Nach dem Durchgang mehrerer Warmfronten, kündigte sich mitte Dezember wieder einmal ein Powder Day mit viel Sonnenschein an. Von Niederrickenbach stiegen wir auf den Glatt Grat hoch. Diese Skitour ist weit herum bekannt und entsprechend oft überlaufen. Auf dem Glatt Grat entschieden wir uns nicht wie gewöhnlich über die sanften Nordhänge runterzufahren, sondern durch ein steiles Couloir südwärts. Oft ist der Schnee in diesem Couloir wegen der extremen Sonnenlage sehr schlecht, nicht so aber heute. Nach kurzer Abfahrt durch das Couloir erfolgte der Weiteraufstieg zum Brisen. Vom Gipfel fuhren wir durch besten Pulverschnee zum Alpboden. Dort stellten wir hoch erfreut fest, dass die Haldigrat-Sesselbahn läuft und nebst einem einzigen Snowboarder keine weiteren Skifahrer da waren. Folglich gab es nach der Skitour noch ein wenig Heliski-Feeling, einfach ohne Helikopter und viel günstiger! 

After a warm November, last week brought some heavy snowfalls in Engelberg valley. We received more than half a meter of snow, what was enough for good powder skiing. Of course, snow cover was still thin and you had to ski carefully. But with this week’s snow dump, great powder days will come with the next sunny day.

Bevor es auf zwei Brettern so richtig los geht, ging ich zusammen mit ein paar Freunden nach Sizilien, um den Herbst noch um ein paar warme Sonnentage zu verlängern. Beim Anflug auf Palermo bekommt man schon einen Vorgeschmack auf das riesige Felspotenzial auf Sizilien. Denn unmittelbar hinter dem Flughafen türmen sich mächtige Kalkstein-Felswände. Von zahlreichen Felsen übersät ist auch die nordwestlichste Ecke von Sizilien. Dort findet sich das Dorf San Vito lo Capo, welches sämtliche Ansprüche an einen perfekten Kletterurlaub erfüllt: bester, rauher Kalkfels, kurze Zustiege, umgeben vom Meer, italienische Küche, angenehmes Klima im Winter...

Before heading back to Switzerland, I travelled together with a friend from Santiago de Chile to Rio de Janeiro. On the way we stopped on different places to go rock climbing. First we climbed on granite rock at la Ola (Cordoba, Argentina). It’s a nice spot with short routes and short access. In the south of Brazil, we found some small crags close by the sea. The best climbing site we visited was Corupá, north of Jaguara do Sul. There you find really steep routes on conglomerate rocks. The last stop was Rio de Janeiro, which maybe offers one of the best city climbing in the world. You can find everything from boulders to long multi-pitches, surrounded by an impressive landscape. For Rio exist several climbing guide books. 

After the heliski season at Puma Lodge I stayed a couple of weeks in Santiago de Chile, where I went climbing at some nearby areas. The spots I visited were Las Chilcas, El Manzano in Cajon del Maipo, and El Arrayan, just outside the city. You can reach all three climbing sites easily using public transport. Las Chilcas offers great steep climbing on conglomerate rock. Unfortunately, it is a noisy spot, because it lies just beside the Panamericana. El Manzano in Cajon del Maipo has single and multi-pitch climbing. El Arrayan is great in hot weather and can be reached within 1 hour from the city center. 

Last week we took advantage of the great climate in the Chilean Andes. Tuesday we went for a bike trip in the lower part of the valley with warm temperatures. Two days later, we found boulders just outside Puma Lodge. The air humidity is low, so that the grip for rock climbing is fantastic and climbing in the sun is agreeable, especially in winter. On top, we opened some new ski lines in untouched valleys in perfect powder snow. All picture below were taken between July 24th to 29th, 2012.

After a rainy June, the austral season 2012 started with great snow conditions and blue sky. On our guide training days we also checked out some new lines. However, with every new line I ski, I’m discovering more and more lines. In our vast terrain, there are still some unskied valleys with impressive slopes left. With the clients and the two filming crews we welcome in August, we will go on exploring. I am looking forward to it!

Kaum war im Engelbergertal der Frühling eingekehrt, flog ich zusammen mit meinem Vater und seiner Lebenspartnerin nach Kuba, also quasi hinein in den Sommer. Bei meist schwülen 30° C bereisten wir die gesamte Insel von Ost nach West. Nach meinem vierwöchigen Sommerintermezzo ging meine Reise weiter nach Santiago de Chile, wo ich an einem nebligen, kalten Herbstmorgen aus dem Flieger stieg. Kurz später fuhr ich hoch zur Puma Lodge, wo ich bei täglichen Wanderungen durch Zypressenwälder den Herbst und die Aussicht auf die bereits verschneiten Andengipfeln geniesse. Morgen heisst es aber dann wieder Abschied nehmen vom Herbst, denn der Winter hält definitiv Einzug hier in den Zentralanden. In der kommenden Woche soll es in der Höhe bis zu 2 m Neuschnee geben. Die Heliski-Saison kann also starten.

Thanks to the well developed train and cable car system throughout Switzerland, you can reach the high mountains in the area of Zermatt and Saas Fee pretty soon. We took advantage of the good weather and snow conditions and climb on the first day the 4000 metre high peak Allalinhorn, just above Saas Fee. Skiing down the glacier we reached the mountain hut Britannia. On the next day we walked with skis to the almost 4200 metre high peak Strahlhorn, from where you can ski down to the ski area of Zermatt while the Matterhorn is dominating the view.

The last two weeks brought great skiing conditions. Two snowfalls with some sunny days in between allowed us to ski the famous freeride runs on Mount Titlis in Engelberg with Champaign powder – I would say the best of the season. Also the spectacular Titlis Rundtour spoilt us with perfect snow from the top down to the valley. These amazing skiing days where followed by another outstanding heliskiing day at Susten area, just south of Mount Titlis. With a group of Swedes and Norwegian we skied 6000 vertical meters in untouched terrain (see video). And the best is, that it is dumping again just now.

After 2 weeks without snowfall, my guests from Stockholm came to Switzerland looking forward to ski powder. To find that we decided to go to Val d’Anniviers, a mountainous valley with several small ski resorts like Griments, Zinal, Vercorin and St. Luc. The valley lies between the area of Verbier in the west and Zermatt in the east. Because Val d’Anniviers is not discovered by many freeriders, I was sure to find good powder after 2 weeks of sunshine. The pictures Magnus Strömfelt shot is the proof that we found what we all wanted: A lot of powder and sun!

After a snowy but warm January, the cold arrived at the Swiss Alps beginning of February. But fortunately this cold east wind brought beside the icy temperatures also a lot of humidity. The result was snowfall at really low temperatures up to 2000 meters. So in the lower parts in the Valley of Engelberg we received up to 30 cm of extremely dry powder. My Norwegian guests and I, we took advantage of this meteorological phenomena and skied for 4 days through Champagne powder in the lower part of Engelberg Valley. After 4 days skiing in little known ski areas some guests told me, that this ski trip was their best ever. 

Engelberg is well known as an outstanding freeride spot. Therefore it is hard to find unskied slopes even just after a snowfall, when you don’t know the area well. But if you don’t mind to put on the skins and walk for a while, you will find a long run in an impressive alpine scenery. Because you also have to climb to reach the entrance to this 1700 vertical meter run, you will often do the first line. That happend to me on January 11^th 2012, where we drew the first line in steep powder slopes.