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