Clear blue sky, crisp frost.. the prospect of a decent day ... Last night we had heard another party of brits talking over a summit, it was probably the one we had selected. Standing prominently outside the window of the hut opposite the lake just below. You could see the route laid out in new tracks - through the forest across the slope left to right then up the right hand side to the summit ridge and back to the left.
So leaving the van at the hut we walked down to the lake, cutting left to avoid the piste basher, we started too high and added a few 100m extra walking, then skins on and around the far side of the lake to the dam.
From the dam end there was a number of tracks all going up to the summer track/ path and into the woods.
Along here and before where we thought they all disappeared up left into the trees.. we followed .. this was a tactical move to avoid the gulley .. I am not sure if the track was clear to negotiate it but this worked.
Coming out above the gulley we still had to descend slightly to cross the stream before cutting up into the woods again - more sparse here, but the track zigzaged up the slope
Coming out of the trees the path veered across to the right - the summit somewhere above us. Steaming up the slope in the blaze of the sun
As we reached the ridge on the right hand side of the face we looked up to the summit ridge, not actually seeing the summit itself at this point just the fore peak.
The general gradient was quiet steep and was on the edge of slipping, however careful placement got around it.
The summit... a party of two who had passed us and another of two behind gathered suitably distant to admire the view over the ridge and also eat a snack or two. On another visit there is a peak over the ridge that should be considered. .. today it had a lot of traffic, so must be recommended.
And so to the descent... powder, powder and more powder ... not as fluffy as yesterday, but still very nice. A little steep in places but all the same the top slopes were a delight.
As we came down to the trees the snow got heavier and wetter .. Bryon started having "gripping" issues - a sure sign of not enough wax. however it would have to wait until we were down, and he struggled on with a mixture of defensive and slow skiing.
Back at the gulley, we chose to follow the snowshoe trail... it would make the skiing easier for Bryon. However this lead down to the Mittergrat hutte, and we could not find the track leading back to the dam ... it was under too much snow.
Unfortunately we had to take the "rodelbahn" track down to the valley.
Now several hundred feet below the van we needed to walk ... first I lead off following the stream towards the dam - this was very tiring at the end of the day making a track in the fresh snow - by the time we got to a bridge it was time to give up and walk back up the road.
Even at the dam we continued on the road as it easier than skinning up the ski de fond track.
The hut was a welcome end to a long walk back up and I settled down to indulge myself in a bottle of coke.
Two hard days and tomorrow would need to be much gentler .. and we needed to change locations - the original plan would have seen us head off to the Silvretta traverse, but not even the "grill teller" of the evening meal would convince us that we were fit enough yet.
However the view of the day out the hut window was a pleasant reminder.
