TR: An Engelberg Trip to Remember

**Ripzalot** · 03-26-2007, 10:14 AM

After reading Subtle Plague's comments about 80cms in Eberg early last week, Geo039 and I blazed a road trip there. It had been snowing quite a lot locally, but after some web research it seemed that Eberg would be...pardon the cliche'...EPIC!!!

We arrived late Thursday night to clouds and snow. And it continues to remain that way for at least the next 36 hours. We lost count since Subtle's 80cm number, but I reckon it snowed 20cm daily for the next two days after that. So I'm calling it 120cms.

Mad props to Subtle Plague and Greg for the guiding and hospitality! Really two of the nicest guys and stoked skiers I've ever met.

We're looking forward to the video.

Snowing in town

Hotel Bellevue - the cheapest and bestest option

DAY ONE

First lift friday morning. Pea soup conditions so we go up Brunni to warm up our legs and kill time for Subtle and Greg to arrive.

Big pow! Geo's stoked!

We do some laps on Brunni, deep pow but a little heavy. So we bail and head over to the main station. We get a call in the Rotair that Subtle and Greg are only a tram or two behind us. THey show up at the top in 5 minutes and we're off into the clouds for a run down the Galtiberg. Almost zero visibility, we put our faith in Greg for a guide down one of the most amazing descents I've ever been on. So much pow it was SICK!!! 2000M+ of vertical, nice sustained steep pitch (30? 35 on the rollovers?), ginormous powder field at the top that runs down into a gulley and couliors down to the village. Amazing.

Ripz pow

Greg charging the couloir

Subtle Plague right behind him

Catch our breath

Geo slashing toward bottom

Geo again

Waiting for a taxi - stoked beyond belief!!!

**Ripzalot** · 03-26-2007, 10:15 AM

Do it again? HELL YEAH!!! WHY NOT TWO MORE TIMES!!!

Galtiberg from above

Ripz high speed spray

Ripz going down into the cloud zone

Geo making good use of those Thugs

Subtle needs a snorkle

Ripz needs a snorkle

Geo again - keeping everyone in sight

9 Franc pitchers at the Yucatan - best deal in Switzerland!

**Ripzalot** · 03-26-2007, 10:16 AM

SATURDAY DAY TWO

It snowed all night and was still snowing just as hard in the morning. Up early on on Saturday morning, on lift before 9am. Lucky timing, Subtle and Greg get out of the second gondola behind us at Trubsee. As we leave Stand on the Rotair, we get our first glimpses of the Steinberg. Shrouded in clouds but with fair visibility, we decide on a Steinberg run. Not so many track yet thanks to the bad visibility, we alternate from high speed schrapling to slow(er) speed cruising in waist deep fluff.

The Steinberg

Greg

Geo

The Steinberg shrouded in clouds

After the Steinberg we cruised over to the Jochpass and the Jochstock. This area is just as SICK as the others! I think we were in the deepest pow of the trip in the Jochstock.

Jochstock

First up - Greg

Next up - Subtle Plague

The Grand Finale - Geo gets a little forward into a faceplant

**Ripzalot** · 03-26-2007, 10:17 AM

The rest of the Jochstock

We see the clouds are breaking over the Steinberg, so time to move on.

Back on the Steinberg - in bluebird!

Greg takes an inadvertant two stage drop. He's imploding in the bombhole below.

Subtle goes for a drop-in

Back up the Rotair

**Ripzalot** · 03-26-2007, 10:18 AM

GALTISBERG IN BLUEBIRD!!!

Greg

Geo blazes by

Greg

Geo

Subtle Plague

Unknown dude #1

Unknown dude #2

Greg in the coulior

**Ripzalot** · 03-26-2007, 10:18 AM

SUNDAY

No new snow overnight for the first time in days. We all hook up fairly early at the main lift and head up to find total bluebird conditions. Quite a lot is schralped but there is still plenty of fresh to be found. Since the Galtisberg had been cloudy the previous days in the mid sections, that had kept a lot of people out. So now it was time to scralp what was left. Little did we know what drama was about to ensure.

We have a ripping good time on the top, blasting down to just before the "safe" route we had taken each day before. Greg and Subtle wanted to do a "high traverse" route in search of more fresh, but the traverse looked sketchy for me and my swallowtail board, so I opted out. So Geo and I split from Subtle and Greg to finish off the run.

The point - Greg is probably saying something like "Don't go under this!"

During the descent in the "safe" route, Geo and I get dusted by a small avalanche that released far above us, to looker's left. We didn't know at the time, but a woman skier was swept off by that avalanche from the high traverse. Moments later, another avy rips up looker's right from us and give us a dusting. We boogie outta there as quickly as possible, and as I roll over a large bump, I see a glove lying there. I had no idea at the time but it was the glove of the avy victim. For some reason, I took the trouble to carve next to it and scooped it up. About a minute later, as we were skating through sketch as fast as possible, another avy rips way high up. Geo is like "GO! GO! GO!" and I'm right with him. We did some squirrely moves through the runout at the end and popped out of the forest and into the field. Hugs and high fives were going out, and Subtle and Greg come running up. More hugs and high fives. They had been watching us from below the whole time and seen us and the avys ripping down. I don't know who probably felt worse during that time - them or us.

Geo (shortly after these shots is when we get dusted by two avys and find a glove)

We walk over to the restaurant and have a few beers while waiting for the bus. More avys rip down and then a helicopter arrives. Then another one. We have no idea what is going on. On the way to the bus, I drop the glove at the door in case someone might find their missing glove. We leave for the mainstation and to do a lap or two on the Laub.

Geo does the point - He's probably saying something like "I pooped my pants right about there!"

Beer time, well earned and well deserved.

Avys continue to rip as the rescue helis buzz around

Little did we know but Angel Mountain claimed another angel

One last blast down the Laub - Greg catches air

After the Laub, Greg happens by chance to get some information from someone on the helicopter activity. We find out about the missing woman skier, the area she was in, and then 2+2 clicked and I knew I had probably found her glove. It was about 3 hours later now, so I was feeling pretty bad that I hadn't known something sooner. But then again, considering where this skier was swept off, it wouldn't have mattered. We went to the police department and made a report, then retrieved the glove from the restaurant and took it to the SAR crew.

The glove

At the SAR - map of the avy and red dot where we found the glove

We uploaded some pics to the SAR laptop and pointed out where I found the glove.
Here, Greg clarifies what happened where. Upper circle is where the avy slid,
traverse line is the skier's path, lower circle and arrows show the avy that dusted me and Geo.
Red dot is where the glove was found.

Sadly, too little, too late.

We learned the next day that the woman's body was found buried early Monday morning.

R.I.P.

So a very sad and traumatic note to such an epic trip.

some discussion on the incident here: http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/s...t=80798&page=2

apologies to lazapatilla if we are cunting up his thread. it's a worthy discussion tho.

**Roo** · 03-26-2007, 10:22 AM

Wow. That's a pretty poignant reminder that the best of times and the worst of times can be so intertwined.

**verbier61** · 03-26-2007, 10:27 AM

sad, sad end....

but the rest of the story..... F K N A !!!

**Hicks** · 03-26-2007, 10:38 AM

Great TR Rips, could bite my ass off having missed the best conditions this season so far.

Bummer about the final outcome though, RIP.

**IridePow** · 03-26-2007, 10:50 AM

Wow.... that looks freaking deep!!!

Sad to hear the sobering ending.

**zimmer** · 03-26-2007, 10:54 AM

Conditions look great.

That photo of the glove is very moving.

**slippy** · 03-26-2007, 10:56 AM

I left the day it started snowing. I looked into delaying my flight and staying longer, but it was expensive and if it didn't snow, I'd be out a lot of money.

Fuck me, this is torture. I missed what would have been 'runs of a lifetime'. 6000 vert, one run. All pow. In one of the most beautiful places I've ever been.

**hop** · 03-26-2007, 11:20 AM

rad and sad at the same time.

**LaZapatilla** · 03-26-2007, 11:46 AM

Great TR and pictures!

Originally Posted by Ripzalot

apologies to lazapatilla if we are cunting up her thread. it's a worthy discussion tho.

I fixed it for you

and no problem at all...

**Franz Klammer** · 03-26-2007, 11:59 AM

Very sad note to end it on, but one of the best TRs of the season.

FKNA, boys, you do not disappoint!

**Mrs Roo** · 03-26-2007, 12:18 PM

Fantastic skiing photos guys. Indeed, very sad about the lady.

Thank goodness you were all OK.

**Natedogg** · 03-26-2007, 12:23 PM

Originally Posted by Ripzalot

Greg charging the couloir

That just aint right.

FKNA.

RIP.

**bbirtle** · 03-26-2007, 01:33 PM

Originally Posted by Franz Klammer

Very sad note to end it on, but one of the best TRs of the season.

FKNA, boys, you do not disappoint!

Agree!

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

**klar** · 03-26-2007, 01:38 PM

rip.

we also had a little scare today.

and yeah boys, well done! got git some while it lasts, euros!

**paedde** · 03-26-2007, 02:38 PM

Originally Posted by Natedogg

That just aint right.

FKNA.

RIP.

Great TR, great pics.

The only run I never skied up there. I’m always in the US when this part is good. Well maybe soon.

**Natedogg** · 03-26-2007, 02:53 PM

Originally Posted by paedde

Originally Posted by Natedogg

That just aint right.

FKNA.

Great TR, great pics.

The only run I never skied up there. I’m always in the US when this part is good. Well maybe soon.

Looking back on my post, Im not sure if it was misinterpreted or not. "That just aint right" means "holy f-n shit, that is the tittiest looking couloir Ive ever seen--the stuff dreams are made of."

**subtle plague** · 03-26-2007, 03:03 PM

wowsa!
i was there. and still the TR rocks my world

And for all: Greg did not mean to do a two stager. he wanted to drop the smaller one further lookers right. what he did huck though was a 40-50 footer with a rock "landing" (he scraped it/bounced off of it) in between. 25+ feet to solid rock with an alibi dusting on it and then another 20-25 feet.

I was watching him from the point where i start skiing in the pics and did not film because his supposed huck didn't look very special and the landing was already tracked.
when he started skiing i thought: yeah well one more turn left and then he'll huck..... WHAT THE F..... ? HE IS GOING STRAIGHT! Hoooolyyyyyyyy..... [insert "SSSCCRRTTCHHHHCRRPCKK" sound here] Shiiiiiiiiitttt.
Luckily he got away with nothing more than a huge core shot, but the metal held up fine in his explosive. It could have meant the end of his season.

very sad ending. It was clear that she was dead when be brought the glove to the police yesterday (the search already lasted 4hours), but at least her family can say farewell now.

may I steal your pics and do a TR on the german board? (and yeah of course i'll say that they're mine

)

P.S. I'll try to get edited footage online asap. I did some helmet cam stuff today, but mostly gaperific/tracked because i was pretty much alone since moses from the german board was sick.

**freak** · 03-26-2007, 03:28 PM

great tr...

RIP

freak~[

&

]

ps. i didnt know that greg is jumping off rocks and stuff

**gamma** · 03-26-2007, 07:04 PM

holy FKNA. I am not severly bummed I didnt sack up and fly to ch last thursday... oh well.. have to working and responsible and stuff sometimes. THERES ALWAYS NEXT SEASON!