Today we had a most eventful day with some of the worst and some of the best skiing of the week. It started in Andermatt…
For the last three days we have been staying at a small hotel in Andermatt, Schwarze Bären hotel, it is very good value, has super friendly and helpful personnel and they have an excellent breakfast. As we were sipping the morning coffee the wind was picking up outside. The visibility was bad and it was snowing. Just as they had predicted. Not exactly the dream condition for on sight guiding. I had already decided to go to Disentis, a small ski system 1 hour away. I normally follow my gut feeling and it has proven to be quite reliable. For some reason it told me this day was going to be good and it gave me some comfort despite the bad lookout.
It was quite interesting to get to Disentis. We had to take a car train over Oberalppass that looked like it was built before the 2nd world war. It was a long ride so there was a separate wagon for the passengers. We were the only ones on the train. Its simplicity gave an unreal but nice feel. You could open the back door that leads out to the cars! Just like in the movies and the toilets was just a hole down to the railroad track.
When we arrived in Disentis the visibility was even worse. There are supposed to be good tree skiing in this area but I could see that this was not the case today. We went up and to check it out and sure enough, it was dust on icy moguls. “Well, I guess we can only try to make the best of it” I thought to myself and went to the very top. When we got up higher the visibility was better and I decide to try a valley that runs all the way to bottom. Even though the light was flat the snow was fantastic. One of the best things about Disentis is that there is no competition for the off-piste and after that run I knew we were going to have a great day.
After lunch the clouds lifted and uncovered the blue sky. We looped a few times around the top and spooned out all north faces we could get our hand on.
The last run was one of the best run of the week. When we came to the first big bowl of the run I spotted a long pitch with perfect north facing aspect. I told the group “stay close and try to keep up”. The pitch just kept going and when I finally stopped and turned around they were all right behind with big wide grins on their faces. “This was the longest and fastest flowy pitch I have ever done” Henrik exclaimed. To be able to give people experiences like that really makes the guiding job one of the best jobs in the world. They all got their ski legs after 7 days on skis so we did the rest of the run in big long swiping pitches.
A run worthy to finish a great ski week. I had a lot of fun, thanks for good; company, story’s, food, laughter, skiing, beers, and wines.
See you soon in Norway
For the last three days we have been staying at a small hotel in Andermatt, Schwarze Bären hotel, it is very good value, has super friendly and helpful personnel and they have an excellent breakfast. As we were sipping the morning coffee the wind was picking up outside. The visibility was bad and it was snowing. Just as they had predicted. Not exactly the dream condition for on sight guiding. I had already decided to go to Disentis, a small ski system 1 hour away. I normally follow my gut feeling and it has proven to be quite reliable. For some reason it told me this day was going to be good and it gave me some comfort despite the bad lookout.
It was quite interesting to get to Disentis. We had to take a car train over Oberalppass that looked like it was built before the 2nd world war. It was a long ride so there was a separate wagon for the passengers. We were the only ones on the train. Its simplicity gave an unreal but nice feel. You could open the back door that leads out to the cars! Just like in the movies and the toilets was just a hole down to the railroad track.
When we arrived in Disentis the visibility was even worse. There are supposed to be good tree skiing in this area but I could see that this was not the case today. We went up and to check it out and sure enough, it was dust on icy moguls. “Well, I guess we can only try to make the best of it” I thought to myself and went to the very top. When we got up higher the visibility was better and I decide to try a valley that runs all the way to bottom. Even though the light was flat the snow was fantastic. One of the best things about Disentis is that there is no competition for the off-piste and after that run I knew we were going to have a great day.
After lunch the clouds lifted and uncovered the blue sky. We looped a few times around the top and spooned out all north faces we could get our hand on.
The last run was one of the best run of the week. When we came to the first big bowl of the run I spotted a long pitch with perfect north facing aspect. I told the group “stay close and try to keep up”. The pitch just kept going and when I finally stopped and turned around they were all right behind with big wide grins on their faces. “This was the longest and fastest flowy pitch I have ever done” Henrik exclaimed. To be able to give people experiences like that really makes the guiding job one of the best jobs in the world. They all got their ski legs after 7 days on skis so we did the rest of the run in big long swiping pitches.
A run worthy to finish a great ski week. I had a lot of fun, thanks for good; company, story’s, food, laughter, skiing, beers, and wines.
See you soon in Norway
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