Schöngänge and ski

Just had an eventful climb and ski up to the Bernedein Kopf next to the Alpspitze yesterday in possibly the worst conditions ever but hey, I got through it!

Schöngänge in summer

I started up the Alpspitze bahn on either the first or the second bahn, I couldn't tell which one as I was  concentrating on riding my bike up the icy road with my skis strapped to my pack. When I got on the tram there was a guide from the guiding service in town who was also heading up the Schongange so I guessed it would be in shape if there was a guide also headed on the same route. When I reached the place to put skins on a large sluff came of the ledges to our right and gave me slight pause. The route was in good condition and none of the funnels were above the route so I carried on and was soon making switchbacks up the increasingly icy slope. The sun from a few days earlier had made the base on this slope very hard and with 4 inches of sugar on top of that skinning was not easy and planting edges in was necessary to carry on upwards.

Looking back down from the top

After 20 minutes I had reached the start of the kletterstieg, strapped my skis on my pack, and was off around 50 meters behind the guide I had met on the tram. The crux of the whole route is 20 meters after putting skis on the pack and involves a little bit of ice right next to the kletterstieg. I didn't need to put crampons on due to easy rock to stem on but if it were filled in crampons would be nice. After moving through this tight section it is easy moving as you hug the rock to your right and enjoy the abundance of air on your left. Around 40 meters after making it through the ice I looked back to see a larger size sluff go right through that section making me think more about hauling as in the wide open parts and hugging the rock close when I could. The rest of the route was uneventful and soon enough I stumbled to the top not even thinking about following the guide who had almost disappeared into the whiteout heading to the Alpspitze. I decided to head the opposite direction down to the normal skin track and then skin to the Stuiben Hutte to sit and drink a beer before heading back out to the resort.
It was a day...whether it was good or bad I don't know.
-Owen

Powder Day, Jan 17th

I got out shooting photos of August on one of the biggest powder days of the year. I got a few shots that I'm happy with but still have a lot to learn about shooting in the snow and aperture settings but its a good start!
-Owen

Alpspitze powder ski!

The top

Hans and I made the first tram up the Alspitze bahn and were soon skinning around the back of the Bernedein T-bar to start the long rise up to the saddle of the Alpspitze. The skinning was hard in the rolling terrain with very flat light but soon enough we had made it to the saddle and dug a quick snow pit to test for stability which turned out to hold very good results. The top layer of fluff from last night came off easy while the bottom layers were so well bonded that I couldn't get a sheer break after multiple hard hits. With this information we kept going gaining the ridge and starting the ridge walk. A few parts of the ridge were difficult to get good feet on the rocks but for the most part we cruised up it without much difficulty even with the new snow. About halfway up the ridge the fog moved in hard but without much wind so it wasn't too uncomfortable to keep moving along the ridge. After the ridge we put the skins back on and cruised through the fog to the summit not seeing the cross until we were around 50 meters out. As soon as we arrived a small break in the clouds allowed us to get a good view of the ski down and lasted until we were around halfway down the upper face skiing thigh deep snow the whole way. 

Deep

Near the bottom the run bottlenecks and gains some steepness so we took turns skiing it as sluff from the previous day of snow couldn't hold on to the steep slope. Everything worked out and we had the best day of the year so far! I usually ski the Alpspitze in April but skiing it with some powder made it that much better!

-Owen

The Alpspitze on a spring day last April. The route goes
up the left ridge to the summit. We had better snow
today!

Lauterbrunnen ski trip

With no snow in the mountains around Garmisch we were getting a little desperate for a change of scenery. With that in mind we headed to Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland with the forecast showing no new snow in the future but at least we will get a change of scenery and be skiing under one of the most famous mountains in the world, the Eiger.
Rolling into the guest house parking lot felt excellent after about 6 hours on the road with less than ideal traffic situations and few wrong turns. As soon as we walked through the door dad got started on some pasta as the rest of us shuttled our stuff into our rooms. Soon after eating all of us were tucked away in our beds and ready for two days of skiing in one of the best locations on earth. This is about the time I found out that the walls in the guest house were paper thin...my dad snores loud enough to shake the house off of its foundation but somehow we still got some sleep in.
We woke up at 5:30 the next morning to beat the crowds and quickly eat breakfast before heading down the road to the train that goes up to just below the Eiger in Kleine Scheidegg. After getting on the train we were overly happy to see that the train sitting next to us that was reserved had taken a bulk of the Japanese tourists firing off so many cameras at the same time it looked like there was a disco ball rotating inside the train.

Some heap of a mountain

After an hour or so we had arrived in Kleine Scheidegg, located right at the base of the most famous north face in the world, the North Face of the Eiger.
As we stepped off the train the vastness of the face was almost too much to handle. It's one thing to see Ueli Steck hauling ass up this thing on the TV but to see just how large this face is in person makes it seem almost impossible to climb it in 2 hours 47 minutes! We arrived 20 minutes before the lifts started running giving us a few minutes to just gaze up at the Junfrau, the Monch and the Eiger in silence. Once the lifts started turning we started making nice turns on piste because off piste was bullet proof hard snow.

Yes, thats a wood stopper

After skiing around for a while Hans and I found a rock mid run that had examples of current climbing gear like cams and nuts but also had examples of old gear from the first ascent of the Eiger. After taking WAY too many pictures of this rock we continued to do laps on chairs until soon it was time to eat.
Finding the perfect place to sit down and eat sandwiches was easy due to the warm weather and almost too many small farm huts dotting the country side to choose from.  After a nice lunch we continued skiing around enjoying the sun but wishing we had been at this area when it got hit with a lot of snow a week or two ago. The tracks we saw all around us gave us an idea of just how good it can get here! Perfect rolling terrain with cool little gully features that you have to ski under a cog wheel train bridge to get out of and the whole time you can look up and see the Eiger Nord Wand. Amazing! A few more laps on the runs and a little bit of off piste just to make sure it was as bad as it looked (it was) and we made our way back down to Lauterbrunnen and to the guest house for a good nights sleep.

Olivia on the train heading down

We woke up a bit later than the previous day because unlike the other side of the valley where you need to take a train to get to the skiing, the Schilthorn bahn is right at the base of the valley and with four quick trams your at the top of the Schilthorn with amazing views and great runs. We made a few runs before heading into town to grab some sandwich making materials before riding the lift back up to the top. On the way up the tram hans and I spotted a cool line right down the front face that was under the tram that we wanted to give a go but by the time we start skinning over to it the snow was getting too baked by the sun do do it safely so we decided to call it and take a different line back to the lifts and ski on piste for the rest of the day if the snow was in the sun.

Nice little entrance

The warming of the snow was apparent everywhere with small slides and even some large ones right under the chair. Searching for snow in the shade I remembered a line off the top of the Schilthorn that I had skied with better conditions a year ago and thought we should give a go. The face is completely in the shade and only requires a small walk around the viewing terrace before you drop into a nice steep shaded face. The snow wasn't good but we really weren't expecting anything too good when the temps are WAY above freezing. After doing one lap in the face we decided that even though the snow isn't perfect the bottom steep section is fun on its own. One more lap on the face and we headed down to meet my dad for lunch because Olivia has already headed down because of a stomach ache. We ate lunch right at the base of the bahn in Murren in what seemed to be spring conditions in January. the rest of the day was spent skiing sloppy spring like turns and admiring the views. It was so clear today we could see all the way to the Mont Blanc Massif which was pretty cool. The drive back to Garmisch was smooth and without incident all the way to the driveway! Good times
-Owen

Pretty nice!

New Years in Garmisch

At 12 midnight we are dodging fireworks and bombs in the Marienplatz with smoke so thick it looked like a Vietnam war scene but lets not start this story here....

A view from the Wank

The night started at around 1200 when I woke up and started to gather my ski gear for what would undoubtedly be a new years to remember. My head still hazy from waking up I started stuffing my jacket, pants, under layers, goggles, a few beers....and god don't forget the headlamp.  After Hans and I had thrown everything into the back of the suby for the short ride to the resort I remembered that I still needed to grab some cash for the night to come so off I ran off to the ATM. Soon I was back and we headed off the Hausberg to attempt to clip a ticket or two for Hans and my sister who had yet to buy a pass but because of our late departure but didn't want to drop the money to buy one. After  only 20 minutes we waled away with two passes in hand and before quickly getting picked up and shuttled to the base of the Alpspitze bahn.

The Alpspitze bahn is the longest cable car in the Classic Garmisch area and has the most vertical rise which makes it the ideal start for a long, dark, inebriated ski run between 6 huts where, at each hut you drink more and more before ending up in the town at the base. We boarded the tram and made it to the top at around 3:30 before dropping the packs and getting a few runs on the upper t-bars before meeting up with some friends who were sitting a short hike from the tram and opening up the first beer or two of the night. Before long we had been joined by a few more new friends from Australia who were instructing in Garmisch. Not long after this the sun went down and we started to make our first move down the mountain which was booting skiing down to were I had left my skis with a backpack full of beer. A short ski and we had made it down to the Hachalm hutte to...drink more beer. About half and hour after we arrived fire works were being thrown under tables and a random girl directly next to us got pretty angry so we made our way to the next hut as she continued to get angrier and angrier.
The next hut is just below the kreuzeck and we could hear it before we even arrived due to a large sound system on the porch. As soon as we arrived the idea that taking off our shirts was contrived and  soon thereafter four guys started dancing shirtless with whomever walked by on their way to the restaurant. I attempted to get gopro of this but upon arriving home I found out that the light was too low so it didn't turn out too good but the sound is almost worth posting the whole video anyways. After shirtless dancing and general harassing of other patrons of the bar we headed on down to D9 where we were in for a surprise...D9 had a private party. We found this out after we had already flash mobbed the door but swiftly got kicked out but Hans still scored a K2 coffee cup so we called it a win and skied on down the rest of the icy Kochelberg run.
For whatever reason this is where my skiing went to shit. I front of me one guy got clipped by a bamboo pole and I tried to stop but completely whipped out and had the second telemark release that I have ever experienced. A little further down the run in full on GNAR style I yelled "We rip shit" to a group of ski tourers going up the run and seconds later did a complete lincoln loop on the most solid ice I have ever seen outside of the skating rink. I was caught mid icy slope side stepping for head lamp, hat,   and a ski pole before making my descent to the valley with my tail between my legs.
After changing into street clothes we walked into town and head to Saigon City, a Vietnamese restaurant for some cheap food. We must have looked completely out of it because a random German guy two tables down eating with his wife asked us if we were okay before continuing his meal. We scarfed down three plates of noodles before heading back out on the Haupstrasse. The total for three plates of food was only 21 Euros so we didn't feel too bad about eating out.
A few hours of walking aimlessly finally got us closer to final hour of the year where we found ourselves watching people throw all sorts of fireworks in all directions. The highlight of the night was watching some guy try to put out a fire that was burning down one of the trees downtown with his training jacket that soon also was in flames. Good times and a pretty good last new years on this side of the pond!

-Owen