 Poster: A snowHead
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Just thought a few from snowheads might be interested in this. I can't make it this year but am planning to go next year. I have no financial interest, just helping out those here and another fellow Englishman who also lives in Austria.
April 2004
Course Cost: 6 days £420
The Silvretta region of Austria is characterised by four large glacial basins with jagged peaks and rocky ridges that reach an average height of 3200m. The terrain is ideal enabling ski tourers and ski mountaineers to reach simple summits and ski long winding descents from easy to moderate angles. The hut system in the Silvrettas is second to none; all huts pride themselves on a warm and hospitable service with comfortable accommodation options.
Our tour is concentrated in the central Silvretta range, which is home to the peaks of the Jam spitze 3178m, Dreilander Spitze3197m that splits the border to Switzerland and the famous Piz Buin standing at 3312m. We will climb on skins to reach summits with awe-inspiring views and ski wide-open slopes to reside in the huts each night.
Each member must be competent in skiing off piste in a variety of snow conditions and enjoy a fitness challenge to cope with moderate ascents on skis. The climbing skills required are very basic and members may have never climbed or scrambled before. The techniques covered during the course will be touring/skiing techniques and basic mountaineering skills.
Programme:
Arrive St.Anton Saturday evening.
Day 1. Sunday - Begin in St.Anton getting ski legs back and working on technique for ski touring.
Day 2. Monday - Drive to the Silvrettas Valley - Use lifts in the morning in Ischgl or St.Anton working on ski touring techniques and engage in first tour or skidoo to gain our first hut.
Day 3 Tuesday - Day 6 Friday Ski touring - making a spectacular traverse of the 4 Glaciated bowls and valleys of the Silvrettas. We will be skiing and climbing classic peaks like Piz Buin, Dreilander Spitze where the summit splits Austria and Switzerland. We will sleep in Full Board Mountain huts located in spectacular locations on the glaciers.
Accommodation 3 days B&B 4 nights in the huts will be fully serviced from Monday until Thursday.
Price:
£420 per person.
Price includes:
Mountain Guide & instruction
Transport to and from Silvrettas from hotel accommodation
All climbing equipment (harness, crampons, rope, ice axe, shovel, avalanche transceiver)
Not included in price:
1 day lift pass 35euros per day
Accommodation in St.Anton valley 50 euros B&B max 3 nights
Touring ski hire (possible from sport shop in St.Anton) approx 100 Euros for week.
Half Board x 4 nights Alpine hut approx 35 Euro
For booking and further info please contact Graham Austick at graham@skimountaineering.com
Piste To Powder
Mountain Guiding St.Anton
www.skimountaineering.com
graham@skimountaineering.com
Tel: +43 (0) 664 174 6282
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Hmm, Sounds fantastic DB. I couldn't do it this year either. But would definitely be interested for '05. Its the kind of holiday I've been looking for for a while, but I never found anything.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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MarkP - great, maybe we can do it together next year. If any others are interested for this year or next year please post a note here as maybe a group of us could do it together.
Forgot to say, if you do contact Graham please mention DB @ Snowheads (it might help him to be more generous in donating to Snowheads).
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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I'd love to do it, but would have to learn how to ski off-piste first (I learnt on low, icy resorts, still can't ski powder properly, keep catching me edges).
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Hi Guys, I've also been thinking about doing some ski touring - not able to do this year due to other (skiing) commitments but definitely interested next year. In fact I'd already contacted another British Mountain Guide to get on his mailing list.
The skiing doesn't faze me but the climbing does - I've done some scrambling in Snowdonia but have not got much of a head for heights (rather bizarre for a skiier / hiker / mountain biker!).
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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DB - just got back from St Anton and had 3 great off-piste days with Tom, who is one of Graham's team. (My wife, a beginner to off piste also skied a couple of days with Graham and really enjoyed that too.)
We did two different routes to Zurs down from Valluga, but the best fun was deep deep deep and light powder down to Langen from the top of Albona above Stuben. Great fun through the trees there too.
Thanks for recommending Graham's company and I definatelt do so as well. I am looking to do some ski touring and might well go on the Silvretta trip.
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Red Dave,
I don't think the climbing is that heavy on this tour.
Tobes,
Glad you liked it. Had a few beers with Tom in the 'Underground on the Piste' he lives about 25 miles away from me but spends a lot of his time in St Anton and Cham. The Langen run, is that the one with the yellow building at the end or the one with the red tape and short drop down to the hut or another?
How difficult was Valluga? It's escaped me for the last two years with bad vis' or avie danger.
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DB,
The Valluga looks worse than it is from the top. One of our group (for fun) measured the angle as 35 degrees with a snazzy gauge thingy - (Americans do like their gizmos...). 35 deg is not seriously steep - I guess that's a decent black run gradient - the problem is that you don't want to fall at certain points because of the risk of sliding over a dangerous cliff, hence we side slipped diagonally down the first bit with a couple of turns taken gingerly... After that, the run is safe because if you fall you're not going to come to any harm. Presumably the risk is worse if the snow is hard and icy, but when we did it there was still soft snow. The guide points out where to ski to avoid a potentially fatal slide if you were to fall, so it's not dangerous if vis and snow conditions are OK. The run opens out nicely to give some great skiing down towards Zurs, but we found the powder there was a little bit wind packed, in contrast to the Langen run where the snow was perfect.
The Langen run we did ended up at the big yellow building which was apparantly used to house the workers who built the rail tunnel nearby. You need a taxi from there to get back to the lifts (or the 'Underground on the Piste' as we did...) I was amazed at how deep (and light) the snow was there considering we didn't have much new snow at St Anton last week. I think that valley has its own micro climate or something.
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