Again skitouring with a small team including the usual suspects Joop, Marcel and me. And when Joop “tjoep tjoep” tags along; you know you will be pushed to the limit. Of course our friend Markus was guiding us again..
Destination deep into the Ötztaler Alps; unlimited possibilities, a good hut and some beautiful peaks! What can go wrong?
Friday
After a rather eventful trip over the Fernpass we arrived in Vent. On our way we already saw the effects of last weeks’ heat: big wet snow slabs had been coming down and the road had recently been cleared from the debris.
After changing we started on what later turned out to be a horrible traverse in to the Niedertal towards the Hermann Göring Martin Busch Hütte. We had to speed up during the traverse because the temperature was rising and with the recent snowfall things were getting sketchy. But we arrived safely at the hut, broken but safe..
Saturday
Go big! So no warm up rounds for us but straight onto the Similaun, with its 3607m one of the bigger peaks in the vicinity. The climb up is pretty straightforward but the views from the top were amazing (and we had phone reception too).
But then; the descend! A 1000m altitude drop with fresh fluffy powder! Like little kids we do our powder eights. Stoked we end up on the terrace of the Martin Busch Hütte for an afternoon in the sun playing cards and drinking radler.
Sunday
Go home! Before traversing out, we decide to do the Kreuzspitze, in the backyard of the hut. We leave early but hard circumstances and bad weather makes us turn around a hour before reaching the summit. The descent is mainly in the clouds which reduces visibility to null; resulting in some crashes for Joop.
After lunch in the hut, we start our trip back to Vent. Marcel has some problems in the traverse and decides to walk out on crampons and just 200m after the hut I crash, wreck a binding and see my ski disappear into the depth. Markus tries to find it but to no avail.. so 2 out of 3 are walking and the last one (Joop) goes missing (because he skis straight to the car, oblivious of what’s happening above him, because he is in pain after his previous crashes).
Let’s put it this way: Markus didn’t have an easy day with us that day..
But all is well that’s ends well so in retrospect this was another great trip.. onto the next season!