The first day of Will's visit to Salzburg coincided with a poor avalanche forecast. Rather than go out touring we headed up to the glacier at Kaprun to ski the gullies in a monstrous wind. We couldn't get too complacent however, as conditions in adjacent gullies would vary between perfect powder and horrendous windslab.
I'd want to do some self-rescue training for a long time, so Clay sorted us out with a guide for day to run through the fundamentals of escaping the system and rescuing hapless seconds. All Will needs to do now is learn to climb again!
Will, Clay, Steve and myself began our week of ski touring with a skin across to the base of the Mönch. The half metre of unconsolidated powder did little to deter us from making a start on the route... until around 40m up when we decided our vertical swim was a hopeless endeavour and we should retire to the hut to plan the rest of our week's touring.
On our bad weather day we decided to drive across the border to Finland and accidentally skinned 22km across a frozen lake.
The aim had been to visit the Treriksrøysa (or Treriksröset in Swedish) where Finland, Norway and Sweden meet. Driving into Finland we stopped at Kilpisjärvi and set off across the frozen ice. It turns out our downhill skimo kit was wholly inappropriate for a long, flat, icy skin and we arrived at the hut to bemuseds look from the Finnish locals. A fun day out none the less!
Steve took a day off so Will, Clay and I skinned the long approach through the winds in to Storvasstinden. The ridge gradually steepens until we dumped our skis and hiked the traverse towards the final summit. There was poor windslab on the slopes, confirmed by a quick pit, so we beat a retreat back down the mountain before the weather closed in.
Storgalten was a big drive from our lodge but the good skiing and stunning views from the north of the Lyngen peninsula made up for it. After a tiring skin up, Will and I skiied one of the steeper gullies on the face and popped out to meet the others lower down. Another day of perfect weather.
