Winter Whirlwind

The time between now and my last post has been packed. Mostly skiing related. I got certified as an Austrian ski instructor after I finished a two week course, I started working as a ski instructor at a nearby Salzburg ski area, guided an Alpinverein ski touring group for five days in south western Carinthia and was also able to get in a few days of ice climbing.

Looking at my calender, there have been only three days in the past month or so that I didn't have skis on my feet or ice tools in my hands.

I'll be writing about some of the activities and experiences shortly.

Early Winter Snow & Ice Conditions

Since mid-November I have been ice climbing (searching) and skiing a number of times. The ice was coming in nicely until four days ago when strong Föhn winds hit and messed things up.

One week ago in the Gastein valley I looked around at a few falls. Ice was there, but it was really thin. Additionally, the forecast Föhn weather was already in effect in the valley, so there was water running between the ice and rock and the ice was not always well adhered. It made for some nerve racking climbing; very smooth delicate movements.

Snow conditions (amounts) are much better in comparison to the ice conditions. In the Tauern regions there is about a meter to 120cm of snow. It has gone through a cycle of changeable temps and humidity levels, with some sunny spells, so the snow pack is stable and settled. There seems to be enough snow for touring above 1400 - 1500m with passable amounts lower down between 800 - 1200m depending on aspect.

This coming weekend colder temps and snow is forecast into the next week. We look to be in for a period of unsettled winter weather for the next 6-7 days.

AIS-Salzburg in the Climbing Gym

The climbers from the AIS-Salzburg are climbing during their winter trimester in the
Kletterhalle Salzburg. The group of eight students, accompanied by AIS-Salzburg staff member Valerie Cicero, started up last Wednesday. The group is mostly made up of beginning climbers, with two students who have taken climbing courses from me before at the USI Salzburg/Rif on the outdoor climbing tower.

On Wednesday mornings the group has the climbing gym all to themselves between 08:00 - 10:00am.

Our first day started with the basics of climbing and safety. After getting the shoes sorted out, we did some easy bouldering that focused of precise footwork.


Then we put on our harness and then learned how to tie in to the rope with a figure-8 knot.






Our goal for the morning was to climb on top rope. The students learned how to thread the belay device, attach it to their harness and do a pre-climb safety check of the climber and belayer.

We learned, and then did a dry run through, of the proper way to belay: pull the rope out through the belay device, bring the right hand down to create a 90 degree bend in the rope, left hand grips the rope just above the right hand, and then bring the right over the left hand and re-grip the rope.

The students then were ready to climb on the top ropes in the course area of the gym. The routes are designed for practicing on and are about 6 meters in length. Everyone got to do a lap or two on the short wall before we ran out of time.
Of course, the two hours went by far too quickly for the students liking. However there is always next week ...

In our second meeting, we will climb more on top rope in 3-person teams. We are going to try the longer routes in the main section of the gym.

As the students get more accustomed to belaying each other correctly and safely, we will be able to do a lot of climbing in our brief two hours on Wednesday mornings.

OeAV-Salzburg alpine.ausbildung: Winter 2009

Meine Kurse fürs Ausbildungsprogramm der OeAV-Salzburg im Winter sind fest.

Kurse / Termine sind:

Eisklettern Beginner
Fr. - So., 16. Jänner 2009 bis 18. Jänner 2009
Kurs Begin Fr. Um 18:00 AV-Haus Nonntal, Sa. und So. Tagestouren Raum Salzburg / Berchtesgaden

Stop or Go / Notfall Lawine
Do. - So., 22. Jänner 2009 bis 25 Jänner 2009
Kurs Begin Do. und Fr. um 18:00 AV-Haus Nonntal, Sa. und So. Tagestouren Raum Salzburg / Berchtesgaden (Event. Hütten Übernachtung Sa. bis So.)

Eisklettern Fortgeschrittener
Fr. - So., 06 Februar 2009 bis 08 Februar 2009
Kurs Begin Fr. Um 17:00 Gasthaus Hubertus Maltatal (Mitfahrgelegenheit ab Salzburg, Treffpunkt um 15:00), Übernachtung Fr. Bis So.

Skihochtouren
Do. - So., 19. März 2009 bis 22 März 2009
Kurs Begin Do. um 11:00 Franz Senn Hütte, Stubaier Alpen, Tirol (Obligatorisch Treffpunkt in Salzburg um 07:00, Mitfahrgelegenheit) Übernachtung Do. bis So.

Ich würde auch ein paar Termine für Übungstouren zwischen Jänner 2009 und ende März 2009 aussuchen. Ich habe Übungstouren fürs Eisklettern, Skitechnik im Gelände, und Skibergsteigen vor.

Weitere Infos sind auf der AV-Salzburg alpine.ausbildung webpage:

http://www.alpineausbildung.at/

Fall Rock Climbing

From mid-October until this past week, I have been able to do a number of cool rock routes with friends. This time of year is one of my favorite times to rock climb in the Salzburg area. (Honestly, my favorite time to rock climb around here is when it's not raining!) The weather is generally pretty stable and temps are cool. In addition, I have been very busy with climbing courses both in and outside of the climbing gym too.

A short overview of routes includes, amongst others, climbs on the Austrian and Bavarian side of the Untersberg and in the nearby Tennengebirge. My friend Erwin and I climbed on the "Kleine Südwand" on the Untersberg and then a few days later roped up again on "Fun in the Sun"/"Panorama" (VI/550m) on the Große Fieberhorn in the Tennengebirge. Here's the obligatory ass shot as I smear up one of the cruxes on "Panorama". The photos are from the multi-tasking Erwin.


10th rope length, "Fun in the Sun", VI

Toni and Berni climbed as a second rope team with us too. It was a great way to welcome them back after an extended trip to South America, Canada the USA and a bit in the western Alps in between. We got to the top of the Große Fieberhorn at about 3:00pm. It gave us enough time to scramble down to the fixed ropes and ladder of the Via Ferrata in daylight and finish the hike out by headlamp.


Me, Berni and Toni on top of the Große Fieberhorn.

A couple days later, my friend Gernot and I did the route "Samsara" (VII-/450m) on the Gamsalmkopf on the Bavarian side of the Untersberg. This was a great climb: a very nice two hour approach, a long route that was fairly consistent, and again a descent by headlamp.

As I write this, I think the outdoor rock climbing season is over as winter takes hold. This week has been damp and frosty with snow in the mountains. Cold temps and snow storms are forecast for the coming week. With a bit of luck, the ice climbing season will start up in a couple of weeks and will have enough snow to be confronted with choice of, "skis or ice tools?"

OeAV-Salzburg Klettern Basics Kurs

OeAV Sektion Salzburg alpine.ausbildung Klettern Basics Kurs, 31.10-02.11.2008

Zielgruppe

Kletter einsteiger, all jene die Drinnen oder Draußen mit dem Klettern anfangen wollen.

Voraussetzungen

Berg Erfahrung vom Wandern oder Bersteigen, Trittsicher, Schwindelfrei

Kursziel

Kennen lernen des Mediums Fels, Grundtechnik Klettern und Sichern, erste Kletterversuche, Einführung in Vorstiegen und Abseilen, Stürztraining.

Kursinhalt

Einführung Klettern: in der Halle, Bouldern, im Klettergarten, Kletter- und Sicherungstechnik für „Top Rope“/Nachstieg: Anseilen, Partnercheck, verschiedene Sicherungsgeräte, Körpersichern (Führungshand, Bremshand), Seil ausgeben, Kletterregeln für Drinnen und Draußen, Abseilen mit kurz Prusik

Unkostenbeitrag

EUR 55,-- exklusive Eintritt in Kletteranlage, Transfer, usw.

Treffpunkt

Kletterhalle Salzburg, Wasserfeldstr. 23, 5020 Salzburg, ++43(0)699 11 21 1000

http://www.kletterhalle-salzburg.at/kletterhalle/lage.htm

Bankverbindung

Bankhaus Spängler Bank

Empfänger: OeAV Sektion Salzburg

Kontonummer: 100151674

BLZ: 19530

Verwendungszweck: Mitgliednummer + Klettern Basics

Kursbeginn

Freitag, 31.10.08, um 15:00

Ort

Kletterhalle Salzburg, evtl. ULSZ Sportzentrum Rif Kletterturm, Plombergstein (Wetter/Verhältnisse abhängig)

Kursleiter

Joe Fratianni, mehr Infos & Fragen bei 0688-815 0331 oder joe.fratianni@alpenverein-salzburg.at melden!

Ausrüstung

Klettergurt

2 HMS-Karabiner

1 Schraubkarabiner

1 Abseil/Sicherungsgerät - (Tuber wie Black Diamond ATC, ATC- Guide, Petzl Reverso, usw., werden empfehlen)

1 120cm Bandschlinge

Mont Blanc Conditions

I was in Chamonix recently with my friend Erwin to do some mixed routes and classic north faces. We got to Chamonix valley on the 5th of October and stayed for the week.

In general conditions on the routes were good. However, a lot of snow made approaches and descents physically demanding and somewhat dangerous in regards to avalanches and crevasses. The summer had not been too warm and the fall brought some snow and cold temps. There was a lot of snow at the upper elevations, between 70cm to a meter of snow from the end of September to the beginning of October.

We were on the Glacier d’Argentière, Glacier du Gèant and on the north side of the Aiguille du Midi (Glacier des Pèlerins / Glacier de Blaitière).

The amount of relatively fresh snow kept us from doing any of the north face routes in the Argentière basin on Les Courtes, Les Droites or Aiguille Verte. We hiked up from the village of Argentière and up to the glacier to get a feel for conditions (Les Grands Montets Téléphérique was closed until winter ski season). There was just too much snow.

The following day we went up to the Triangle du Tacul and did the classic Chèré couloir to the top of Mont Blanc du Tacul. The descent turned out to be complicated due to crevasses, seracs (this past summer an Austrian guide and his clients were killed here by collapsing seracs and an ice avalanche on the standard Mont Blanc traverse route from the Cosmique hut) and deep snow. I broke into a number of crevasses and fell in over my head once. There was one particularly nerve racking snow bridge crossing over a huge crevasse and a lot of steep down climbing on slopes that were at times blank with hard ice and at other times wind loaded with snow up to our waists.

Our warm up climb turned into a long hard day. We got into the Refuge des Cosmiques at dark at about 20:00. We were the only guests. We greatly appreciated the warm hut and great food. The next day would be a rest day – down to Chamonix to sleep in a pension.

Riding up and down the Midi cable car gave us ample opportunity to check out all the mixed lines under the Aiguilles de Chamonix. We decided that we would do some reconnaissance under the Aiguille du Plan, Aiguille du Peigne and Rognon du Plan.

It was a great surprise to find out after stopping in at the guide’s office in Chamonix that the Refuge du Plan de l’Aiguille was still open and manned. We got the first cable car up to the Midi middle station and hiked into three different glacier basins to evaluate the conditions and see which routes would match up with our capabilities and motivation.

We climbed over verglassed boulders to get onto the Nantillons, Blaitière and Pélerins glaciers. The cold shadows and looming seracs reinforced the reputation of this area as being at the forefront of modern mixed climbing since the 1990’s. It was very interesting to see the routes up close that previously I had only read about. The ice looked particularly good under the Col de Blaitière, Aiguille des Pélerins and Rognon du Plan.

Once on the Glacier des Pélerins, we decided to make our way through the crevasses to establish an approach route over the glacier that we could use for our early morning starts. We settled on doing the route “Le Fil à Plomb” and the Col du Plan Couloir. We then would traverse the easy ridge from the Col du Plan over to the Midi cable car station for our descents. In the back of our minds was also the thought that we could do the Réuffat-Terray route on the Pélerins if all went well with us and the weather.

There was enough day light and sun left by the time we got to the Plan de l’Aiguille hut that we could dry out or clothes and gear. The hut was wonderful; again we were alone. We edited out all unnecessary stuff, sharpened our picks and front points and packed. We ate a great and plentiful dinner and were in bed before 21:00.

We were up at 02:00 and out the door by 03:00. We got to the beginning of our chosen route by 05:00. On the way I spotted a shooting star. I took this as a good omen. With the light from our headlamps, we got the ropes and gear ready under the protection of a slightly overhanging rock wall and waited to there was a little day light. I led through a mixed rock and snow pitch to what I thought would be the start of the steep snow slope at the beginning of the Col du Plan couloir. Surprise! There was a huge gapping bergschrund bordered on the left by smooth 50 meter granite slabs and stretching all the way across the glacier to underneath the huge hanging serac to the right of the Col du Plan. We could not see anyway to cross. We thought that trying to work our way through this problem would take at least a couple of hours. This would cause us to be at the exit of the couloir at a dangerously late time for the upper snow slopes below the Midi-Plan ridge. We rappelled and retraced our steps down the Glacier des Pélerins. The routes would have to wait for another day.

We had some time left, at the most a day and a half, The desire was not strong enough to work out another glacier approach, do a midnight start, complete a demanding route and also drive for nine hours on the same day back to Salzburg. We decided to go down to Chamonix and drive back to Austria after lunch. Accepting this was a bit difficult.

All in all the weather was okay; cold and winter like. The routes seemed to be filled in nicely with ice. North side routes would not see the sun until spring. There were not many people around and a lot of the lifts and huts were closed. I really like this time of year in the Western as well as the Eastern Alps. However, to climb you have to be willing to sleep in winter rooms or bivouac, carry heavier packs, undertake longer approaches, and deal with the dangers of route finding on glaciers.

Tactics need to be much more thoroughly planned – approach skis or snow shoes, taking extra time to establish approaches through complex glaciers, bivouacs on the approach and/or descent, short days, the cold, etc., etc.