very overcast and the clouds down in the town around the apartment.. we had two "bad" day routes picked out ... one to go to Oberalp Pass and the second to go to Lukmanier Pass .. both from the respective road heads.
With Bryon looking to test out the rental skis we went back to the road head at Tschamut-Selva, this time heading up the road rather than down to the river.
There was a lot of flat light around but we were under the cloud at this point.
One worrying point was that between our descent late yesterday morning and early today there had been a fresh avalanche across the road.
Yesterday we had seen a quad bike with tracks go down the road from the refuge .. today it past us going back up with a passenger in tow ... one way to get up!
As we approached the end of the valley we got deeper into the cloud, which not only reduced the visibility but also lost the depth of view, so we could not see the steepness of the slopes around. Luckily for us we had posts marking the road to the pass, although the path took some short cuts between the zigzags.
As the road turned to the right to go up to the pass, the angle changed as things got a little steeper, and somewhere above us we could hear the lifts from Sedrun .. again which one was difficult to determine.
The we came to a flatter section with a line of telegraph poles. this lead to the pass and the lift buildings with associated restaurants etc.
Behind us was just a sea of white.
Not many people around .. most were huddled in the restaurants. the interesting feature was the lighthouse sending out a red beam on a cycle, both Bryon and I tried to time the photo to the right part!
We had made good time up to her, and it seemed a shame to just go back down ... Bryon posed the question about dropping down to Andermatt and catching the train back up ... this would also cover another of our initial ideas. The alternative was to go up the piste .. but this was flat light skiing for the sake of it.
So sheltering under the veranda of one of the restaurants, trying to keep up wind of the smokers we took the skins off and prepared for a descent into the unknown.
The map showed the road heading west around a large lake following the train line .. so we dropped to the station (it was below the col level slightly) and then tried to find a way out .. this ended in us going down to the lake and setting of across it .. skis without sins but binding undone so we could slide easier .. it was flat but not worth getting skins back on.
We headed into the whiteness aiming for a vague gap between the two mountains coming down ahead.
Looking back it was all white.
The train track had disappeared into a tunnel just after the station, but luckily it reappeared after the secondary col and we had some pylons to follow.
At this point we had enough slope to actually start sliding, as opposed to walking. We slid/ side slipped down the hard snow which had been thrown off the tracks by the clearing efforts, which was much better than the softer "fresh" snow further away from our guide rail.
Confidence has a way of kicking you, and it was around here I had my second "face plant" of the trip .. not seeing a gully cutting the slope I piled into the opposite bank and without heels clamped continued until my face was buried... me lying in a heap allowed Bryon to avoid the danger and the ignominy!
Seeing some tracks on the other side of the rails, together with our side getting steeper down to the left we crossed the tracks and climbed up the other side.. there was not a lot of space and we had to ensure we were clear before the next train.
Once on the track, things became easier as it was semi pisted (ie there had been a rattrac along it). We, very soon, arrived at the Natschen station, and a form of civilization.
The drop down into Andermatt was simple from here ... a blue run followed the road all the way (we did have a side excursion down a very thin red so Bryon could try tight turns on the new skis).
We chanced to drop under the rail line as a train was passing the other way.
Very quickly we were at the bottom of the run and a few hundred meters from the rail station.
A train was due to depart in a few minutes so we rushed to buy tickets then hopped on (the next would be an hour away so it was fortunate).
Eating and staring into the gloom to see where we had been, we relaxed on the journey back up to the Oberalp Pass.
We had seen some "funny" carriages on several of the trains .. It seems one of the revenue generating schemes was to put an "Apres-ski" bar carriage on the trains for the skiers returning from one end to the other. Although we avoided it, it was extremely popular on our train.
Back up at the train station we trudged up to the high point again, passed the hordes of tourists getting out into the snow.
From the top we set off back down to the van ... following the remembered tracks from the ascent ... not simple and luckily there were no surprises in the flat light.
Back on the larger road trail in the valley bottom we sped back towards the van, until we were interrupted by a new slide that had occurred during the day since we had passed that way in the morning... a lack or freezing and cohesion had caused snow to side down over the track with wet slushy debris .. no difficulty to cross, just a poignant reminder of the dangers.
Back at the van we retreated back to our apartment and some tea.
That night we went out to another new restaurant .. Ustria Casa Cruna More "fast" than the other places, with lots of tables.
