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!