SchlickerAlm from Fulpmes, Austria

Waking up the weather was worse than yesterday ...  the cloud right down in the valley - and the webcams were showing it to be just the same throughout the local ski areas. So today was a one for the local area and the edge of the piste.

Setting off relatively early we were at the bottom of the piste before most of the customers had arrived. We were on our own for a good period of the initial climb up to the first station.

The route follows the local roads through the forest, so is not steep and only a few hairpins .  as we got  higher the clouds got heavier and the visibility closed down, and it was the sound of the mid station working that indicated it was near before anything was visible.

The visibility was now very close, and it was difficult to understand what was around and how to make the best ascent route..  were there better lines, or just to follow the edge of the piste.  Once you came to junctions choice was more a guess.

once past the mid-station we continued into the depths of the valley, as we got higher the cloud thinned and developed into better visibility...  this was just a horizontal break in the clouds there were layers above and below.

 

Out of the mist came the Schlicher Alm ... a  mountain hut, but very much a feeding place for the piste skiers. the wind was now starting to make its presence felt. This was just the motivation we needed to have a break and make this the high point.

The descent was very fast and essentially back down the ascent route.   soon at the bottom it was time to walk back to Doug's shack.

The most of a bad day. but very memorable.

Trip Track

The route tracks from A-Trip