Just got back from yet another epic weekend (for me Thursday-Friday) of skiing fresh powder that seemed to get deeper and deeper as the days progressed. Here's what happened...

Heading up the Alpspitze
bahn

After getting off work at midnight I hopped into the car for the longish drive to Garmisch arriving in town around 3am which allowed me to crash into bed around 3:30am after a quick shower. After waking up around 10 we got off to a sluggish start because skiing was not the first priority today but getting my car to pass inspection was so I high tailed it to post after downing a quick chocolate croissant from a bakery. I popped my new side blinker light cover on my car in the PX parking lot to make it more street legal but still wasn't sure how my car was going to pass inspection because of the "check engine" light that had been on since we bought the car but only time would tell. Mom, Olivia, and I gave the car a thorough vacuuming and washed it as well giving the car a fighting chance for a pass. After that we handed the car off to dad to bring into the inspection agency because they are far more likely to pass a car with a respectable non climbing bum behind the wheel.

Mom with her beer

After handing the car off to dad we brought Olivia back to the guest house to pack her bags for her flight stateside the fallowing morning and Mom and I went skiing on the Alpspitze. There was hardly anyone up there skiing due to the fact that it was Thursday so we skied a few runs working on skiing steeps between the cat tracks. On our way back to the Kreuzeck bahn we stopped at the Hochalm hutte to drink a beer and ended up meeting a Bergwacht (mountain watch) and his dog. He gave us a big lesson about the avalanche dogs and we both learned quite a bit from him. Hopefully I never need an avalanche dog but if I do I would want his dog searching for me. Definitely the most obedient dog I have ever met! A few more turns and a short drive and we were back at the guest house preparing ourselves for dinner. It was Olivia's last meal in the family so we let her choose the restaurant. She ended up choosing one in Partinkirchen that serves traditional bavarian food and loves my family. The number if shnopps we get on our average dinner here is almost unfathomable.

Shweine Haxen

After eating an entire Shweine haxen I could barely move so I had to call off meeting Jeremy at the climbing gym later that night and instead just tried my best to get to my bed for a good nights sleep which ended up being the best way to end the night anyways.
The next morning I woke up early to eat breakfast with Olivia for her last breakfast in Germany and than watched her get into the van and head off to Montana for her second semester, which I think will go just as fast as the first. After sleeping for an hour longer I got into the car and drover to the Alpspitze bahn which was closed due to strong winds so the Kreuzeck was second choice. Getting in the gondola in rain it quickly changed to snow about half way up the gondola but it was more of a rain-snow so I skied 4 runs and then skied all the way to the valley where I was happy to see that it was now snowing in the valley! My plan was to give the snow a little time to loose the moisture so I drove back to the guest house to get my climbing shoes but when I got to the climbing place it was closed and not going to be open until 2 so I gave up on that idea and decided to just sit in the lodge and read a magazine until my mom arrived back from Munich.

After an  hour of snowing!

About an hour had passed of me waiting and reading my magazine when she finally arrived ready to ski. I got all my ski stuff on and went out to my car which was already covered in over 4inches of snow. The snow was stacking up very quickly so we made our way to the lifts in a hurry. On our first run we went to a secret opening in the trees and almost couldn't get going there was so much snow. My mom had to follow my trough on the flat sections so she wouldn't stop and get stuck but when it was steep enough to ski it was great! The snow was a little above the knee without a turn so when you would turn it would even higher. We had a killer time skiing trees just off of the Olympia chair. The ass warmer and the face shields on the chair were put to good use today with all the wind and freezing gust of wind. After a full day of skiing trees with mom we made our way back to the guest house for a quick shower. After the shower I called up Jeremy to see what he was doing and we instantly made the plan to meet at the local cure for some food and a beer before going climbing at the bouldering gym.

Driving over for night skinning
skiing

After arriving at the bar and getting drinks and  food we continued to watch the snow fall for over an hour until Jeremy and I both made the decision that we were gong to pass up the climbing gym and instead go on a night patrol of the Hausberg lift which meant touring to the top and skiing down using headlamps. After meeting in the parking lot we started skinning up the runs connecting one run to the next and going on the cat tracks in between until we were at the top of the gondola. We tried to get into a the D9 bar at the top but they were just finishing up their night and promptly kicked us out after giving us some water in Jeremy's water bottle which was good enough for us because we were just there to ski the fresh on the way down.

Jeremy heading up in the dark

After stripping the skins off the skis and drinking some water we were off at a slow pace. The headlamps were illuminating the snow kind of like using your brights in heavy snow fall. All we could see was a wall of white in front of us and nothing else. After skiing blind for a few minutes a snow cat came up the hill next to us and went down the trail we were on. We ended up following just off of the run in the fresh snow to the side all the while using the cats lights as our own. It was the definitely deepest snow I have skied all year and it was at night, excellent! After 200 meters of following the snowcat and it's very powerful lights we were left to our headlamps again when it turned off another way. This time it turned out to be a little easier to make our way down because of the shadows from the moguls in front of us and because we could see the small red lights on either side of the run coming from the snowmakers. The hardest part I found was knowing when to let your skis run when you needed to make it up a hill in front of you because you can't really see whats coming until it is literally 5ft in front of you. After finishing up our ski we vowed to do another night ski and both drove off to our beds for a nice sleep.

Jam coming into Garmisch
from Munich

I knew that this was my last day in paradise but I had to hit the road early to beat the traffic that always stacks up in the afternoon heading back to Munich so I headed to post to eat some subway, got some gas, and after that I hit the road not stopping until I was parked in the parking garage in Weiden. That was a great weekend, definitely more to come!

Car in the morning

13th and 14th of January

I got off work at 1am and made the easy 30 second walk to the waiting Mini Cooper S that sat in the parking lot and would take me to the mountains. In the drivers seat sat Jeff Darrow, a shady character with hair that the rest of the family and I have dubbed, "Chrome Dome". In his 50s Jeff has fended off desk work and aging with a swift kick by hauling ass to the mountains at a moments notice or at any notice of deep fresh snow.

Some snow graffiti 

The two other Members of the Darrow Family, Olivia and Dawn have already been enjoying the mountains due to Winter Break (Olivia) and unemployment (Dawn). Jeff and I had been scanning the web cams and weather reports and had decided that taking off early from work wasn't worth it because no new snow had fallen but  snow was moving in rapidly from the Arlberg and with any luck we were going to meet it head on in the days to come.

No big deal

After arriving at the guest house in the wee hours of the morning we promptly crashed into our beds for the remainder of the night which was until 11 in the morning for me and 7 for Chrome Dome because he had to get back on top of some work in Garmisch. After the girls and I got all of our bags switched from one guest house to another we finally fought our way up to the Hausberg lift for some skiing. The snow was hard pack so it was nothing special but the beer and pommes I had at the D9 bar was great. After getting a few runs in we headed back down to House Lily, took a nap, and got up for a nice dinner at Saigon City. On our walk back from dinner it started to snow hinting that the day to come was going to be good. Having the sleeping patterns of my night job I woke up ready to go at 5:30 but waited until 6 to go get some breakfast for the family at a bakery.

A little breakfast

By the time I got back most members of the family had started to get ready for skiing and we were on the road by 7 on our way to Lermoos just across the border in Austria. We got there early enough to park in the parking lot right across from the gondola which is almost unheard of these days due to the massive amounts of Netherlanders that come to this part of the alps for their week long ski vacations every year making a point to avoid spending money in Germany. We started skiing the upper part of the mountain with a little over 6 inches of fluff to help us enjoy the runs. After 2 runs Olivia and I broke off from the older two and made some quick laps before all the untracked snow had disappeared under hundreds of tracks. The last run for me was one of the best making turns above a cliff band and quickly jetting back onto the cat track towards a hut on the outskirts of the resort. I dropped in a little fast and surprised a group of people including the rest of the family resulting in a German accented, "holy shit!". This ended up being the second best day of the season just behind the Stuiben hutte ski tour.
After arriving back at the guest house I quickly fell asleep before waking up for dinner and a quick climbing session with Jeremy at the local bouldering place next to the ice hockey stadium which was really fun. I can't remember the last time I had fun at an indoor climbing place but this was one of them. I t was just nice to actually feel my fingers as I climbed because it's just super cold in Frankenjura right now. Can't wait to climb in warm weather this summer all around Garmisch.
This was a very nice trip and hopefully the snow keeps on falling on us in the Alps, it looks like we might have some more fresh snow coming in time for my next time off work on Thursday and Friday which would be great!

Skiing at Klausenlift

After spending a few hours in my bed after working until 3am the day before I got woken up by my dad who was happy to announce that breakfast was ready. The day before I had gotten home at 6am and slept until 4pm so if I was going to do anything I knew that I would have to get up now because if I layed back down in my bed I wouldn't ever get up. After a quick shower and some breakfast things got better and we started getting all the ski gear together for the short walk to the car and a longer ride to the lifts. After 45min of driving we finally made it to the Klausenlift, an area that boasts 3 lifts and one run.

The fam

On side of the run has two lifts and the other has a single t-bar. As you can guess it was by far the smallest ski mountain I have ever been at. After two runs we got some food and after eating we took just two more before calling it a day. I don't think I'm going back anytime soon but it was fun while it lasted...I guess.

Yes, we were bored

Christmas skiing

Just got back from a fun trip down to Garmisch to spend some time with the family and to get some skiing in so here is how it went.

Christmas day we headed to Lermoos in Austria but after searching for a parking spot for over 30 minutes we decided to head to Bierwang/Bichlach which is only another 15 minutes up the road towards Fern Pass. We took one run on the upper t-bar before taking over an hour to let dad take family pictures of us all sitting next to a hut. The snow conditions were variable because on some spots it would be soft and some spots it would be breakable crust so we stayed on the runs for the most part carving some turns. After a fun day we drove back to Garmisch and ate dinner at a restaurant I have never been to right off of the Hauptstrasse.

On the 26th Mom, Olivia, and I decided to do a short tour before I had to take the train back to Weiden to work so we chose the Stuiben hutte right off of the Bernidein T-Bar which is only a 30 min skin to the hutte but still makes you feel like you are in the backcountry. After making the short skin to the hutte we kept on going until we were standing on the top on the Stuibenkopf. The sun was beating down on me hard enough for me to wish that I had chosen shorts over long underwear but soon we were on top with great views all around us.
I spent 45 minutes on the top waiting for the girls to arrive and eating lunch before we set off down towards the hutte to grab their helmets that we had decided to leave there to grab on the way down. The snow was sloppy in the sun but once we got in the shade it was great boot top powder.
After grabbing the helmets we took off down the scary luge run to the ski run were we took the t-bar up and skied down to the Kreuzek bahn that we opted to take down instead of fighting are way down icy slopes with the millions of beginner skiers. Here are a few shots of the girls skiing that snow in the shade...overall very fun day!

Garmisch: Rain and ski touring

My weekend started with catching the train out of Weiden at 8:30pm which put me on track for a 1am arrival in Garmisch. I made all my connection with one scare that had me running to my track but luckily it was only one track over so I made it with time to spare. Once in Garmisch I was picked up by my parents who were already down there due to job stuff. I quickly fell asleep in my bed around 2.

The Hohe Munde

The next morning my mom had a ski instructing clinic and dad had work so after delivering her to the ski bus and dad to work I was giving the car to go do some ski touring at a resort around Garmisch. I chose to head to Seefeld because it didn't really matter where I went, chances are it would be rainy. Once at the resort I toured the runs once before heading back to the top to enjoy a nice meal at the restaurant. After enjoy some goulash soup i took one more run down to the parking lot and decided to go check out a mountain that I want to tour later in the year, the Hohe Munde. The book I have says the tours all start at a ski lift so I found the signs to the lift and followed them. When I arrived I could see where the the lift should have been because of the straight line of trees cutdown but there was no lift in site. It turns out the lift had been shut down years ago and all that was left was a restaurant at the top and a restaurant at the bottom. The resort had turned into a touring paradise with nice easy runs as well as a pretty steep top section of the mountain. I will be coming back in the future. Once done with checking out the area I got back just in time to pick up mom and head back to Garmisch.

First time on her new AT setup

The second day after mom had headed to her clinic I went to sport-conrads to get her skins fitted to her new touring skis and headed back out to Seefeld to do one tour to the restaurant followed by a nice walk back the the car through a forest. After she had finished up with her clinic we went to a small resort just outside of Leutach for her first ski touring experience on her new setup. The snow was pretty crusty so we just followed the cat tracks up for her to get use to the new boots, bindings, and skis. Good times! On the way down she skied her new skis great even though they are a lot softer than her alpine skis. One tour up and one run down and it was almost dark so we got back in the car and headed back to Garmisch to pack bags for are departure the following day. Once all packed up we picked up dad from work and made our way to the Cure bar for dinner. Always love the bacon-cheeseburgers there so I got one and devoured it promptly. Parents left but I stayed with some new friends to have one more beer before walking home on the iciest road ever! I almost fell a few times and tow a car skid right though a red light as people were crossing the street, sketchy! I made it home without injury and quickly fell asleep.
In the morning we packed the car so leaving in the afternoon would be easier and drive to Ehrwald alm for some rainy ski touring. Needless to say we decided against it after 30 minutes of going up in the pouring rain and drove back to Garmisch. While in Garmisch we got word that the Grafenwoehr post was closing due to bad weather. Sure enough when I arrived back home I checked the answering machine and the commissary had left a message saying that I would need to come in at 1 if I wanted to work today. I don't think they realize that I don't just sit around on my days of trying to think of stuff to do...I already have planned stuff to do and chances are they involve snow 400km from Graf. Coming in at 1 in not an option when I get back at 6.
After clearing out the car I fell sound asleep until 8 this morning. Good weekend but snow and colder temps are much needed!

-Owen

Stubai ski and a Garmisch shopping trip...

Just got back from Stubai for skiing and Garmisch for dropping mass amounts of hard earned money... damn ski gear!

Mom and I had a great day in Stubai with over 6 inches of snow in some places and sunny skies the whole day! I brought my camera but as it was the first powder day of the season I quickly forgot I had it and just skied the day away doing laps on the various gondolas. I noticed that my mom has improved a lot in her powder skiing since I last skied with here (2 winters ago!).

Later that day after making the hour long drive back to Garmisch we dropped by a sports store to check out touring boots for my mom which made us in turn start looking at package deals which lead to the inevitable, the purchase of a ski touring package! So stoked to start touring with her. She has always been a great hiking companion and I think she will hit her stride ski touring because her knees don't have to get worked as much on the downhill as they do for hiking thanks to the (hopefully) deep white stuff! Notice how the colors match on her new ski setup...not planned but her jacket also matches. It will be hard to see her on blue bird days!

The new members of our family

After dropping money for the ski touring gear she decided it would be a good day to drop the needed cash on ski passes for the whole family so (FLUSH) there goes €570 or $764 out of my account! It's actually a very good price for the pass because it will work throughout summer for climbing and hiking on all the lifts around Garmisch.

After an exciting shopping spree I took the train home because I had to work in Graf later that night. Accompanying me on the train was what seemed like every school kid in the whole valley but thankfully most of them got off on the first and second stop and after 4 hours I arrived home for a quick nap and then work.

Waking up this afternoon my parents had already arrived and I guess the shopping spree wasn't entirely over, in fact my dad had gone to the same store my mom had bought here skis the day before and found a nice pair of touring boots himself! My boots are definitely the oldest (and cheapest) out of our touring boots but I will use them until they break or no longer function. Today flip-flops cost more than $75 so I can call them a steal for sure!!

It's sure hard to tell which ones are mine...

-Owen

December update

This December a few big things are happening around here:

Last seen walking with dad in the
opposite direction to the same plane

1. My sister arrives back from college for winter break which should be an excellent time skiing but blah because it means I have to go to and from Garmisch by train a lot which I guess is going to be my weekend commute from here on out for skiing so I better get use to it anyways.
2. My parents have found a house and we should find out if they are going to be able to rent it out pretty soon here. They said that the owners are okay with us moving in so it looks like it is going to happen but you never know what could happen. I have only seen pictures but the house is huge and has a massive back yard with a cabin. When I check it out I will post some pictures of it on here.
3. Ski season should hopefully kick off this or next weekend because it is supposedly snowing up on the Zugspitze right now (and here in Weiden as well) so the Zugspitze should open pretty soon. I'm excited for the zugspitze to open but really just want the Alpspitze to open so I can start touring in that area and also enjoy a beer or two at the Stueben hutte.
4. My mom and I have a planned ski trip to Pitztal glacier next Thursday so that should be a fun day trip before ski season really kicks off. I will prob just hang out in the park messing around because honestly I find glacier skiing rather boring unless its route finding and there will be none of that so early in the year.
5. Christmas markets have gone up pretty fast all around Europe so I'm planning my crepe-athon starting at the Garmisch Weinacht Market and continuing to any other markets that I should visit. Crepes are the best things you could possibly eat and Christmas is just the excuse I need to eat five or six a day!

As for my life everything is going good as far as making money goes but as far as life goes it's as boring as it has ever been.....ever. Here's my daily schedule

6pm Wake up
7pm Eat something
8pm Drive to work
9pm Arrive and start work
1am to 4pm Get off work and drive home
5am Go on computer and plan ski trips, check facebook, check email, and roam randomly in cyber space
8am Eat something
9am Back to sleep
REPEAT

I guess it's okay because the skiing sucks so far this year and I really shouldn't be spending my money on anything because saving is my goal but it would be nice to have something to do and....that's the update!

-Owen