Blog Posts in Category: Ski Touring

Brauneck Ski Touring

With the temperatures having been really high since the day I drove over, I had mostly given up on the concept of using my new ski touring skis this year. Thankfully some of the Bavarian ski areas are still hanging onto their snow, even low down. To make the most the snow before it finishes melting, Rob, Helen and I headed to Brauneck for a day of ski touring on closed pistes. The skin up was tiring, especially for my unfit legs, but straightforward with no need for any kick turns, and surprisingly grippy snow. Once we got out of the initial woods the views were really spectacular. We headed straight up to Brauneck and were treated to a massive cloud inversion to the north west, and fantastic views of the mountains towards Austria with wonderfully clear air. We then headed over to the Stin-Alm where we had a quick drink before heading up the Idealhang lift track. The descent back down from where was lovely, OK snow, great views, what more could you want… We then made the hot return to Brauneck, before starting the frankly unpleasant descent back. Read the full article…

Ski Touring in Austria

After first ski touring four years ago in Scotland I decided that I wanted to go to the alps. This year it finally happened thanks to now having a friend who lives in Münich. The week could not really have been any better, as there was plenty of fresh snow in the weeks running up to my arrival and then an excellent stable, sunny and cold forecast for the week of my trip. Combined with this the air remained extremely clear so we had brilliant views into the distance in every direction. On the first day we headed to Hochfügen so that I could remind myself how to ski and it turned out to be a great day with quiet pistes, excellent snow and plenty of sun. We did get a bit carried away and managed to ski 37km downhill with 800m of descent. The next day we headed over to Küthai for two days of day touring as a more gentle introduction before we headed up into the mountains. Schafzöllen Monday was our only day of bad weather, but as the forecast improved we decided to head out for. Read the full article…

Cairngorm Ski Touring

Today was an introduction to ski touring for Becky, as it was her first day out touring we skinned up one of the closed pistes on the Cairngorm ski resort, before heading off into the backcountry and up to the summit. We had planned to traverse around the northern corries and then descent down Lurchers gully, however we were running a bit later than planned having had to hire kit in the morning and the weather was closing in. Due to this we decided just to head back to the ski centre and then head down the pistes back to the car.

An Attempt at Ski Touring the Cairngorm 4000ers

I had made plans with Nick to head up to Scotland for some climbing this weekend, however the never ending snowfall all week made that seem unlikely due to arduous and dangerous approaches to the climbs. We are both capable skiers and decided that this would be a good opportunity to learn to ski tour, especially as the forecast for Saturday spoke about Alpine conditions. Nick and I have a history of not doing things in half measures (two years ago we climbed Orion Face, Tower Ridge and Point Five in a brilliant weekend while camping at the base of the north face of Ben Nevis). This was no exception to that, as instead of doing an easy day tour to learn how to do it, we decided to do a two day tour and attempt to climb all five of the Cairngorm 4000ft peaks. After a slow drive up to Aviemore after work on Friday we hired kit early on Saturday morning and headed to cairngorm mountain where we avoided looking to stupid as we skinned up the side of the ski lifts. We were soon at the summit of. Read the full article…