Well the weather’s gone from being mild and melting to the opposite end of the spectrum – freezing cold. The past few days has been great with a little new snow and some great skiing around Schladming and the Dachstein Glacier.
The Dachstien was one of the main reasons we wanted to come to this region of Austria. It has some great skiing at quite a high altitude (for Austria) and lots of possibilities for off piste runs away from the lift.
We had a little low level ski tour on Christmas day and then on boxing day we headed up the Dachstein lift with Andy and Lorraine for some extremely cold skiing. The temperature gauge outside the lift was minus 21 and the wind was blowing around 30kph which on my reckoning gave a temperature of about minus 40 with the wind chill.
We had a couple of runs and then a nice off piste run all the way back down to valley level before a quick break for lunch in the cafe at the top of the lift (mainly to warm up a bit)
Andy and I then headed out for some more skiing, the first time I’ve had to use hand warmers in my gloves for a long time! We finished off with another run down to the valley, getting fresh track nearly all the way. Towards the end we were literally the only two skiers in the whole resort, which gives a good indication of how cold it was.
The off piste ski down to the valley below the lift station is well over 1000m so by the end of the day the legs were feeling it a bit, but the ski down through the alpine meadows was so good it was worth it.
Today the van is packed once again and we are leaving Austria for France. Chatel and Chamonix are on the list for some more skiing, fingers crossed for more snow.
Andy Leivers on Christmas day, touring in the woods
Andy starting another off piste run underneath the lift
Climbing the ladders, then through the tunnel to access the best off piste run.
Lorraine and Andy on the short traverse after the tunnel. The fresh tracks are ust around the next corner!
