Blue skies once more, and we were keen to get out and take advantage of this
great weather. The route we had in mind was right outside the apartment and we
had the opportunity of ski in/ out for the first time this trip. We planned to
revisit Hoher Napf we had last climbed in 2013 in cloud and as such not seen
much.
we were on the trail before 9am - our earliest start this trip so far and
started up the path behind the apartment. It was cold but clear after a very
hard frost overnight and the snow was rock hard.
We followed the track behind until we could turn up a foot track leading into
the woods.
Along this track we just passed a very narrow trace of ice on the bare earth
before we cut sharper uphill as the track deteriorated, through some clearings
in the woods.
This diversion brought us out on a road that traversed through the woods, and we
followed this (this was a road we had followed on our last visit). another break
in the snow came just before the track we would follow broke off to the left.
This track followed a stream coming down the slope on a steep ramp, which we
followed reaching a junction - last time we had taken the left branch, but this
time we continued up the stream as this was the one that had been more recently
used, and there were tracks to follow.
This track continued up the stream first on the left then crossing over on a
narrow snow bridge to the right. The trail was awkward as it wove in and out of
the trees on rock hard snow.
Eventually we broke out into a meadow above the trees, with views of the bowls
above us rising to the skyline. Crossing a line of barbwire and fence posts, we
continued across the bowls.
The choice of route here was difficult as we needed to climb to the skyline on
one of the concave slopes out of the bowls.
We cut over to the ridge on the right of the slope, just about getting some grip
from the skins on the snow which had become more slippy as the sun warmed the
surface. After a few slips I stopped and put on the ski crampons, and Bryon soon
followed suit (after an anxious moment where they needed adjustment).
Still climbing up the slope we reached a little hut on the edge of the ridge,
where things got more complex. We needed to climb up the steep slope above and
then traverse over to the left side of the slope.
Creeping gently across the slope on a rising traverse we eased gratefully over
the top and saw the summit beyond a further bowl.
We traversed around the bowl to retain height and started up the slope aiming
for the ridge to the top. More hard snow climbing brought us to the ridge and we
parked the skis.
Climbing the summit ridge on foot brought us to the top - a small narrow high
point.
A pause for photos and we retreated back to the skis for refreshment.
Skis on and we tackled the first bowl to see how it was - good - a slight powder
over a hard base with good grip.
Next up back down the big bowls to the meadow, with some superb skiing - a
little more powder over the same hard base. and before we could think about the
complexity of the ascent, we were back to the meadow above the trees.
Crossing the fence again we dropped down through the trees - very tight turns
beside the stream and between the trees. Not much room for error on this train
track, soon brought us back to the junction where we had made the earlier
decision on route.
Back to the road, and then along it flatly to where we could follow our ascent
route and drop down through a meadow and some more tress to the foot path.
Cutting the corner off between the foot path and the base path we soon dropped
back to our front door.
Leaving the kit to dry in the sun while we relaxed, thinking about the
compromise of hard snow ascents for excellent skiing later. Maybe if we had
ascended our route from 2013 and then descended the route from today it would
have made for the best of both?
