Schluechtli, Switzerland

On the other side of the valley was another objective ...  less than 700Hm but what looked like a good warm-up day .. Schluechtli was described as a route for children with open slopes and little difficulty. It also suited the weather forecast which was showing sun/ cloud for the morning with snow coming later int he afternoon.

Given that this was opposite us but we needed to cross the gorge down or up the valley, we chose down, as this was the approach in the guide book.  First issue was finding the road, after some driving around the back roads we picked it up, then we had a pleasant ride through the forest until all of a sudden we turned a corner and the road hung perilously above the gorge ...  single track with passing places, there was viewing platform at the start which should have given the game away. The start had a good barrier, and wound around the gorge, however after the tunnel the barrier disappeared and we continued hoping nothing was coming the other way - luckily it wasn't. At the end of this stretch we came to some hairpins that marked the start of a road improvement program and wider roads. From here it was good roads to Versam and also up the valley to Tenna.

The guide said to park in by the "solar" lift ...  unsure what this was we drove until we found the drag lift where the meaning became apparent - above the lift was stretched a line of solar panels.

From here we set off up the piste ... we were a little late setting off according to our usual timing, but as this was a short route we aimed to be heading back just after 12 - this was going to bite us later.. but on the way up we were helped by first the piste then earlier tracks.
Above the piste we headed left around the trees aiming for some buildings on the skyline before turning back right towards the peak.

Over more open meadows we reached the topmost building where we could either continued up the meadows or go around the bump to the right and up to the summit slopes... we chose the former and arriving at a small dip we could see the summit slopes and also where the other track rejoined.

From this col it was a simple matter to contour up the summit slopes and reach the broad top with views all around including where we had been the day before.
We paused for a leisurely food stop and removed the skins etc..  not really knowing what the return would be like., watching two other parties coming up behind us.

The summit slopes hid what we would meet lower down and gave the best skiing of the day, steep but firm enough base to allow good turns.
Then as we headed lower the base got softer and eventually disappeared completely leaving us struggling with knee deep porridge like substance dragging us back.
Time for defensive skiing .. long traverse with snow plow turns making full use of the meadows.

the piste brought a welcome respite to the gloop, and some better tight turns.

At the van we managed to get sorted just before it started snowing lightly, and we retreated back to the hostel ..  although this time via the Ilanz end of the valley. Back at the hostel time to relax and think about the conditions and how to address the soft snow.

Dinner was back at "smokey Joe's" ...  a lot less smokey, but very much less attentive.