GammerSpitze, Austria

Refreshed after our day away from the skis... the day was bright again, even the wind had dropped slightly.
Today Bryon had his eye on a ridge traverse which involved an early opt out.

Today we were heading to the Eastern side of the Brenner Motorway - parking in the convenient lay-by. We headed off over the lower fields and up to the trees.

Again the route followed the old tracks up a convenient fire break to a larger clearing

The opt out summit (xxxxx) came into view over the trees. We were doing well and ahead of the time line. The sun was now warming everything.

Coming out of the trees the upper pastures open out and the whole ridge is apparent Decision time was very easy ... the long route was beckoning.

The prominent bump looks like a red herring but it is actually the start of the ridge. the interest was about to start....

the narrow ridge moves to the distance. However there was a slight hidden surprise. reaching the point at the ridge in the left. looking back you can see the sudden drop and fall away. My nerves would not let me do this on Skis.. so I walked it.

from here it was straight forward again, just a long way.

A slight pause for calories before the final push to the visible summit

The map shows two summits with the same name ... this one and the next along the ridge ... that would involve skiing the "north" couloir and this one had larger lettering... decision made, nothing at all to do with the tiredness :)

skiing down had the usual challenges at the top ... breakable crust through the initial tracks added difficulty, then at the beginning of the East end of the ridge the route dropped of Northwards down some really nice, little used and very, very enjoyable powder... So fantastic it was hard to stop for breath.
At the end of the steep bits there was a long traverse along a track.