After the previous day's dump and limited sightlines, the next three days were forecast to be sunny combined with cold midwinter temps. The majority of European skiers don't go storm chasing like we do; they wait until the next day when it's clear, so when I went to the lift at 8:45 this morning, the parking lot across the street was already half full -- so much for my private ski area.
Having to share the t-bar with others felt odd after the day before:
My goal for today was to do the end-to-end circuit, so I brought out my 82-waist skis for the first time on this trip:
Still, there were bone dry sloppy seconds everywhere so I made a point of blasting through the leftovers early before the sun could start affecting the south-facing aspects:
People were really happy to be out on a bluebird day. These two were yodeling as they cruised by. I heard a lot of that today.
The two huge outcroppings in that ^^ pic are what this entire ski region is built around: Big Mythen is on the left and Little Mythen is on the right. In addition to being great for photo ops, they're useful for orientation if you momentarily lose your sense of direction. There's even a restaurant at the top of Big Mythen with a footpath up there that's really popular during the summer:
I spent the next two hours making my way across the ski area:
As you probably remember from my other Euro reports, there are often cows in nearby barns waiting for the snow to melt so they can be let loose on the mountains (the fragrant smell of manure is your frequent companion here). Here's a nice reminder to throw rubbish in cans -- the sign says: "I'd rather eat grass than garbage, thanks."
By 11:30, I made it to the far end of the ski area, Brunni-Haggenegg, with the two Mythens in the background:
At the top, I did a ten-minute uphill shuffle on this traverse:
To nail a short but nice line:
On the way back, I took one of only two gondolas in this entire region. This one has to be from the 1960s and holds a maximum of 15. Not an issue today but I suspect that lines develop on busy days:
Before/after pix from the previous day:
A bit further down:
Time for a lunch break:
My strategy for a cost-sensitive on-mountain meal on this entire trip has been soup with plenty of excellent bread, a big beer, followed by a piece of pie: $17
After lunch, I hit as much of the north-facing leftovers as I could. It was in beautiful shape and with my skinny skis, I was often thigh-deep, accompanied by plenty of face shots. Here's the top of one of those lines with a couple guys who also found it to their liking:
Having to share the t-bar with others felt odd after the day before:
My goal for today was to do the end-to-end circuit, so I brought out my 82-waist skis for the first time on this trip:
Still, there were bone dry sloppy seconds everywhere so I made a point of blasting through the leftovers early before the sun could start affecting the south-facing aspects:
People were really happy to be out on a bluebird day. These two were yodeling as they cruised by. I heard a lot of that today.
The two huge outcroppings in that ^^ pic are what this entire ski region is built around: Big Mythen is on the left and Little Mythen is on the right. In addition to being great for photo ops, they're useful for orientation if you momentarily lose your sense of direction. There's even a restaurant at the top of Big Mythen with a footpath up there that's really popular during the summer:
I spent the next two hours making my way across the ski area:
As you probably remember from my other Euro reports, there are often cows in nearby barns waiting for the snow to melt so they can be let loose on the mountains (the fragrant smell of manure is your frequent companion here). Here's a nice reminder to throw rubbish in cans -- the sign says: "I'd rather eat grass than garbage, thanks."
By 11:30, I made it to the far end of the ski area, Brunni-Haggenegg, with the two Mythens in the background:
At the top, I did a ten-minute uphill shuffle on this traverse:
To nail a short but nice line:
On the way back, I took one of only two gondolas in this entire region. This one has to be from the 1960s and holds a maximum of 15. Not an issue today but I suspect that lines develop on busy days:
Before/after pix from the previous day:
A bit further down:
Time for a lunch break:
My strategy for a cost-sensitive on-mountain meal on this entire trip has been soup with plenty of excellent bread, a big beer, followed by a piece of pie: $17
After lunch, I hit as much of the north-facing leftovers as I could. It was in beautiful shape and with my skinny skis, I was often thigh-deep, accompanied by plenty of face shots. Here's the top of one of those lines with a couple guys who also found it to their liking:
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