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  1. #1
    Join Date
    May 2010
    Location
    Innsbruck, Austria
    Posts
    561

    Up and down an old favourite in Tyrol

    After finding some surprisingly good snow in the area on Sunday, and as Monday was a public holiday here, my buddy Menno and I decided to go for a lap on an old favourite - the couloir on the north Face of Serles, which is probably most people's favourite mountain around Innsbruck and visible from basically everywhere in the city.

    This is an old photo from years ago, but shows what you see of it from Nordkette (and the city) - the very obvious line on the right of the photo:



    The ascent starts off with an easy cruise along a forest track, then up through the trees towards the base of the couloir. Here just above the treeline:



    Many kick turns later (you can also skin up the other side and rap in, but I'm scared of heights so...):



    Then as the couloir narrows and steepens it's time to bootpack to the ridge. It pays to be cautious on this last section - there's a lot of loose rock overhead, which gets a lot of sun later in the season. Unsure if we'd find a nice spot to transition above, we took skins off (and put helmets on) before bootpacking up.

    Pretty happy that Menno was happy to set the track haha!



    Though it was still pretty deep for me following:



    Me about to top out with a view towards Italy and the sunny side



    But first, let me take a selfie



    Menno spotting future lines (there's a cliff not far below):



    We clicked into skis about a metre below the ridge. The view down (PS the Countdown 104Ls are $$$):



    As he lead the bootpack, Menno went first. Snow was a mix of very nice wind-buffed powder and rather firm crust, and back again without much warning. Gradient is around 40° for the first pitch, maybe just over at the very top.





    My turn, finding the transition from crust to powder (or vice versa):



    From there on the gradient mellows out to 35° then 30° out through the couloir. Again a mix of nice old powder and strange crusts interspersed with a bit of rock and gravel, but with more room to see it was easier to stay on the nice snow for enjoyable skiing:



    Looking back up:



    On the flatter terrain at the bottom through the bushes and forest, which doesn't get any sun at all at this time year, the snow was still lovely old untracked powder back down to the forest road. An enjoyable wind down before another 15 minute skin up then 5 minute slide down the forest track for radler and strudel at the Gasthof.

    Menno:



    My turn:



    All in all not a bad day out, and much better than it could have been given the rather dry winter so far!

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Sep 2001
    Location
    Before
    Posts
    27,908
    ++++!!!!
    Merde De Glace On the Freak When Ski
    >>>200 cm Black Bamboo Sidewalled DPS Lotus 120 : Best Skis Ever <<<

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Aug 2016
    Location
    No longer Alexandria, VA
    Posts
    2,648
    Nice work! Thanks for posting.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Location
    SLC burbs
    Posts
    4,186
    Siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiick!!
    Nice to see some Down action too!

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jul 2005
    Posts
    1,680
    Nice! Great to see some action from the other side of the pond.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Dec 2017
    Location
    austrian alps
    Posts
    36
    Nice job ! I always look at Serles with envy but I suck too much at skiing to attempt it. Is the other arm of the "Y" also skiable or is it too sketchy ?

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Location
    CH
    Posts
    1,871
    Wooot!!
    #1 goal this year......stay alive +
    DOWN SKIS

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Jan 2020
    Posts
    13
    Living a lot of people’s dreams, keep it coming

  9. #9
    Join Date
    May 2010
    Location
    Innsbruck, Austria
    Posts
    561
    Quote Originally Posted by zede View Post
    Nice job ! I always look at Serles with envy but I suck too much at skiing to attempt it. Is the other arm of the "Y" also skiable or is it too sketchy ?
    It's not really that hard! And way less gnar than it looks from the city. Similar steepness to Hafelekar, for example. Plus if you skin up from the base of the couloir you can turn around at any point you get uncomfortable.

    You can ski the other side too, but most people wanting to ski that line skin up around the south side of the mountain and drop in from the top - kicker being you mostly need to rapel in, and I'm not a big fan of heights

    Turned out another friend of mine was actually in that side at the same time haha: https://www.instagram.com/p/B6_ZedHlRbI

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Jan 2020
    Posts
    7
    Thumbs up! Living in Imst close to Innsbruck!

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Jun 2006
    Location
    Couloirfornia
    Posts
    8,871
    Cool TR. But it was missing photos of "radler and strudel at the Gasthof."
    Quote Originally Posted by Ernest_Hemingway View Post
    I realize there is not much hope for a bullfighting forum. I understand that most of you would prefer to discuss the ingredients of jacket fabrics than the ingredients of a brave man. I know nothing of the former. But the latter is made of courage, and skill, and grace in the presence of the possibility of death. If someone could make a jacket of those three things it would no doubt be the most popular and prized item in all of your closets.

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Dec 2008
    Location
    Salida, CO
    Posts
    1,976

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