December 30, 2005

I met Greg Louie at the Munich airport on December 29th at 8am. We rented a SEAT equipped with winter tires and a set of chains. Greg speaks German so the transaction was a piece of cake -- without him I would have resorted to using my hands and fingers. Keys in hand, and with a bit of route finding, we manage our way to the autobahn from the airport. We drove south to Niederthai (5085 ft.), a small village in the Tyrolian (or Tirolian) Alps. Here is where we will to stay with Michael and Corinne Trommsdorff's family for a week to visit and ski before venturing to the Chamonix area.

Once in Niederthai, our first impression was, "Wow, this is the real deal: a small village full of people who eat, drink, breath, and sleep skiing." In the off-season, Niederthai has population 280. The village is tucked up in the Alps and your car better sport good tires if you plan to visit in the winter. The inhabitants of the village are descendants of a handful of families, one of which is the Trommsdorff Family. In Niederthai, everybody knows everybody and everybody knows that the Chinese guys (Greg and I) are from out of town. Let's not even go there about how one of the Chinese guys skis on tele-gear...! Rando is king in these parts.

After meeting the family, we planned our first ski tour scheduled for the following day. The goal was to head up the Horlach Valley, which starts at the edge of the village (a 10-minute walk), and ski Hohe Wasserfalle, one of the many local favorites. To save an hour of skinning, Michael calls a friend who owns and operates a snowmobile shuttle service for a ride in the morning up the 6k access road. At 9am the six of us, including Michael's dad Peter, sister Marion, and aunt Gitta, boarded the "bus". About 5-inches of new snow fell overnight. The air temp was -24 degrees C! The ride on the gas-powered sled was fun, but cold.

It was clear and sunny when we started skinning and it felt warmer as we ascended, something like -20 degrees C in the shade. It was so cold that I didn't even sweat. I could tell that I didn't sweat because I only drank 8 oz. of water throughout the tour. The scenery was one of the most beautiful I've seen. As we gained elevation the Alps started to unfold. The view along blew my mind. The Alps are impressive; they are craggy; they seem endless, with ridges and peaks as far as the eye can see. It's a skier and climber's heaven. You could spend a month in just this valley alone and have something new to explore every day.

About two-thirds of the way up, I noticed from behind a skier hot on our tail. It was Florian, the local mountain goat. He started from Niederthai 15-minutes after we jumped on the sled. From Niederthai he skinned up the 6k road, hopped on our skin-track and caught up to us. The man is a robot.

By the time we reached 9000 ft. we were moving through at least 10-inches of new snow that fell the night before. The layer beneath was pretty fresh too, but there were signs of wind slabs and consolidated layers. After sticking my pole and poking around during the ascent, I was reminded of the snowpack in the Wasatch or the Selkirks. You know, the dry and cold snowpack where monster-like thingies live. For the most part, it was moderate terrain, up until we were about 500 ft. below the summit of Hohe Wasserfalle. We skinned up a bowl which topped out below two gullies that lead to the summit. Florian was breaking trail and initially decided to give the right gully a try to gain the summit, but after some thought we all agreed that the snow was in no condition for ascending. Instead, we dropped our skis and booted the remaining 200 ft. via the narrower left gully. It was a better choice.

There are crosses that mark the summits of most peaks in the region. Peter, Florian, Greg, Michael and I enjoyed an amazing view from the top. But it was bitter cold up there. Michael tried to sign the register with a pencil and it wouldn't write. The pens didn't work either, obviously. After a few photos, we post-holed back to our skis. The ski down was lovely, turn-after-turn through dry, knee-deep powder. This is a great place!

Back at the village we enjoyed an hour of sunlight on the porch before dinner. Michael warned me about the Niederthai water and of its magical powers. By 10pm I start to develop gas and it stays with me until I leave the valley.

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