Overnight a violent wind had arrived that was battering the village every so
often, and combined with low cloud (again!) we decided that we should do a route
on a north facing slope and somewhere we could retreat if it became too much.
One of the other valley routes was up to a summit called Egger Berg (opposite
the village), a similar route to the one on day 3, however as it was north
facing so we hoped the snow would be lower down and make for a much shorter ski
carry.
The cloud was hanging around the, now usual, 2000m mark and this would take us
just over it after zigzagging up the side of the valley to the Trunahutte then
up a ridge to the summit. We set off directly from the apartment and walked down
to the local ski tow on the other side of the valley.
As we dropped down we noticed the amount the snow had decreased since our last
stroll down here several days ago (day 2). We could easily find the track just
past the ski area that led up the meadows to the edge of the forest.
This proved to be an optical illusion as the other side of the trees was another
meadow that we walked through further up the valley to reach the forest
properly.
We followed the metalled track as it traversed down the side of the valley
across horse fields.
Now on a track in the forest we walked up to a junction - our route took the
long way to the hut and the sign had a shorter one, however as this went through
the forest on a path we opted for the longer one on the track - in wonderful
hindsight this may have been a mistake and we should have just used the longer
one to come down.
We set off along the gravelled track as it zigzagged through the forest climbing
steadily with no real accumulation of snow to allow for the skis to be on our
feet. We did have some good views across the valley to Blaser and the village
below.
As we got higher the snow patches were more sustained, but there were still
clear areas that would hurt the skins so the skis stayed on our backs.
At around 1500m we decided there was enough snow to put the skis on, and we
continued up to a junction where the track divided - one way went across to the
Nosslachjoch and the ski area, whilst the other one went across to the
Trunahutte.
We could have taken either one, but the Nosslachjoch one had not been used
recently so we continued to the hutte. At this point it was obvious that the
track had been ploughed to clear it of snow and it became very bare in places,
and also it was not climbing anymore, just traversing the slope.. This would
cause more of an issue on the descent as it would make skiing down tricky.
At a large bend there were numerous ski tracks coming down through the tree
stumps, however we continued along the track using the rubbish at the edge to
make a track to ski along. We also started to get more and more gusts of wind
blowing down the mountain and could see the clouds above racing across.
Around a long left hand bend we came across why the track had been
ploughed and as we met a truck going the other way. A bit further along we
came to a huge feeding area for deer/ cattle etc. and the end of the prepared
track.
From here we followed a more usual forest trail as it continued around the
slope in the same gradient, until we reached a large meadow below the hut.
This was also where the other track up came out (and had been more popular
than ours, but as it was in the woods, it would be a nightmare to ski). It
seemed a good circuit to come up this track and walk down the way we had come
up.
We were the first for a few days to go further and made tracks up the hut above
the meadow going around one of the barns.
The route onward climbed very steeply above the hut and the track (un traced)
wound up the valley to Trunaalm. Whilst we were discussing how far to continue a
huge gust of wind blew all around, so we took to the shelter of the hut veranda
and had lunch.
There was a convenient bench beside the screwed shut doors in a dip sheltering
from the wind.
A pause for a "selfie" outside the hutte sign, and reading a plaque to a downed
Liberator aircraft on one of the last days of WWII, then readying for the
descent.
The skis transitioned for the descent - we had only about 150m height to descend
before we would have to walk, but it was across the meadow first. The surface
was very crusty and made a grab for our skis, however the slope was nice and
untracked (recently, although there were some marks under the surface).
By the bottom of the meadow we were definitely into breakable crust and had to
make effort turns, then dropped onto the track back to the feeding station. As
this was relatively flat a lot of poling was required that did not make it much
fun, and knowing the rest of the track to the junction would be little different
we took off the skis and put them onto our ruck sacs
A long walk down the track - first to the junction (this bit was very bare of
snow) then the top of the track down to the zigzags where there were some snow
patches but we walked through them passing where we had put the skis on on the
ascent.
Through the forest and out at the bottom into the top meadow looking down the
valley. From here it was past the ski area and its car park (we did have a
chat with someone who wanted to know where the snow line was as he was here for
the next few days touring!) then back up and through the village to the
apartment.
Down in the valley the wind seemed relatively tame although there was some
precipitation on the breeze. We did not make the summit today, however we did
walk our longest so far on this trip and we did achieve some skiing on a day
noticeable for the wind which had closed the tops of all the ski areas around
here
