During one of the epic all-day alpentours Hermi6 led us on in Austria a few weeks ago, Michael Huber (President of the Kitzbüheler Ski Club) lagged behind the group most of the day. This vaguely registered in my oxygen-starved brain as strange, because Michael is a world-class alpinist. But hey, whatever. I was concentrating on just not falling off the mountain. Turns out he was lagging behind purposely, because he was filming.
At the end of one of the best alpentouring days ever, Michael presented us with his "Director's Cut" of our alpentour of the Torhelm and the Katzenkopf, two of the highest peaks in the Kitzbühel Alps.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHmxPjZ34po
The 2011 ski season is, alas, over. Best ski season ever, for me. Watching this makes me want to click into my bindings and do the whole thing over again.
I'm the guy in the sand-colored pants and orange rucksack. Ted is wearing a tennis ball-colored wind jacket. Hermi6 is wearing a bright orange jacket, which he sometimes shed in favor of a blue windstopper jacket. The guy with the headband is Hans. The short guy is Gidi, a retired Kitzbühel professional ski guide.
After hiking up out of the ski resort of Zell Am Ziller, we summitted and skied both the Torhelm and the Katzenkopf, then skied a wild & crazy valley runout about 6 or 7 Km long through a bunch of farms, finally arriving at the end of a remote mountain road near a small alpine town called Kelchsau. Michael phoned back to the KSC, and somebody drove out to pick us up in a van. We were 5 or 6 towns over from where we started, and I don't know how many miles.
That's one of the cool things about alpentouring in Europe, as opposed to skiing in North America. In Austria, before you leave, you pack maps, topo maps, the train schedule, and the bus schedule, because you actually ski to someplace. In North America, you ski all day and wind up exactly where you started.
1 comment:
Spectacular! As I was watching, I caught myself pumping my legs as you were going down.
Thanks for sharing.
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