Life is not a Practice

Despite the bitingly cold wind and complete lack of a view up in the clouds, six of us walked up to the Grüntenhütte for lunch and then skied back down.



Inside the Grüntenhütte was much much warmer than outside.

Three of us walked up past the Buchelalpe and then on to the summit of the Wertacher Hörnle.



Stunning views from the summit. The new snow on a base of older snow made for fantastic conditions for the run back down on our touring skis.

Pictures at https://goo.gl/photos/ZWASHJTxkACQb2j17

Quick "training tour" with Caro.



Once up the Alpspitz and back down.

Today was Valentines Day and Farinas were expecting their first grandchild but we still went out on our ski tours. Drove to the Bichlbach Almkopfbahn and then walked up the track to the Almkopf (about 650m uphill). Saw a few chamoix right next to the track but they took the attitude "if you don't bother us, we won't bother about you!"



After enjoying our lunch in the Sonnalm (at 1620m) with great views further in to Austria we skied back down to the car.



Got home as it started to rain and snow.

Pictures at https://goo.gl/photos/ZWASHJTxkACQb2j17

Yesterday was biking. And today was skiing. Three of us drove over the border in to Austria and walked up to the Füssener Jöchle with our touring skis. After lunch we skied back down.



Pictures at https://goo.gl/photos/ZWASHJTxkACQb2j17

The snow has arrived!Finally the world is white and, only three weeks late, the mountain looks like a christmas card. And of course it took about 2 seconds to convince Caro that we had to go out with our touring skis.



It is over nine months since I was last on skis (https://neill.blogger.de/stories/2491529/). In autumn I bought new ski boots because the ones I bought last year were an absolute disaster. Not once did I use them without a burning sensation in my feet. The new ones are much much better and I could even leave them on once we reached the restaurant at the top.



The reward for our efforts was hot chocolate with cream and cake. After that a fantastic descent through perfect fluffy snow.

What a life!

My GPS didn't seem to work going uphill. I don't know why. But the track is at http://www.gpsies.com/map.do?fileId=wkvvdqdkbwxiuzdt

Photos at https://goo.gl/photos/4Kw7T5WpsUTF9bHAA

It has been snowing since Friday niht so the mountain is white from top to bottom. The lift is closed for spring so we took our touring skis and walked up to the top station.



At the top the sun came out and we were rewardrd with a snow covered landscape sparking in the sun. The sun stayed out for the descent and then it started snowing again.

A sunny Thursday and Max's last day in Europe so we went skiing. Actually Heidi and Max had planned a morning skiing but Julia and I smuggled ourselves in to the outing.



We were at the foot of the lift in Austria when the lift opened and enjoyed 3.5 hours of skiing and a half hour of coffee drinking.



The slopes were empty and the wait at the lift was zero. Great way to spend a morning.

My fourth trip this winter to the Grauen Stein. We have a relay mast up there and wanted to do some upgrades.



The expedition was perfectly planned so we caught the early morning cable car up the mountain with the employees. From there we and our equipment were transported by Skidoo to the end of the valley and then we used our touring skis to ski up to the summit of the mountain.



At 08:40 we were at a height of 1733 meters and looking down on the world as the sun slowly filled the valleys.

About four hours later we were finished with our work and glad too get out of the wind which, despite the sun, was keeping us cool. We loaded up our rucsacs and the generator that was still up there from Christmas ( http://neill.blogger.de/stories/2463609/ ). With all that on our backs we skied back down in to the valley and waited for our "taxi".



It's a tough life but some one has to do it :-)

A gentle ski tour to a summit just below the Hoher Ifen. Stunning weather and great companions.



All the pictures are at https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/103827427036815679772/albums/6097506762533868817



500 meters of climbing with the touring skis.
Track is at http://www.gpsies.com/map.do?fileId=sofpjrjodxsixbfr