A welcome, but unexpectedly heavy dump of snow slowed the Lake District traffic to a gentle, sliding crawl. Getting to Grisedale seemed like a safe option so we went on a quick wintery horseshoe up to Great Rigg and down via Rydal Fell. Sadly, nobody could be bet into a double-pointer dip in Alcock Tarn.
The ridge is interesting but broken and generally very escapable, all qualities that attracted Dylan to it in the first place. An ideal venue for a quick Sunday scramble before heading back home.
Inaccurate forecasts turned our planned climbing trip into a weekend of wet ascents in the Carneddau. Never mind!
After our week of poor weather the clouds cleared for an incredible descent of untouched powder beneath blue skies. A great end to our first week of ski touring.
We had two nights at the Wiesbadenerhütte and another forecast of heavy cloud, snow and no visibility. To make the most of the day we skinned up the hill for an hour and spent the next three digging a large snow cave into the slope. It was a pretty incredible palace.
We began our traverse with a very challenging descent from the top of the Ischgl resort in a thick whiteout. Foolishly following two French guides for a short while, we eventually abandoned them and made our own way down to the hut (they later turned around and followed us!).
Day two was a pleasant skin up and over to the Jamtalhütte, stopping only to cut Steve's rental skins to size so that they fitted his skis correctly. Technical problems sorted, our third day took us up to the Ochsenscharte and down the descent to the Wiesbadenerhütte.
