It's your first time ski-touring - Alpinschule OASE-Alpin

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Simon rescued me as he firmly requested Peter to take my full thermos flask to ease my load, and then it was skis off to scramble up the icy slope. At the end, we reached the Breiter Gurgler Ferner, and steadily ascended until we were parallel to the Hochwilder Hauser (where the Brits had in error called in!). Time for a hot tea, and we noticed that the sky was beginning to cloud over, and a slight cool breeze was blowing into our faces. By the time we turned up the slope on the right hand side at 2880m to kick-turn climb the Kleinleitner Ferner, the weather had really closed in, and the visibility was steadily worsening. We made it up to 3200m but not quite to the summit of the Schafkogel Joch, but by then we were not seeing very much at all through the thick mist. Simon made a wise decision and broke off the ascent. It was a wideopen descent down for some more of those schwulen Kurzschwungen, and we had a small picnic huddled up enjoying the last of the cheese and tinned meats. The guys just could not understand my whoops of joy as we neared the bottom as I discovered the beautiful subterranean stream. “Miranda… we passed here on the way up. You must have seen this going up?” But my concentration and focus on the ascent meant that I was only able to appreciate the full beauty of my surroundings as we glided down. We were back at the Karlsruher Hütte by 1pm and enjoyed a free afternoon before consuming a couple of bottles of red wine… Hey... it was the last night! We were joined by Stephan from OASE and his brother Johannes and their friend Udo. And after planning our last ascent to Aussere Hochebenkar, we all enjoyed a merry evening of exchanging jokes and stories, again washed down with the good proverbial red wine. And whether it was the elation of having almost completed a wonderful ski tour, or whether the wine was having its effect, when we retired to our dorm beds (with fresh Dutch guests), I couldn’t help humming “Tulips of Amsterdam” and falling asleep in a fit of giggles! © 2004 :Recollections.doc by Miranda Bellchambers Page 8 of 10
Day 5: Last day! Aussere Hochebenkar; 3021m Breakfast was difficult. It is true what they say about red wine at altitudes… it gives you a whopping hangover! Dieter, still nursing his feet, and only able to wear yellow bin liners over a pair of Lufthansa slippers, was looking forward to a ride down on the skidoo together with the innkeeper. That left us three to brave the elements… a changeable strong wind, at times blizzard-like conditions and a drop in temperatures to –10C. We struck out northwards towards Distelwies on the right up to the Aussere Hochebenkar. At times, I could not even see Simon in front of me, and I could just follow his tracks in the snow. We stopped often and gratefully for hot tea, but the pauses were not long! The conditions had changed, and Simon was only too aware what that meant. Whilst we were climbing the Hangerer up to 3021m, Simon stuck a long probe down into the snow’s surface. He reached down, and took a sample of the snow from about 50cm below the surface. It was like crushed ice, just crumbly granules. Simon turned to face us, and signalled with crossed sticks that this was the end of the road. We headed directly over to the safety of the mountain cliff, and had a break. We discussed the reasons for the change in conditions and understood how to make judgments. But it certainly drove home to us that we were out here amongst the raw elements, and without Simon as our mountain guide, we would be like lambs to the slaughter. The last descent was bizarre; the transition from the empty open mountain slopes to the regular ski area populated by dozens of ski-lift skiers was enormous. All of a sudden, we had to watch out for other skiers around us. It was almost as if these other skiers were intruding into our skiing kingdom! And there were pistes like white autobahns marking the way down! Amazing how just 5 days up alone in the mountains could have such an affect! © 2004 :Recollections.doc by Miranda Bellchambers Page 9 of 10
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It's your first time ski-touring - Alpinschule OASE-Alpin

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