Another day of blue skies, and we had planned to revisit the Vennspitze, from
our visit in 2014. We were up early and away from the apartment before 8:00,
arriving at the high alpine village of Padaun much easier than last time that
was notorious for its icy hairpins on the approach road. All loaded and ready
before 9am, we set off up the track behind the house as per last time.
The track lead through some woods, on hard snow covered in pine debris, up to a
track, where we had to abandon the skis and carry then, as the track was bare in
long sections.
Along the track contouring the slope until a clearing on our left opened out,
and we could remount the skis and head up.
As we turned a corner and met the sun full on I suddenly could not find my
glasses - I know I had them at the car and assumed I had dropped them. So I
realised I had to go back, simpler on foot, and dropped the skis and set off
back down at double quick pace, surprising two groups of people coming up who
wondered what on earth was going on.
All the way back to the van checking the ground all the time to see if I had
dropped them on the way. Back at the van I got my spare pair out and took off
my jacket to prepare for the return, then realising my glasses were in a
pocket all the time
.... words cannot explain how I felt at that moment!
100m of ascent later and 15mins after leaving them I was panting and back up
with Bryon.
Continuing up the swath as it rose up to a turn where we could see the tops
appearing over the horizon - not the obvious one but hidden behind the trees.
Remaining within the swath on a slightly gentler slope up to a narrow exit in
the trees to the left, opening to a huge bowl .
The next section continued up this vast bowl until reaching the concave slope at
the end.
The ascent route takes a line up the left of the bowl before cutting back when
some trees crowd in on the slope. We were passed here by a couple steaming away
into the distance.
The top of the bowl opened to a huge high alpine meadow and rolling slopes. In
the distance we could see the final bowl and the summit ridge we would need to
follow.
We kept climbing up the meadows on a nearly direct line to the top bowl,
following the tracks of those in front.
The track zigzagged up the end of the bowl to the ridge line above, arriving at
a convenient break in the barbwire fence line.
From here we cut back over the slope on some more zigzags, since the ridge line
was a bit bare. We ended up back through another hole in the fence at a suitable
place and then followed the fence looking for a ski lager.
From here we would be on foot, up the mixed snow and grass to the summit block
of steep snow.
Photos at the top before we were joined by the first of the next party and time
to walk back down to the skis, and refreshment.
Skis on and we set off down the bowl - hard packed snow, slightly icy but as
long as you avoided the iced up crud, it was good skiing. I noticed here
that my GPS had stopped, then realised it was dead batteries, so zipped on down.
this next section was superb ... soft surface over hard base making great
skiing. We were soon down into the meadows area and I could change the
batteries.
Through the meadows on continuing great snow passing very fast onto the next
bowl. Looking back the sun was being reflected from the top bowl surface.
down the next bowl and into a long run down to the swath through the trees ...
the snow was softer here but the slightly less steep slope made this cruising
territory.
the swath was really just a mogul field - so much traffic had been through since
the last snow, and before long we were back at the "bare" track.
Instead of walking back down the track we realised most people had continued
through a field below - the only obstacle was a wooden bridge over a stream.
Then we were back in the village and walking back up the road to the van, Our
biggest height gain so far this trip and an extra 100m for my mistake, that I am
sure will be hard to live down.
