After a long, long period of bad weather and minimal snow, I went with some guys from the DAV to the Vorarlberg area. Excited for 4 days of sun, fun and powder! After some issues to find a proper parking space in the snobby village Lech/Zug we finally jumped on our skis and went on to the shelter at Ravensburger Hütte. We were following the track of the ski resort for a while, then we left the track and civilisation to dive into the real untouched mountain world.
On the 3 hour ascent to the shelter it started snowing and the visibility got worse. Good thing that my well experienced fellows didn't have any problems finding the right way.
Late in the afternoon, we arrived at the shelter. Soon afterwards, we started preparing dinner.
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| yummy Käsespätzle |
First morning, first tour! Overnight we got around 30cm of the finest powder you can imagine.
We already had pretty good snow conditions from heavy snowfalls during the past days, but this fresh fluffy overnight snow was the icing on the cake. The few leftover snow clouds disappeared until midday and the sun was shining the whole day.
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| no tracks, no lines, no human signs |
Our first tour was going to the Obere Grätlisgratspitze. The most critical point was the end of the valley around 100 meters below the summit. To reach the summit you have to get off your skis and climb the last meters through a gully. The slopes there were pretty steep and after analyzing the avalanche risk we decided to stop the tour at this point.
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| stability test and analyzing the snow layer |
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| point of return |
No peak experience today but this awesome slope was the stuff skimovies are made of. And so we decided to ride it twice.
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| just a dream |
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| all lines 100% made by us |
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| enjoying the sun after the tour |
Our 2nd tour on the 3rd day was going to the Grubenjochspitze. After a long accent through the "In der Eng" we reached a plateau at around 2500m.
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| wonderful untouched mountain world |
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| on the way to the plateau |
The last 150 meters to the summit looked quite hard. But this time, after long moment of thought we decided to try it. Our first route to attack the summit wasn't the best choice, the slope went almost vertical at the end.
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| first try - more than 45 degrees |
The next route we picked was a bit better and we passed the critical point carefully one by one. Almost at the summit, we set a ski depot and climbed further. From the ridge it was just a few meters to the top. But this short distance was extremely narrow and full of loose fresh snow. Hundreds of vertical meters on both side, we agreed that the risk wasn't worth it. Especially without rope and crampons. So our tour ended just a couple of meters below the summit.
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| view from our ski depot with our first try line |
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| on the ridge |
The descent was just as awesome. The weather was even better than the day before and the powder got blasted away under our smooth turns. A wonderful day came to an end with a lot sun on our bellies and big smiles on our faces. These two hidden backcountry gems are wonderful. High snow safety and few people made this trip an unforgettable experience. It's highly recommended to do this great tour only with safe conditions. We were lucky enough to have quite good conditions but we still weren't able to reach the summit.
