2003 - the DHO

The day was rounded off with a splendid Champagne evening
given by Paddy Hollington. This did not help her as the team
showed no favours ensuring that she lost in the final of Liar
Dice.
Thursday
Snow fell as we set out to climb via another route to the
Bannalper-Schonegg Ridge. Eight Army lads passed us
proceeding downwards, who were to join us later back at our
hut. We reached the Schoncgg ridge, rewarded by glorious
views in all directions, and climbed higher past beautiful
windblown ice and snow formations. Via a narrow track with
the steepest of cliffs, we reached a spot 100 metres below the
summit of the Chaiserstuel 2,440m on skis, and climbed to the
rounded summit on foot. Here we had lunch, and played guess
the mountain name with the 360-degree vista. Adolf appeared
to know every one, which to us seemed to be the whole of
Switzerland. It was certainly a spectacular view, well worth the
four and half-hours effort to reach it.
As we finished lunch the cloud rose to meet us; a scramble onto
skis and a steep and challenging drop to the valley floor. 5
minutes into our descent, Adolf called a stop as our visibility
had progressively disappeared to nothing. We waited for almost
half an hour, but the cloud did not change and so we were faced
with putting skins back on and climbing out. What had taken
five minutes to descend now took 25 minutes to climb out, back
onto the ridge, along this and back to where we had reached it
earlier in the day. We could sec nothing, but despite the gloom
and the distance Adolf had brought us expertly back to the very
spot of our starting point completely by compass.
The wind rose and with it the snow so that we found we were
skiing downwards into a most uncomfortable and freezing
DOWNHILL ONLY JOURNAL 2003
world. We were glad to return to the warmth of our hut, which
we were unable to see on our return until we were within 100
metres.
This evening was made particularly special by the hut
management who produced a highly alcoholic
Urncrstaffelcocktail comprising (at the very least) Italian
Prosecco Extra Dry, Orange Graini and Peche Liqueur, all
elegantly served in fluted glasses. The evening descended into a
riotous game of "Oh Hell", who was the eventual winner no
one can remember.
Friday
Our last day, and a sunny one - what luck. We started early,
climbing the right hand side of the valley towards the
Hasenstock at 2,720 m, first in shadow and then in bright sun
which required stripping down to bare essentials. As wc
climbed higher in fresh new snow the terrain became more
perfect and beautiful and the new snow layer deeper and
deeper. Wc zig-zagged up lovely slopes through rocks each
capped with metres of snow.
After three and a half hours, we came to a small, pretty but
unnamed peak with a sharp cliff on one side and a curved bowl
leading to the Hasenstock. Our last lunch could not have been
in a more perfect of settings. Finally wc set off to return, skiing
through the most perfect and deepest snow of the holiday,
around wide sloping terrain giving a multitude of choices of
route. We returned sadly directly to our hut, where we donned
skins and full backpacks to walk out of our valley and to the
lift to take us back more than reluctantly to the real world.
A happy and satisfied band.