Euro Day 4 — Run What You Brung

We’ll, the light wasn’t all bad. And even though I’d mistakenly brought someone else’s boots I could still ski (more on that below). The day started bluebird but became “inside the egg” toward the afternoon. Fritz had a plan to do three laps/peaks and rack up some fairly big vertical. We ended up doing two and a quarter but still got in about 6,000 vert of truly enjoyable boot top powder.

January 4 Austrian backcountry skiing. Fritz Barthel on Bärentalerköpfl, Kitzbuheler Alpen.

Last run, headed down to the Brennhutte for a brew.

After our first summit we took a climbing traverse in to a high valley. We had bluebird conditions for a while, then a sheet of clouds moved in and brought the white room.

Paolo Orlandi enjoys boot top powder of the Zillertal region, Austria. His turns enjoy an awesome accompaniment of verbal ski expressions.

Another day with zero avy danger, good snow and fine friends. Lou on top of Pallspitze.

Day's end found us again at the Brennhutte for snacks and a brew. I hadn't realized it, but the proprietress does part of her cooking on a wood burning stove (white appliance to left in kitchen.) Truly classic.

I pulled a rather humorous flub to begin the day. We pulled our boots out of the car, and I realized that back home I’d stuffed my boot liner’s in someone else’s Green Machines — shell a size too big. Luckily I still had my repair kit (yep, I still carry that along with my cell phone and shovel), so I pulled out my screw driver and adjusted my bindings for the longer boots. Problem was, my feat swam in the shoes like a minnow in an oil barrel. In these situations I always fall back on an adage I learned from Murray Cunningham of Aspen Powder Tours: “run what you brung.” In other words, no whining. The bigger boots made it, though I’m glad we weren’t skiing hardpack.

8 Responses to “Euro Day 4 — Run What You Brung”

1. KR January 6th, 2009 10:48 am

   I am envious, Austria is the goods! Happily, I’ll be there in a few weeks, leave me some snow!

2. matsch January 6th, 2009 1:59 pm

   hello lou,
   i’m from rosenheim near kufstein and the kitzbühler alpen are favorit ski-region but i don’t know where the “brennhütte” is.
   please tell me the town where i can find them.
   thank you very much and your webside is perfect.
   best regards matthias

3. Lou January 6th, 2009 2:52 pm

   HI Matsch, it’s in the Langer Grund about two kilometers north of Pallspitze, as shown on Kompass map number 28. Just a little place…

4. palic January 6th, 2009 4:29 pm

   Hi Lou,

   what about visiting also other countries and mountain ranges in Europe, not only Austria. 🙂 You can try Slovakia – High Tatras:
   skiing at the end of 2008 http://www.ho-vsetin.com/view.php?cisloclanku=2009010201 (article is in Czech, but there are a lot of photos to illustrate high-quality terrains)
   skiing at the end of 2007 http://www.ho-vsetin.com/view.php?cisloclanku=2008010101
   Info about this mountain range in English: http://www.summitpost.org/area/range/154185/high-tatra-vysoke-tatry-group.html
   Randonee skiing guide for High Tatras:
   http://climber.skialpfest.sk/z_mlynicka.php
   It is just “short” drive from Austria via CZ to Slovakia 🙂

   Best regards and great snow, and hopefully see you in near future here 🙂

5. Chase January 6th, 2009 6:03 pm

   Hey Lou,
   Looks like you’r having a great time. Gee, zero avy danger. Wonder what that’s
   like.

6. Lou January 7th, 2009 2:34 am

   Chase, to me, zero avy danger is as good as 2 feet of fresh. Fun and relaxing, no matter what the snow conditions are like.

   Palic, I tend to want to stay where skiing was invented (grin), but am planning on visiting some other places eventually. I end up here because of friends and the Dynafit press event held every year. Also, while I enjoy traveling I also like getting to know one place rather than flitting about — I’ve always been that way.

7. Bryce January 7th, 2009 8:47 am

   Re: wrong boots. Good to hear those things happen to someone else, too. I often end up at the trailhead with no gloves or no poles (the right tree branches work in a pinch). And speaking of ‘run what you brung’: once, back in my bootpacking days, a snowboarder friend of mine forgot his boots, hiked to the top of Alta in his Vans, then strapped them in and rode. Awesome.

   Thanks for the report.

8. Lou January 7th, 2009 9:20 am

   Ha! Vans? I thought they only worked on skateboards!