My time in the alps has drawn to a quick close (I am in budapest right now), but my season did not end without one of the most memorable touring trips I have ever been on. The weather in the Arlberg, and the rest of the alps for that matter, had been unseasonably warm, and with the melting snow came a melting desire to ski. I was sitting on the terrace of a local bar wearing my flip flops when a friend came up and invited me to go to silvretta to do some mountaineering/ touring. Not only did I not know where Silvretta is (it's on the border of Switzerland and Austria) but I also did not have any form of mountaineering gear with me. After a quick and drunken scramble I managed to round up a rope, harness, some prussicks, beaners, crampons, axes and pretty much everything else needed, so the tour was on.
We were dreading the walk in. At twelve pretty flat kilometers to the glacier we knew that the first day would pretty much be a right off. Then our saviours appeared: a couple ugly Austrians wearing one piece fartbags with neolthic touring gear. Our token Austrian spoke to them and they informed us that they had a sled pick up arriving in 15 minutes and that it would cost 15 euro. Sold.
http://www.biglines.com/photos/blpic38145.jpg
With the saved energy we arrived to the hut feeling pretty ambitious. The view up the valley from the hut was absolutely tremendous: Left to right you can see the three peaks we climbed the first day. Hintere Jamspitze, Jamspitze and Dreilanderspitze (it's on the border of Switzerland, and the Austrian provinces of Vorarlberg and Tirol). Each peak was over 3100m
http://www.biglines.com/photos/blpic38140.jpg
The face on Jamspitze looks pretty tasty, but unfortunately we did not ski it because we are pussies and the snow was crusty.
Summit view from Jamspitze towards Dreilanderspitze and Piz Buin
http://www.biglines.com/photos/blpic38134.jpg
On top of Hintere Jamspitze
http://www.biglines.com/photos/blpic38138.jpg
After easy scrambles up the Jamsptize's we made our way over the col to Dreilanderspitze. This route was a bit more technical and airy so we opted to rope up.
The drop off the summit ridge:
http://www.biglines.com/photos/blpic38141.jpg
The final push to the cross:
http://www.biglines.com/photos/blpic38135.jpg
The border. Imagine it. i peed in three states.
http://www.biglines.com/photos/blpic38131.jpg
We skied down for the evening to a hut at 2400m that was rammed with 200 drunk Austrians drinking Shnapps. Slept like a baby.
Sunrise looking towards Piz Buin.
http://www.biglines.com/photos/blpic38146.jpg
The following morning we ascended what I think was the Silvretta glacier to climb the most famous mountain in the region, Piz Buin which has an elevation of 3312m. We thought we were being cheeky by getting a 6am start, but about 80 (no joke) people had left ahead of us. I guess that's the nature of touring the classics in the alps.
The Seracs on the ascent
http://www.biglines.com/photos/blpic38143.jpg
http://www.biglines.com/photos/blpic38139.jpg
The highway to the summit
http://www.biglines.com/photos/blpic38132.jpg
Unfortunately I didn't upload any summit photos, but it was pretty.
On the decent we managed to ski a decent couloir with terrible snow to save us about 500m of climbing. We all skied it like punters, so i didn't take any shots
looking into the belly of the beast
http://www.biglines.com/photos/blpic38133.jpg
climbing back to austria (couloir comes out in the background and the peak is Piz Buin)
http://www.biglines.com/photos/blpic38147.jpg
and finally the long walk home
http://www.biglines.com/photos/blpic38148.jpg
That wrapped up my season, but I hope the rest of you are still slaying it wherever you are.
