Intermediate Ski Tour

Austria, February 2023

by Andy Smith

The Tuxer Alpen are a well-known venue for AAC(UK) tours, but this was a tour of firsts. It was Andrew Mills’ first tour as an Übungsleiter and for many of us a first ever hut-to-hut ski tour. I thought, “how exciting!”; Kate thought, “how will I ever sleep in a hut dorm?”

The tour outline promised ‘interesting, non-glaciated mountains with plenty of scope for doing something in most weather conditions’ and so it proved, although thankfully we weren’t overly tested by hostile conditions.

The Marmota Hostel in Innsbruck made for a cheap and cheerful rendezvous, with an evening briefing and kit check, before heading out next day to the nearby Patscherkofel slopes. This allowed some of us to become re-acquainted with skis, for a refresh on avalanche drills, and for Andrew to check we all passed muster for the adventure ahead. Happily we did!

On Monday, ‘Tony the taxi’ took us east to Innerst where, thanks to the weekend snow, we were able to skin to the Weidener Hütte (1799m), recently taken over by friendly, welcoming couple Michael and Becca. We settled in and had lunch before exploring higher up the valley. Next day we retraced our tracks up the valley and continued to the north summit of the Halslspitze (2574m). The ski back was splendid with fresh tracks much of the way.

Wednesday was the big day with a stream crossing, tricky route-finding through a very magical forest, a tasty ascent to the Krovenzjoch (2450m), a lovely ski into the Lizum valley and a steady ascent to the Lizumer Hütte (2019m). It certainly felt every bit of 1200m, a record day for most of us – made easier thanks to Steve’s great work breaking trail. The Lizumer Hütte is a larger hut, very well run by Tobias, Lukas and their team, with great food.

On Thursday, a slightly weary gang settled for an ascent northwest to the Mölser Scharte (2379m). On the descent less experienced skiers showed off newfound confidence as we enjoyed some lovely skiing on east-facing slopes.

The final day was expected to be pretty relaxed. It started with a steady ascent towards the Torspitze before turning into the Lizum valley for our rendezvous with Tony at Walchen Camp. Despite a sudden deterioration in visibility, we descended safely into the forest, however conditions were tricky and one of the group injured their knee in a fall. With an injured team member and a taxi to meet, we decided to split up with an advance the casualty down. Happily, trusty Tony waited for us, everyone made it down safely, and a super-efficient hospital visit revealed only a pulled muscle. But the episode did highlight how quickly circumstances can change!

Heart and soul clearly went into the planning of this successful and enjoyable week – big thanks to Andrew and deputy leader Leanne.

So how was sleeping in a ‘hut dorm’? As it happens Kate still doesn’t know because Andrew’s highly tuned organisational skills secured us a twin room in both huts.

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