A few weeks ago I finally got my new (and first) ski touring skis...so the need to try them properly has been there since. Last weekend I was out with the SAC but due to the bad weather we did not ski that much. For this weekend the weather forecast looked really nice, especially in the centre of Switzerland. The choice of the tour went on the Leckihorn, a just above 3000 (3068m) peak above the valley of Realp. Plan is the following. Leave straight after work on Firday, ski a bit uphill and find a nice place to camp with a tent. Start then early in the morning, leaving all the camping stuff buried somewhere and then go up and down in a single day. Sounds good...off we go!
We arrive in Realp at 19:00 on Friday evening. To our surprise an almost full moon is shining really bright in the ski, and thanks to the reflection of all the white snow, we don't even have to turn the head lights on. The path follows the river on the right hand side (seen from Realp) until a small wooden bridge. The bridge is right under another bridge, which is the one of the road leading to the furka pass, now obviously closed. The paths is relatively wide and it winds up the hill until a few alps (typical houses/farms in the swiss mountains). Close to one of those we decide to put up camp. In a short time the tent is set and the cooking is on going. Once we stop moving and start eating the cold starts to pick up. One thermometer we have with us signs -17°C, but it probably a couple of degrees off. Still pretty cold. Views from the camp are amazing. Thanks to the moon we can see the full valley and right in the middle the few lights of Realp shine like candles. Really, really beautiful.
Morning after the alarm goes off at 5:30. Due to some issues with frozen stuff, especially contact lenses, we end up being able to set off only at 7:00. Not too bad. We see some lights walking up the path and we realize there must be other ski tourers coming up. Skiing up is a real pleasure. The tips of the mountains getting the first sun light and slowly turning from blue, to orange and then to white.
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| Short after sunrise |
From time to time it is cold, and the stops are kept down to a minimum. Soon we are overtaken by two ski tourers and then by a group of people all with the dynafit ski set, and racing binding. Even though I'm tempted, there is no point in trying to keep up with them :). The path up is even marked at the beginning, where a sing distinguishes between winter and summer path. Nice one. We follow the Witenwasserental until we reach Oberstafel (ski route 90). Then we turn right following the route 970b aiming to the Rotondo hütte.
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| The sun starts hitting the valley |
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| My new skis |
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| The hut is there! |
Until now the path has never been really steep, but the short section before the Rotondo hut is quite steep...and coupling this with the fact that the sun finally started shining on us, it got quite hot. Once we reach the hut two of the guys we met in the morning tell us that inside they offer a really nice cake. So, why not. We are not in a rush (or at least we still don't think we are in a rush) so we stop at the hut to get something to eat. Something...I should say, a lot! The piece of cake we are presented with is absolutely massive, really, never seen such a big piece of cake. But for sure we are hungry and we don't complain :). After 20 minutes of break we start again heading to the Leckipass.
My ski touring colleague was walking up with the snowshoes and he was walking in the ski tourer track, after me. Naturally, this was a bomb waiting to explode and in fact it did. Soon after leaving the hut we are overtaken by two ski tourers and one of them starts complaining a lot about the fact that my friend is "destroying" the ski tracks with the snowshoes. Come on man, you are outdoor and in the wilderness...if you expect to come out here and to find a nicely prepared track for you, then you have probably chosen the wrong sport. I agree that the nice "rails" created by skiers are a bit broken be the snowshoes. But anyway, the snowshoes don't sink a lot because the track is already quite compacted. Moreover,you (the ski tourer) did not pay for the tracks so please DO NOT complain. Also, the snowshoer is even carrying the snowboard on his back, so he is making a bigger effort than you. How could you ask him to make his own new tracks in the fresh snow? Why don't you go and make your own track, lazy skier?? I've to admit we get a bit fired up discussing with this guy...I would not expect to meet such people in the mountain. Anyway, we switch in such a way that I walk after the snowshoes and try to re-set the ski track.
Soon the terrain gets steeper and we (well, I) have to start doing more and more kick turns. We finally reach the Leckipass and we get a nice view on the glacier underneath...it looks like a perfect run. But we still have a job to do, the summit is not yet conquered. A few more kick turns and we reach the so called ski depot. Crampons take the place of the skis, rucksack are left together with the ski, and we start walking up. In a really short time we finally reach the summit. OK, to be fair we only reach the cross, the summit is a couple of meters higher. It would be possible to reach the summit, but it looks a bit sketchy and without a rope we don't dare attempting it...as nobody else did.
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| The real summit...not so nice without rope |
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| The absolutely perfect glacier |
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| Pizzo Rotondo |
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| Somewhere in the distance the Finsteraarhorn |
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| View from to summit down on the ski depot |
Views from the summit are amazing. From the Weisshorn to the Finsteraarhorn, and of course the much closer PIzzo Rotondo. A few pictures and there we go. Back to the ski depot the ski come back on, boots in ski mode and the descent starts. The glacier is the absolute total perfection. Not so steep, powder snow and basically no tracks at all. However, the fun does not last that long. We ski down along the 980a route. The plan is then to go up again to catch the 980c route which will then bring us to the place where we left the tent, which is somewhere close to Laubgädem. Problem is that nobody has been on this route before us. So we have to make the fresh tracks all the way up (just below 400m). It's not that much but the legs are already tired and the uphill in the fresh and soft snow it's not really easy.
Once we reach what we think is the top we take the skins off and start skiing. Unfortunately the terrain becomes basically flat or gently going up and down. We end up literally dragging ourself for good two hours until we can finally meet the proper route (lots of ski tracks). We even meet a couple of relatively old people that where following us from the glacier. They assumed that we knew the route...:). Well, in fact we did know it, but we just took it from a bit lower than we should have and therefore we had to contour along on flat until we reached the route again. At this point the sun was already gone for a while and it start becoming dark. In the end we reach the camping spot with the head torches on since it was completely dark. 5 minutes to put all the stuff back in the rucksack and we sky down the road in the complete dark, with the head torch. Finally, and I really mean it, finally, we reach the town after a 12 hours ski tour.
What a day! I did not really enjoy the part in which I had to drag myself along, that is true. But that is the so called category 2 fun. Looking back at it, it was nice, but avoiding that flat section would have been much better. Still, a very very good workout. My intentions of going skiing (on piste) the next day vanished very quickly...and I spent a relaxing day at home :).
