Weeks before departure, Hector carries a big smile on his face. Spreading good vibes, he tells stories about how he will enjoy champagne with the girls soon.
Since prices for gasoline reached unknown heights, my van is convinced of getting champagne all the time – nothing else makes sense with the pricing, right? With the utmost positivism, Hector bares hailstorms while dreaming of sandy bays at the sea, castles along the way and rebellious moves when driving on the wrong side of the streets.
Spontaneous Reactions to “Champagne with Hector”
Meanwhile, Linda plays with options for joining us in Brittany. Andy and local friends align for London, and Melly has booked flights in and out of Great Britain. Furthermore, the house-sitter gets accustomed to our place and Barbara plans to hop on towards the end of the trip. Altogether, packing will be more Tetris than ever.
Thursday comes and is accompanied by a hurricane. We think of the most exposed lift that might be closed and smile: Having planned a ski tour anyway – fell under ski and walking up with pure fitness, ha, who needs lifts?!
Supertouring-Ladies of the Day
For about half an hour, half of the ski region opens up. Other guests checking out manage their way down just in time and the same is true for their luggage. New guests with scheduled arrival miss their chance – we will have the chalet all for ourselves tonight, but before that, there are hills to run up and blizzards to face.
well…
Meanwhile, the entire ski region is closed and we align with our host the best destination for our tour: Up on the alpine plateau, leaving the trees – slight tendencies to fall over – behind.
In the beginning, it was a splendid Idea!
Strangest sensation of the day is a rainbow to our right. It remains there for hours, stable as a rock and entirely un-impressed by the squalls.
Ever seen a rainbow that lasts 3 hours?
We make our way up and get a rough welcome by the hurricane’s strength when reaching the Längenfelder high plateau. From here, we could turn left and head for the Hochalm. Yet, encouraged by two other crazy guys, we decide to continue straight on to the top station of the chairlift.
Natural Talent
The storm is loud and forceful up here. Every now and then, some of us give secret glances to the signposts along the way, ready to dodge flying obstacles. The last yards towards our target occur simultaneous to one of the storm’s peaks. With 3,000 m altitude more, it would be a copy of the Mount Everest’s base camp at average weather.
It looks like…but it feels like THIS!
Next in our adventurous movie are fragments like: Hide in the few inches of lee behind a skilift’s mast. Strip off the fells, hold tight to every item and step on the skis, prevent them from being torn by powerful squalls. Seek stable stand on the skis and stop thinking of scenes with people being pushed by the wind over a mountain’s edge.
Piece of Cake, isn’t it?!
The rest of the day contains sunny minutes on a bench, relaxed homecoming to our chalet, delicacies and wine. And updated plans for our future: Candidate A claims to be out of Himalaya or South Pole field trips. Candidate B promises to look for more comfortable ski tours. However, both are happy and satisfied with another great outdoor day during our wonderful holiday week.
EXPECT NOTHING IN PARTICULAR, BUT THE BEST IN GENERAL.
That is my preferred approach to life, and it rewards me with beauty and snow and all the rest.
Alpspitze, Zugspitze, Längenfelder – and kitschy pink in high volume
Together with my sister, we spend a full week skiing the Alps. Between Hausberg and Kreuzeck, we are located in our preferred place in Garmisch Classic ski area. The hardest choice: find the most charming panorama – when in every direction, out of every window, the surrounding is fantastic.
Outlook
Timing is excellent with solid conditions on our preferred hills. It takes two days for measuring every inch of the Kandahar weltcup slope, 100% steep and challenging and perhaps the most wonderful way to work on your leg muscles.
Me and my SlopePreferred way of Skiing
Evenings are lazy apart from tough brain exercise: scrabble-battles of the peaceful, yet master-level-kind. On Tuesday evening, the tables are full of ski touring folks, while on other evenings it is just the fireplace, the scrabble board and the two of us.
Evening Setting
At 8:30 each morning, the slopes are all ours. Having the pole position for the start into the day is so cool – no matter if we leave the first trace of the day in the Kandahar slope or if we enjoy untouched powder from last night’s snowfall on the No. 2 of our favourite slopes, the Horn-Abfahrt.
This is what we call perfect Weather Conditions
Days end with a toast to the Alps and pink skies, immersing the Kreuzeck funicular station in the most romantic light. It all looks peaceful, until… (tbc)
West will be the most certain, general direction. South, perhaps. Trying to be as flexible as the limitaions and rules on behalf of Voldemort (= topic that should not be named). My ukulele, my Hector and some books will be fine for a start, surf waves are preferred along the way and sun will be very welcome.
Zwiesel may come in different forms. Red wine glasses, white wine glasses and a mountain in the South of Bad Tölz, Bavaria.
Zwiesel 2 = Zwieselberg
Being a smart person means to chose the easiest of all ski tours from Rother Skitourenführer Bayerische Alpen. After 15 tours on slopes of all kind, I move on into the wild and, smart as hell, go for the Zwieselberg.
All easy in the lower parts of the ascent
Being adventurous brings in some spice. Especially when following obvious ski traces and realizing too late that they lead into the wrong direction (option A, remediated by a 10 minutes uphill intermezzo) or into a steep hiking path in the forest (option B). Due to my book, there must be a third option, but that one did not cross my path.
Pretty Views after 90 mins.
On my way up, everything is fine for the time being: Unpredicted sun shines on corn snow, few other hikers or ski tourers are around and the storm has not yet reached it’s full strength.
Happy on top
When I reach the cross of Zwieselberg, a half dozen of hikers lingers around the peak and reacts slightly irritated when seeing my skis. The few (4, in total) other ski tourers that passed my by (full-speed) in the lower areas are long gone now, and rather sooner than later I will wonder where they managed their descent.
How to get down a tiny path through the forest?
Now, being all back and safe, I can confirm that I have special skills in getting stuck between two conifer trees. And I am for sure one of very, very rare persons who succeeded the trial path on the way down. Then, after what felt like 200m altitude difference on steep terrain with tight trees, I sincerely regret not having taken a picture of the steel staircase. Like the cherry on the cake, just when the trial path hits the creek, a staircase with icy steps marks an ultimate end to my skiing abilities. Where are the paparazzi when the situation would lure into a perfect snapshot of unperfect mountain sports?
Further down, I meet two hikers with stunned looks when noticing my skis and the direction I come from. Due to them, I must have been the first crazy freak who tried the toughest way down. However, later today, I have found out that there even is a recommendation by “planet outdoor” for this route, mentioning nonchalant “carry the skis over the metal stairs”.
If this was meant to be the descent – why has not a single ski tourer been witnessed here?
Taking all possibilities into consideration, I am not convinced of Zwieselberg being a ski tour-paradise. The joyful passages on snowy meadows make a mere 10% of the entire descent, at least from a timing perspective.
Still, I am happy about my Sunday adventure and will certainly try out further ski tours into the wild “Voralpen”!
December… Approaching Christmas and Lockdown threats, skies are grey and the mood… is splendid once we reach Spitzingsee, where rain turns into snow.
First ski-tour this winter for me, first ski-tour ever for the wise sister. Just great to be out here, surrounded by other crazy outdoor freaks and happy with fresh snow beneath our skis!
Facts of the tour: internet data results into 365 m altitude difference. But why trust anonymous internet sites when you can ask foreign guys at the Jagahüttn? “…must be around 1.600-1.700 m, black and challenging tour, great achievement!”
The first winter hike of the year always comes as a surprise. This November weekend 2021 offers autumn sun and almost perfect conditions – if not for the out-of-the-blue white stuff all around Spitzingsee.
Winter has arrived at Spitzingsee
Of course, I arrive at Spitzingsattel in light hiking shoes and summer clothing. What else to expect on a bright, sunny day?! Yet, my summer shoes work pleasingly well on icy ground, making me start the tour light-hearted. And without realizing the wrong direction I take right from the parking lot.
The forest path of the first passage is well marked and supposed to be my retour. Still, it brings me closer to my desired destination, the Jägerkamp-peak. It’s cross becomes visible as soon as I leave the forest behind and approach the Schönfeldhütte. There even is a sign towards a vague direction “Jägerkamp: 1h”. Half an hour later, after some back and forth trials, I realize: a) that I have reached a point only 5 minutes away from the Alm. And, b), that landmarks or painted dots (signposts) are buried under 30 cm of finest fresh snow.
Beautiful, but…
I look around and spot a handful other hikers. Each one seems to face the same dilemma: looking for the right way towards the summit, losing time over time in the snow.
Eventually, it is the temptation of food and coffee offered by Schönfeldhütte (open in all seasons) that makes me abbreviate today’s hike. I make a mental note for the Jägerkamp becoming an upcoming target, then hop down to the Alm.
Nice Outlook, after all
I share a table in the sun with a gentle guy from Slovakia and he shares his knowledge about the right way to the Jägerkamp (turns out that I have been wrong all along). For the time being, I have no regrets: 2,5 hours in beautiful surrounding, with rays of sun and sparkling white snow – peak or no peak, I have a wonderful time with probably the last hike of the year.
Now that the Snow is here, anyway – Could we please arrange steady layers over all of my favourite ski tour regions?
Another hike with another friend. Who would have guessed (not me, certainly) that I would manage to meet sports buddies rather than bar / culture / other friends? Especially when being back in the “Super-Working-Trap”: Eleven months mark an overwhelming lean period between the last holiday and the next, even worse as travelling has lost some of its lightness for an undefined period of time.
View on Isar / Sylvenstein
Typical for October, temperatures vary from frozen to t-shirt-warmth, depending upon sun and southern vs. northern flanks. The length of today’s tour, instead, depends upon orientation and rare road signs. We manage to sort out the first half just right, or at least most of it. Forest roads, paths and rare outlooks keep us busy and uphill for a bit less than two hours, until we almost stumble out of the woods and over the peak’s cross. Far from being the most impressive peak of the Alps, the Staffel’s cross is almost hilariously huge.
The way down starts promising and mostly sunny. About half way down, an unmarked crossing lurs us into a deviation of a mere 5 km before we get back to our starting point. Hence, we get a bit more sun and walking distance than foreseen by the easy tour, summing up 14 instead of the planned 9 km. Still, it has been a nice and easy hike and before we leave the Jachenau valley, we ensure to fill up precious calories in the cafés along the way.
Travelhector 