Stubai Glacier

Last weekend I got out on my first day of skiing this year (a little late!) to the Stubai Glacier with Jeremy. It turned out to be a great time just hiking the park because the T-Bar was broken and I definitely want to go back soon. The park looked almost too good to be true. It was perfectly shaped and all the rails look super fun. There was even a little chill zone on the right side of the park with lawn chairs out for lounging in the sun. Next time I go back I'm packing a big lunch so I can just sit in the sun and do park laps all day! Here are some pictures from their site and a video that Jeremy took will be coming soon as well. Good times!

-Owen

Perfect park!

I will have to go in spring too!

The plan...

The final choice for my next step is that I will continue working in Grafenwoehr making good money and travel down to Garmisch on the weekends to meet up with the family to do a little skiing. The factors making me choose this plan are

1. It is going to be super hard to get a job in Garmisch and virtually impossible to get one that will pay as good as my current job does. 
2. I like the people I'm working with and feel like an appreciated member of the team. An added bonus is that I don't wake up every morning hating that I will have to go to work.
3. The ski season is looking grim at best. Garmisch doesn't even have any snow at the base of the resort right now and the Zugspitze has postponed two openings. Its so bad I have only skied once and almost destroyed my edge on a rock.

As far as places for me to live in Grafenwoehr I have talked to a lady that I work with and it looks like I will be staying in her basement that is fully furnished. I'm not sure how much it cost me but she is nice so it shouldn't be too much. At this rate I should have a large enough savings to do something when next years fall approaches. I will update as options open up.

-Owen

Life in November

Currently I'm in a shitty situation, my parents are moving to the coolest town in Germany and possibly the world (except for Breckenridge) in a month and I just got the best paying job I have ever had. I have put in for a transfer down to Garmisch but will probably not get in because the commissary in Garmisch is ridiculously small and doesn't even have night stockers. The two possibilities for me right now are:

1.  Stay here in Grafenwhoer and continue to make great money and go down to Garmisch on my weekends to ski in the alps. This is not a bad option because I will get tons of time to ski here in Grafenwhoer as well because there are lots of little places just outside of town to ski. The downside of this would be that I would need to pay for rent, food, and other living expenses. 
2. Try to get on as a ski instructor and make shitty money but live in the coolest town ever. The living expenses would be minimal but I would not have as much freedom living with my parents. The upside is that there are people that I can relate with more in Garmisch being from a skiing culture and also the ability to make friends would also greatly increase because I have not met a single person into skiing in Grafenwhoer and I've been here for a while now.

They are hard choices to make but I think I'm going to try as hard as I can to end up in Garmisch because I will at least be able to relate to people down there and my living expenses will be virtually nothing. Wish me luck!

-Owen

Attack of La Nina

Hands down the best ski movie I have seen this year! A great group of skiers with almost too much talent in all aspects of the sport. The only thing this film lacked was in the park/urban skiing but I could care less about that because when you watch an MSP movie you're really there to watch huge cliff hucks, amazing lines, and deep powder and this film delivers in all of those areas. Colby West had a great segment with his usual style if you know what I mean, funny as hell. All other guys threw down BIG with the gnarliest bail being a cliff huck to rock to double eject. Great movie!

-Owen  

European Outdoor Film Festival

Just got back from the European Outdoor Film Festival which was pretty good but definitely not the best assortment of movies I've seen.
The climbing portion was pretty bland as the producers chose to pick three European sport climbing girls and toss them into the dessert crack climbing scene.  These girls could crush on any crag or gym in teh world with face moves but putting them in the dessert on a crack climb that I could climb on lead was just a little boring. There was even one point in the movie when the climber asked for the belayer to "take" and she sat there almost giving an interview on how hard the climb was before resuming the climb. My mom was even a little bit confused by this because when she is climbing with me and asks for me to "take" I almost always force her to continue the climb to the belay station.

The best movies in the whole show were the snowboarding movie by Travis Rice showcasing him and friends ripping spines in Alaska (No shit) and a mountain bike movie that was super artsy and just all around fun to watch that looked like it was shot in Whistler or the Pacific Northwest Somewhere.

The most confusing movie in the whole show was by far was a movie about a trash bag that was narrated like wildlife documentary on National Geographic or something, yaaaaa...
Here's the trailer for the Film Festival

The saddest movie in the show was a kayaking documentary of kayaking the Congo in which one kayaker got taken out by an alligator.


The most boring movie was "Baffin Babes" in which some girls from Sweden and Norway cross country ski across Baffin Island. As you could imagine they could have just gone back and forth across a 1 mile strip of Baffin Island and we (the viewers) wouldn't have had a clue. Now that I think of it, I doubt they would have had a clue either, the scenery literally never changed throughout the movie. This trip would be shitty to do and for me it was great to only waste 20 minutes of my time watching this ordeal instead 2 months!

Next up is a review of MSPs new film "Attack of LaNina", so stoked!!

A trailer of the Outdoor Film Festival...

Franknejura climbing

I have had been having a blast climbing the last couple of weeks all around Frankenjura but most recently we have stumbled across Hirschbach, a small town 25km from Vilseck that has a ton of climbing all around it. My first time climbing there was on Saturday and I think it will turn out to be my go to spot for the upcoming winter months. The rock is good and there are a ton of routes from 6 up so it should keep me busy for a long time to come. Here are a few pictures of Mittelbergwand and Schlaraffenland, obviously not taken by me...

Zugspitze climb

The plan is to catch the 5:40 train out of Weiden to Munich and from there on to Garmisch for some climbing in the good weather they're having. The main goal of the trip is to climb the Zugspitze and hike down to Ehrwald. Once there I well hitchhike my ass back to Garmisch in time for dinner.

Once I got on the train from Weiden I was told by the ticket checker that my ticket wasn't active until 9 but he let me ride the rest of the way to Regensburg for my transfer. I made the transfer to a train to Munich but my luck ran out when the next ticket checker told me to get off at the next stop(Landshut?) and that is where I am now, sitting in an Internet cafe not paying for Internet waiting for a 9:00 train to Munich. Playing stupid American is getting harder and harder everyday! It's only 7:40 now so I have some time to kill people watching.
Back on a train, this time heading to Garmisch with blue skies overhead!
The mountains just became visible as well as the first mountain cows with their big bells.
Started hiking at 4 going through the Hollental gorge and past the hut. Once past the hut I got pretty lost trying to find the start of the kletterstieg in the dark with only a headlamp so I waited for the sun to rise and sat on my backpack.
30 min later I was on trail passing the first section of kletterstieg up onto the last flat section before the glacier. The glacier was a sheet of ice so I put on my crampon compatable boots with crampons and went up the 5 switchbacks to where the kletterstieg resumes.


The crux of the whole route is regaining the kletterstieg after the glacier ends because it is 20 feet over a blank section of rock. Once over this section the route goes easily for the rest of the route up to the summit. It took me way too much time on this last section and was passed by one guy. The last 40 meters were covered in ice but I didn't feel like putting on crampons so I took very carefull steps to the top. Once at the top I ate a bratwurst at the Muenchener Haus and started the long descent to the Knorr hutte and then to Ehrwald Alm via the Gatterl. It was a super long hike but well worth the effort with great views the whole time. By the end I was super tired and knew that I need to be in better shape for ski season! Next up is card training so ski season isn't a complete jolt for my body...