Saturday, January 25, 2014

Mittaghorn ski tour

Mittaghorn is not a particularly creative mountain name... there are no less than 9 peaks named Mittaghorn in Switzerland. You can almost see one Mittaghorn from the Mittaghorn that we climbed (the one to the east of Splügen). Crazy snow conditions (i.e. lots of snow with strong wind) led us to explore the area near San Bernardino, hoping that the wind had been less severe and the snow still fluffy. Getting there was a new experience in public transport-assisted skiing, with the double-decker highway bus (reservations mandatory!) taking us pretty quickly from Chur to Splügen, a pretty popular ski area in these parts and a picturesque village. On the way up, the skin track through the forest was icy, and above treeline there didn't seem to be any snow left so our spirits were not particularly high. We didn't really bother tagging the peak. We approached the ski down with low expectations, but found that the wind had blown all the snow off the mountain into the forest... and skied 45-degree steeps in 50cm of powder in nicely spaced trees! I was pretty busy surfing the snow on my fatties so I don't actually have any photos of this part, but it really happened.

Creative framing on the uphill


Lorenz and Kathi rising up above Untersurettasee

Lorenz and Kathi (and random guy) with awesome pyramid of Pizzo Tambo in the background

Tobias and Sabine fighting the ice pellets

Seehorn with sun on top

snow p0rn
I forgot to take photos at the top... so here's the way down


another attempt at an action shot with the wide angle. Still needs some improvement... 

Sabine shredding


Lorenz finding some pockets of nice snow... I think it's Teurihorn in the background

checking out the woods... fearing the worst, and finding the best

starting out on cruiser slopes...