Anything to do with adrenalin

Well. Its been a while. Ive completed my first ski tour, been up and down Uetliberg lots more times, bought a lovely little city bike affectionately called The Allegro and my thighs are about twice the size they were when I arrived here in January.

Its been an eventful few months to say the least. Between a work trip to California and moving into my new apartment, training has been squeezed in but not much else. However Ive managed to find a group of like minded souls in Zurich, all as enthusiastic about biking and skiing as I am so it looks like its going to be a busy and fun filled summer. We’ve already been to Gurten, one of Bern’s best kept secrets, a tram up to the top of a hill with a super fast downhill trail to the bottom. Full face helmets and body armour required as I ate dirt on the last run!

Ski Tour Engadine Report

My first experience of ski tour was great.I went with registered guide www.berie.ch, Hermann Berie, and a group of Germans, to Engadine and we set off from Pontresina, near St. Moritz and skied our way to Coaz mountain hut www.auf-die-berge.de/huettenbuch-chamannacoaz.htm at 2160 mtrs.
There was no stopping though!
From there we made our way up with the skins on our ski’s for about 3 hours hard work to summit El Capuchin with ice axes and crampons at 3,300mtrs. We then skied our way back down to the hut for the evening. I was pretty wrecked and the skiing conditions were very difficult , knee deep powder, every experienced skiers dream but not so easy if you aren’t so proficient. However, I made it.

The next day we did something similiar on the sister peak of El Capuchin, La Mounja and we skied down the glacier, that was pretty nerve wracking and steep in parts, with crevasses everywhere. The visibility wasn’t great either so it was difficult to guage where were were going were it not for our guide going first and showing us the route. I wouldn’t recommend doing any of this without a guide, unless you have lots and lots of mountain and glacier experience. Ropes and harnesses and the full avalanche rescue gear had to be worn at all times in case of an accident and you need to be pulled out of a crevasse.

The Valley and Glacier

When we got to the bottom, we had a 20km cross country ski ahead of us (see above) out of the valley, boy was it hard with those big skis, and awkward looking!

It was such an amazing experience. Tough going for a newbie skier and I wouldnt recommend it if you didn’t have a lot of skiing experience already. I think the Herman had the heli on standby for my rescue! I have vowed to return to it next year after this years little sample of how it can be, but not until Ive dont a freeride ski course and also the avalanche rescue course. The hut was remarkable, they get their food once a week from a heilcopter, to see their way of life was impressive, the view over the tips of the Alpes was spectacular and the quality of snow, well, say no more.

Davor (below) the fittest 56 year old man I’ve ever met.

But now, thats all over for me for 2009, Im back in the saddle and have already put down 14hours in the last 3 days. Tomorrow is another big ride and Ill be taking my camera with me so expect to see photos soon!