This Article first appeared in
AAC(UK) Newsletter 171
published Autumn 2006
§
Our intention is to populate this right hand column with photographs taken on this meet. If you attended the meet, have good digital photographs which might be appropriate, and would be willing to see them displayed here, please send them to our Webmaster. If you would like to see examples of how we would use them, please see either the Solu Khumbu article from Newsletter 170 or the Dolomites Camping ariticle from Newsletter 176.
Last updated 04 December 2007
Beginners' Ski Mountaineering Course, Spring 2006 at the Neue Bamberger Hütte
by Gillian Smith
This 5 day, hut-based course was just right for an introduction to, or a refresher course for, ski mountaineering. There are plenty of mixed ability day tours that can be tackled from the hut and the only caveat would be that having to don skins actually to reach the hut, up a winding forest path, might be a bit daunting for a complete novice.
The first day was a fairly easy introduction, just skinning up towards the Salzachjoch and practising a few kick turns. It was more than somewhat marred by one of our party falling on the return and having to be helicoptered off to Kitzbuhel with torn ligaments! The next day saw us heading for the Schafsiedel. The weather started to close in, however, and we beat a retreat to the hut where it was fine enough to do some practice kick turns and transceiver work nearby.
Next day dawned fair but it had started to snow by the time we left the hut, heading for the Schwebenkopf. Luckily it cleared again and allowed us to reach the ridge. After skiing back down we found a lovely sheltered spot for lunch and then decided the slope above us looked so inviting we just had to climb and ski it. Surely this is what ski mountaineering is all about?
The following target was the Dristkopf at 2361m. The day started well, cloudless and with morning temperatures of -16°C. The views from the col to the Gross Glockner, Gross Venediger and the Kitzbuhler Alpswere magnificent. Two of the group managed to make the summit cross with Hannes, our guide. The ski back down was wonderful; were those really our tracks?
The last day showed how things can change in the mountains. A very stormy night meant all our lovely powder snow had been compacted into crusty wind slab. The sun did come out eventually and we headed out towards the Salzachjoch. It was still very windy and we could see several spontaneous avalanches. Some groups appeared to be taking a lot of risks but we carefully made our way to the lovely wee church at the col with barely room for us to squeeze inside. The ski back to the hut was more difficult than before, due to the wind crust, but it was all good experience.
The culmination of the week was the run back down to the valley next morning. The wind had dropped during the night and it had snowed and was still snowing when we left at 7.45am. It was back to fun powder and, with the trees heavily laden, it was a perfect end to the week.
[Return to Index of Meet Reports]
[home], [benefits], [activities], [membership], [AAC(UK) shop], [links], [contact us]
Last updated: 04 December 2007
Printer-friendly version