First real day in Austria this trip, and as has become the norm for us we
headed to a route that bordered on a ski area so the descent would not be an
epic. The local area to our apartment was up the hill behind -
kellerjochbergbahn... This was a small area with one main chair lift and
a couple of T- bars (only the bottom one working today), however it is part of
the greater Innsbruck local tours and participates in the nightly tour cycle
around all the small stations.
We had made an initial expedition up there to explore the possibilities
yesterday and found a large carpark and several others along the access road -
all with payment machines. So the plan for today was to follow the ski areas
tour route from their car park (10 Euros) up to the top station then keep going
to the peak beyond.
We arrived at the car park just before 9am and found a number of cars already
there and most of them seemed to be setting off to do exactly what we were
looking for. So we got ready and made our way up to the edge of the piste,
initially in the shade heading towards the sunny bits above..
The piste was pristine, ploughed and covered in little ripples from the
piste bashers. It was also hard as iron having come through a freezing
overnight.
Up the edge of the blue slope as it curved away to the left, then back around to
the more direct line to the top.
Things got a little steeper on the left hand side so we crossed over as the blue
curved back to meet the red, even cutting the corner off to pick up the red
early. The temperature was hotting up as we climbed in full sun now
We did not know it at the time but the top was peeking behind the trees at the
side as we continued up the piste.
We crossed under the chairlift and curved around the other way to earlier.
Now we were climbing directly towards the little summit (and the top station
with associated restaurant etc. below it).
Passing the buildings we continued up the slope - it looked very steep standing
at the bottom, however as we started climbing it was no worse than we had
already ascended. Cutting a zigzag up the slope to make life easier (and also
keep off the direct line that had been "prepared" - presumably for the piste
bashers to harvest the snow as well as help passing trade.
The top was marked by a weather station and large cross, and we left the skis
just below and climbed up for the panorama. Behind was the Kellerjoch itself
(with a hut on the shoulder) which could be another route on a different day -
but there would probably be some walking involved.
We were joined at the top by two parties of women (most of the people we
met today were women - must be the way they meet for lunch here!
After a snack and take in the view we stripped the skis ready for descent, and
set of down. It was just after 11am and the snow at 2000m was beginning to
transform from hard ice.
As we dropped down and met the piste, things got softer - still pleasant skiing,
but it would not be for long.
The big wide empty pistes with good snow offered the opportunity to drop down
really quickly and before very long we were back at the car park.
We stayed for a while drying everything off in the sun, before paying our 10
euro and leaving.
As we were so early to finish we decided to drive around the other side of the
hill and explore Hochfugen. A drive up to the ski area find all the details
and back to the apartment for snacks and drinks.
