Back to the roots: Ski tour in the Schmirn Valley/Tyrol

Actually, I did my last ski tour in 2017 and then retired from skiing: too weak the old bones, too little cartilage left in the knee, too often bad weather when I have time for a tour - and the snow anyway. 50 Shades of Shitty Snow - the dream powder somehow only exists in the advertising photos of the sports equipment manufacturers and not when I'm on the go.

During the Christmas holidays, the idea arose with my old school friend Brigitte to use my sabbatical half-year for a joint, long winter sports weekend - when else do I have the opportunity to come to the snow in March, when work is in full swing. Actually, we wanted to go snowshoeing and as a precaution take the touring skis with us, just like that, for emergencies. The date was planned long in advance, the holiday apartment in the Schmirn Valley already booked. What we couldn't foresee was the stable high-pressure area that has been hanging over Central Europe for two weeks and not only delights people in general with sunshine, but also skiers with an unusually low risk of avalanches.

These days, it is a matter of course for us to go skiing, directly from the house, as we have done so often together from a hut. The snow is hard frozen, -8°, according to the weather report. We are too lazy to put on the crampons and slide around quite a bit on the steep slope. But my body still knows how to do it, how to make kick turns and how to traverse hardeened flanks, when to flip up the climbing aid on the binding, and at what pace to go if you want to endure longer. I am very happy to experience this feeling again, this feeling of dissolving between the sun and the snow, of merging with nature to slowly, but steadily, approach the summit in a leisurely, even rhythm.

At the summit of the Rauhen Kopf, 2150m, we have a snack before crossing over to our second summit, the Hoher Napf, 2247m. The 7 well-trained Styrians who are spending a week touring here are already sitting in the summit sun of the Hoher Napf when we arrive, take off the skins, and switch the binding from ascent to descent. In the process, I lose a ski and it rushes downhill with the safety lock still folded in. The Styrians observe this and one of them immediately jumps up to get my ski, which we lose sight of about 50 vertical meters lower. He quickly gets to the bottom on foot near the group of trees and stops there: luckily my ski got caught there and was brought to a halt. He is back up shortly after and I somewhat embarrassedly accept my rescued ski.

We sit in the sun for a long time, chat a little more with the Styrians, and only leave when they are out of sight. I don't want to embarrass myself any further because of my long break from skiing and the uncertainty of whether I have to carry my skis down. Brigitte skis down in swift turns and waits patiently until I have worked my way down through the crust. Completely exhausted but just as happy, I arrive safely at the holiday apartment down below.

https://www.hikr.org/tour/post170370.html