Floppy Heel Skiing

While First-Mate was travelling for work, the Skipper set up a tent at the base of the small ski resort of La Bresse-Hohneck and spent four days practising telemark turns.

Finally it clicked in, and I can now call myself a free heel skier. But I am not putting away the alpine skis yet...

The Vosges on Nordic Touring Gear

First-Mate has been too busy at work to be able to do extended weekends, so we have been doing tours on the closest snowy hills we have: the Vosges. Alpine touring gear is a bit of an overkill for these (mostly) gentle hills, so we have been practising Nordic touring.
Last weekend we did a tour from the Col du Calvaire to Le Kastelberg.
The whole week was warm and rainy even on the tops and most of the snow vanished. We decided to give it a try anyway and were well rewarded: During the night from Friday to Saturday the heavy rain turned into a massive snow fall and on Saturday we had more snow than I have ever seen on the Vosges. It stayed cold as well, so the snow was beautifully powdery.

We started by the groomed tracks of the Route des Cretes. At the Col de La Schlucht, skins on and climb along the alpine skiing pistes. After a break at the Refuge des Trois Fours, we headed for the wilder part of the tour. That was when we entered the cloud and the visibility dropped to some 20 meters. Knowing the area well is a mixed blessing, because it means we didn't bother taking a GPS and tended to underestimate how quickly you can be disorientated in such conditions.
The short-cut we intended to take was impossible to find and we ended-up going by the longer and more arduous route via the Hohneck summit. Eventually we made it to the Ferme Auberge du Breitzhousen, our home for the night. Nice place, but not half as nice as the CAF hut of the Trois Fours (which was fully booked).
The return was nearly a replay in reverse: difficult navigation until the Col de La Schlucht and then easy going along the groomed tracks.

All in all great fun, excellent exercise, and a good preparation for a planned tour North of the Arctic Circle. Watch this space...

Opening of the Skiing Season

Somehow, Mekicevica's crew managed to survive the hard times between the sailing season and skiing season. This year we opened the latter with a trip to Zermatt/Cervinia over the Christmas and New year break.

It must be the most scenic ski resort we have ever visited.

The skiing is also great. Too bad that what once must have been a beautiful mountain village has been transformed into a sort of Disneyland for the super-rich.

In order to avoid the stiffling atmosphere (and the high prices) we stayed lower in the valley at the down-to-eart town of Taesch. This is where the staff of the restaurants of Zermatt live, almost all of them Portuguese. So I found out that the highest Portuguese town is not Guarda at they told me at school, it is Taesch! Come on guys, when are your kids going to get the first medal for Portugal in the Winter Olympics?