January 2021 throw back! Documenting this ski tour to assist in planning of future mountain adventures.

Route

Moving photos to my new NAS storage solution I found this ski tour I never wrote up. Shame because it was a great tour I remember fondly.

cold day

I remember bitter cold leaving the Laberbahn Parkplatz. Put every warm item with me. Leggings, fleece, puffy, hat, buff, and hood.

morning

After some time headed up hill took the puffy off. It slowly warmed up.

map

On this map you can see Ettal Mantle which we recently climbed for a second time. Post here.

The trail up must of been a popular route. Tracked up and icy.

ice

As usual we found a way to spice it up taking a smaller path into the woods.

woods

are you sure it is this way?

Eventually we rejoined the main trail and headed up into the valley just bellow Ettal Mantle. Cool to see it from this side. Someday I’d like to plan a climb or ski tour starting on one side and finishing on the other.

under the mantle

almost to the top

At some point staying in skies no longer made sense so we switch to hiking up the stair case. Then onto the ridge.

hike

top

At the top is Berggasthof auf dem Laber. Which if you are down for even more adventure sports a take off spot for hang gliders and paragliders. Not for me!

take off spot

The main decent you can see on the map and read about in the books leaves directly from the summit down the south face. From the top we could see it was steep but possible with good snow.

mt couple

I hiked below the bahn in search of the best descent but the snow was not looking great. It had crystallized into a grainy plover that slid very easily.

Decided to ride off the ridge to test the face a bit. The result? No Go.

no go

Instead we doubled back ~100m to the area above the stairs and started our descent there. More wooded and firmer snow make for a great ride.

our run

“Keep your speed!” I yelled shooting down the last of the slope onto a flatter section along a fence.

masha finishing top section

Turned out to be a great run and the flat area, likely a pasture in summer, was beautiful.

fun in the snow

end of the day

Would strongly recommend this route. Especially the exact path we took, even if the main face is skiable. Hope to see you in the alps this winter.