Ski Hochtour

by Sean McGachie

After signing up for a WELTbewegend “Ski Hochtour” course to improve my touring skills on glaciated terrain, I found myself in a car park in Gries, a small village high above Längenfeld in the Ötztal, meeting Robert Thaler our Austrian mountain guide.

Directions from the Alpenverein office in Vienna had been precise and the public transport from Innsbruck had run like clockwork, as you would expect in Austria. These ski courses are open to all members of the AAC(UK) with an appropriate level of ski touring experience and my group turned out to be an eclectic lot! Sektion Britannia is an English-speaking section with members from all over the world, and in fact only two of us were from the UK. Vadim is from Latvia; Alex is an American living in Portugal with his family; his university buddy Greg flew all the way from Texas; Mark is an Australian living with his family in Andorra; John hails from North Wales and I completed the group, traveling from the ski touring “Mecca” of Surrey.

Once we were all ready to ski, our bags were loaded onto a skidoo and transported ahead of us to the Amberger Hütte in the Stubaier Alpen, our accommodation for the week at 2100m. Ahead of us was a gentle two to three hours of skiing up a mountain track, a good opportunity to warm up the legs and chat to the other group members. On arrival at the hut we were allocated a room to ourselves, and Robert set out the (flexible) plans for the week, taking into account the forecast weather and snow conditions. The Amberger Hütte is a very comfortable refuge, owned and run by the German Alpenverein (DAV), providing excellent food and drink for breakfast and dinner with packed lunches made from the breakfast spread. It is not a hotel, however, and lots of mucking in to clear up was appreciated.

Next morning we had an intentionally slow start. Robert demonstrated what he carried in his pack, ensuring we all had the required safety equipment, transceiver, snow shovel, probe etc. and, most importantly, missing the scrum of other tourers heading uphill after breakfast. It was a relief to see the snow conditions were great for touring at this altitude because I had spent a few days near Innsbruck, looking to complete a couple of easy practice tours, but conditions lower down were very mild with a heavy and melting snowpack. Robert took us up the valley to see what the area had to offer, quite a lot as it turned out! Robert was a laid back and relaxed but very professional mountain guide, introducing us to new skills and checking the touring skills we already had. Each day, he built on the previous day’s skiing, challenging us to develop further as we skied higher onto the area’s glaciers. Ski touring in glaciated terrain presents more potential hazards than touring on non-glaciated terrain, mainly crevasses. We checked the snow depth on the glacier with our avalanche probes and found it to be over 2 metres, so this amount of snow greatly reduced the risk of a snow bridge collapsing into a crevasse. Extra safety equipment is essential when skiing on glaciers, over and above the afore-mentioned kit, and we all had light harnesses, slings, short lengths of cord for prussic loops, carabiners and snow screws. Team kit included the usual first aid kits and group shelters plus a couple of 50m ropes; learning to ski efficiently whilst roped up together was a highlight for me.

As forecast, heavy snow arrived midweek, providing a rest day of sorts, so we practised rope work and crevasse rescue techniques in and around the refuge. With 50cm of snow falling in 24 hours we had perfect powder snow to ski in but also a heightened avalanche risk rising from level 2 (moderate) to 4 (high). Robert went through the ÖAV Stop or Go decision-making strategy, which is an excellent step-by-step process to inform ski tourers whether they should, well, stop or go on tour. As an AAC(UK) ski tour leader I already was aware of and used this decisionmaking tool, but it was great to chat as a group about the objective risks and whether we could mitigate them by choosing safer routes or not go at all. The final two days were spent skiing up side valleys, paying close attention to the snow conditions and enjoying the powder on the way down. The last day was a great lesson on changing conditions and knowing when to turn around. The avalanche report suggested the risk had reduced to level 3 (considerable) and the visibility was excellent, so we were looking to take in a local peak at 3000m height. Incidentally, most avalanche incidents occur during a level 3 forecast for various reasons, chiefly because as it’s the middle of the scale, some tourers can think it’s safe to go, but it must be treated with great care. As we climbed, it was evident that the winds were much stronger higher up and there was a lot of wind-blown snow creating a windslab avalanche risk on the steeper slopes above us. Robert asked us to decide whether we should press on or not, and as a group we all decided, correctly in my view, to turn back and head for the hut and a welcome cold beer.

The AAC(UK) offers ski development courses in Austria each winter, aimed at people new to touring through to those ready for this “ski hochtour” course, so if you would like to develop your skills, learning to ski off piste or on glaciated terrain, I would recommend that you seriously consider one of these courses. You will not be disappointed, I promise! Thanks, as ever, go to the AAC(UK) office for organising this course and providing the individual grants to all of the group, which make it very affordable to attend.

Ski Hochtour pictures by Sean McGachie

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