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

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