Engelberg valley –Central Switzerland
It’s dark. With the skis strapped on our backs, we are walking on an icy road . There are some lights , but they seem so far away .No idea for how much longer we have to continue.
My Garmin watch shows 1,082 m altitude. We just just skied , climbed , rappelled , skinned up and skied more down more for the last 8 hours.
An hour later we reached a barrier, and behind it -the lights of Alessandro’s van . The 9 of us somehow squeezed in the 7 passengers van and drove to the Sporthotel Eienwäldli.
The pizza could have not tasted any better. Carlo said to me -“We almost pushed it to the limit”
The Titlis Round Trip just ended .Â
It is considered one of the most attractive ski tours in the Engelberg area .It starts on Mt. Klein Titlis, at 3,035 m . After skiing down over glacial terrain , we put on crampons , roped up and climbed over the exposed ridge , or “Messerâ€(sword edge in German).Â
The first crux was an 80 meters rappel with skis on backwards through a narrow and steep couloir,(45 degrees ) which had an abrupt turn , and this was followed by some more downhill skiing to the second rappel point.Â
After that came a two and a half hours ascent for a gain of 608 m’ on the south side of Mt. Titlis up to the Grassen bivouac.Â
On the north face we skied down -initially with great snow conditions which eventually turned into icy conditions. We had to cross over blocks of ice from previous avalanches, and finally we bootpacked down, crossing a river back and forth , and walking on
narrow mountain trail with our phone light guiding us,
Due to those conditions the trip that normally takes 7 hours need up being 9 hours long.Â
We descended 2,530 m. For those who dont ski-this is a lot of descent.
We stayed in Engelebrg for 3 days, and had more ski touring , but not all days were so intense.
Engelberg is home to Mt Titlis, , which at 3, 238m is the highest one in central Switzerland. It’s accessed by a rotating gondola, one of the first in Europe . I actually visited this place in 1975 with my parents.
From there we continued for 3 days to Andermatt , close to the Gotthard tunnel.
It has the largest ski area in central Switzerland .We stayed at the very comfortable Radisson Hotel .
The town is located in a valley . On one side there are lots of ski lifts and runs, and on there side -Gemmstock .It’s considered one of the best free riding areas in the world.Â
After the second gondola we found ourselves at 2,961 m . With a short traverse , we had 2 uninterrupted 1,500 m’ each vertical descents , -in different areas – through untouched powder -and had the mountain all to ourselves.Â
The trip was guided by Carlo and Alessandro, who picked us up and dropped us at Malpensa .
What was unique about this trip was that we had no idea where we going when we purchased months ago our tickets to Milan . Our guides waited ’till the last moment to find the location with the best snow.
Unfortunately Lou had a fall which caused injury to his shoulder and.Rob strained his back .But they stayed ’till the end .
For me , it’s a memorable trip . An awesome ski touring experience that encompassed all mountaineering skills , and the longest descents in untouched powder, with no other people around – rivaling Heliskiing .
The team :Lou, Joe, Ed, Rob, Garret, Jeff and myself .
BAM!!!
