. The first turns leaving the hut gave us a sample of the snow that we were going to be skiing for the next couple hundred feet. It was deep and light and was exactly what we had dreamed of. Daniel guides at a helicopter ski operation for much of winter in BC and he said that this was about as good as it gets in Switzerland. I guess we hit it on a good day!! 

Making our way down wide open slopes the snow was unbelievable. The snow was dry above the boot top as we made turn after effortless turn. After ever slope we would traverse for 100 or 200 meters and be on top of another nice wide open 30 degree slope. The views in all directions were great as well with peaks showing their heads through the clouds as we made our way passed them. After traversing skiers left a large mountain we made our way along a creek bed eventually crossing it and heading around a large cliff band. At this point we had lost enough elevation that the snow had gotten heavy and people were getting tired so we took a small break before heading on down the valley. 

After taking the break we skied alongside another stream and over a bridge used for hiking in the summer. We passed through a thicker forest before making our way out onto a slope covered in snow due to a large avalanche that had swept through earlier in the season. From the avalanche path we were able to ski all the way to another creek crossing that we eventually had to take our skis off to hike up the opposing bank. Upon arriving on opposite banks high side we took off the skis and enjoyed a small break before walking the two kilometers into the town of Stechelberg, furthest town into the dead end Lauterbrunnen Valley. Once we had all made it into the town we went to a restaurant with great food called the Alpenhof....I think. 

Overall this was the best ski day of the year (by far) and cannot believe that it is the first day of the trip. Could it get any better?
-Owen