Übungsleiter Ski Hochtouren Lizumer Hütte 2015

By Gerry Kenny, Piotr Kupiszewski, John O'Connor, Maia Stoilova

We met our instructor Hervig Tobias at Fritzens / Wattens Bahnhof in the Austrian Tirol to begin to be a very enjoyable and information-packed 5 days. Then we headed up to the Lizumer H&’252;tte in a mini-bus driven by a very nice man who would subsequently donate his son's shoes to one of our party.

The Lizumer Hütte must be one of the best equipped and friendliest huts in the Alps. The Pächter welcomed us with bowls of Knödel-suppe and, as we were settling in to a comfortable afternoon, Hervig reminded us we were there for Übungsleiter Ski Hochtouren training and we found ourselves outside with skis and skins.

We began the first of our daily avalanche sessions; the Rutsch-block test. This would involve digging a very large hole and channels either side to ground level. Piotr bravely volunteered to stand on the block. As it turned out he had nothing to fear as not even the most determined jump with skis would disturb the snow pack. It took a ski-less jump from a metre or so above to cause the first layer to fracture and deliver Piotr into the large hole below. We continued our first tour together over Torjoch and around the Graue Wand and enjoyed a ski back to the hut. Allan Hartley was quite correct when he told us that Hervig liked to tour into the early evening. We sat down to the first of four very good evening meals to be followed by an informative lecture on the “Stop or Go” system.

Our second day took us again over the Torjoch and to the ridge just below the summit of Zintern where, seeing a steep untracked couloir and powder field below, we changed our plans and headed down towards Junsberg-alm-Hochleger. A nervy traverse below a steep south-facing slope in the mid-afternoon sun took us to Junsjoch. We stopped en route for some avalanche transceiver training and enjoyed some turns on the north-facing slope back to the hut.

The third day followed a familiar pattern but this time took us via Klammjoch, a small peak just north of the Klammer Schobert and a lovely firm descent to Klammalm. Stopping for an avalanche session, Hervig buried two transceivers and a third back pack and gave a very good performance of a panic stricken skier who had just lost three friends. Unfortunately we were too late for the third friend and, I suspect, the first two needed more medical attention than might have originally been necessary.

The weather turned against us on our fourth day and we fought our way up to Torspitze in poor visibility and driving wind-blown snow. The lectures from the previous evenings were given real relevance as the Triebschnee (wind slab) accumulated around our path. Our time on the peak was kept to a minimum and our efforts weren't rewarded with the best ski down. We warmed up with bowls of Knödelsuppe and began our avalanche session in the training area adjacent to the hut.

Our final morning brought the examination we had been preparing for over the previous four evenings. Perhaps fewer beers with dinner might have been more prudent but the days had sufficiently re-enforced the information we'd received in our evening lectures. Talk soon turned to the best route down to the Lager Walchen in the zero visibility snow storm that was raging outside

The participants would like to thank Sektion Britannia for a grant which covered the course fees.

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