Eurospin 2022

[Buster Highmen]

vendul was kind enough to bring over a few folks from Rueras in vans which were to be used to drive those who had stayed in Klosters as well as the day trippers to Rueras.

This degenerated into cat herding where a number of people took the train and left their stuff to be loaded and driven back to Rueras (you're welcome) while others had gotten lost skiing down to Klosters and ended down valley in Kublis. Not to mention other factions which went wandering off for various objectives in Klosters. Fortunately, due to the fact that we had saturated the hotel, it was relatively easy to figure out which gear left in the bootroom belonged to our troupe.

So, after some intervals of indeterminacy, we loaded all the gear and people into the 2 vans and drove the 2 hours to Rueras as the sun set. It's a gorgeous drive and not too stressful traffic wise.

I have wanted for a few years to ski off the backside of the Weissfluhgipfel at Davos down to a train stop at Langweis, take a short train ride to Arosa and use the lift system to ski over to Lenzerheide. Given the Southern exposure of that itinerary, where other such exposures had some ice and coral reef, I decided to eschew that objective once again and save it for another year.

[Beder]

Buster you are an inspiration. How long do you think (hope) you can continue this winter pilgrimage?

[shroom]

[skifishbum]

thread needs mur toque













stoked 2 haz shared

[oftpiste]

fucking fire Boyz.

[VTskibum]

Sweet Buster! Was jealously following along via your, Squirrel, and Z-Bo's IGs!!

[weavin]

Awesome BH!

I encourage anyone who can swing it to make the pilgrimage.
The terrain, scenery, ski culture, the great little towns, and, of course, the excellent espresso have to be experienced.
Thanks for posting up the TR.

[Brownski]

Awesome

[Buster Highmen]

Got to Rueras and MtnLodge_Sedrun in time for another fantastic dinner and snooze.
Next day, got up, did the slog up to the train station and rode it to the next stop West, Dieni.



Saw the Piz Maler tram going up with z-bo and squirrel. I skipped it after hearing about the requirement for ski crampons.



Skied from there to Andermatt and the Gemsstock:



Oberalppass and the lighthouse en route:



Raged around on the Gemsstock, where good snow was sparse, but present, then skied the 15 miles back to Rueras.

[Djongo Unchained]

That Espresso machine produced a variety of drinks, all around 15,000,000 degrees Centigrade. Like drinking a cup of Sun.

[vendul]

Buster, do you have pictures of your guided day at Gstock?

[Buster Highmen]

Buster, do you have pictures of your guided day at Gstock?

No, but sfb took and posted a bunch.

I keep trying to write the day up, but haven't done it justice. Easily the most crazy ski day I've done in years. I'll get around to it.

[zion zig zag]

No, but sfb took and posted a bunch.

I keep trying to write the day up, but haven't done it justice. Easily the most crazy ski day I've done in years. I'll get around to it.

Ha, now I'm curious to hear about it. Did you have Christian?

[Buster Highmen]

Yes, we had Christian. And the normal entrance to the Giraffe was a rockband.

[zion zig zag]

Yes, we had Christian. And the normal entrance to the Giraffe was a rockband.

I thought it was pretty funny that he took us straight to some rock down climbs and steep skiing that American guides would've needed a history with a client to take them to. After downclimbing rock and then skiing 25 turns down a couloir of hard, 45 degree snow he said "good, you can ski steeps."

Totally different style of guiding that is obviously not litigation driven.

[Mofro261]

I thought it was pretty funny that he took us straight to some rock down climbs and steep skiing that American guides would've needed a history with a client to take them to. After downclimbing rock and then skiing 25 turns down a couloir of hard, 45 degree snow he said "good, you can ski steeps."

Totally different style of guiding that is obviously not litigation driven.

"There is no danger here... if you do not fall. So do not fall here."

[shroom]

“do you guys wanna go over there?”

“it doesn’t look like it goes”

“ok that’s why i asked”

such a fun day

[Buster Highmen]

The second guided run overshadowed the first run, I can't remember what the first one was. Was it over toward Felsenthal?

[zion zig zag]

"There is no danger here... if you do not fall. So do not fall here."

LOL. I’m guessing this is a real quote?

Did you guys get to hear his story about riding a horse across Montana? Pretty interesting guy.


Sent from my iPhone using TGR Forums

[Buster Highmen]

LOL. I’m guessing this is a real quote?

Yes.

Did you guys get to hear his story about riding a horse across Montana? Pretty interesting guy.

No, but there was another

[Buster Highmen]

Tangentially.

A while ago, some good friends had gotten a run of weirdness.
One had gotten her PhD in Materials Science from Columbia and lined up a post doc in Grenoble, FR.

This was circa 1983?

Her partner (an old acid buddy) was working for an actuarial firm in NYC, living somewhere less expensive.

One night, he had a gun shoved into the ribs, got tied up and threatened for a couple of hours before the freak cracked and split. My buddy, upset and reeling gets a furlough from the gig, goes to Grenoble to recover. They know how to live.

They'd purchased the classic old french roadboat, the citroen and rolled over the vercors and up towards Italy via the col du lauteret. They rode a gondola up valley somewhere and wrote me that we had to go there someday. They knew from the wayback days I was a ski fiend. They extolled the backroads of the Vercors where the resistance had thrived, going to restaurants that had the evenings specialty hanging out front.

So by 1996, we did for a month with an on call taxi to probe the best conditions in the area, which included a lot of the Milky Way and Serre Chevalier as well as down past Puy St, Vincent and the Queyras to Vars/Risoul.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

So yeah. the guided day.

Up for the early stumble up the steps and greasy paths to the Rueras train station, rumbled slumbled up past Oberalppass, down to Anermatt, into a packed jitney across swiss streets to the tram base where on the steps rested Christian.

So we didi the usual intros, hopped the tram to the midstation , the on to the top station of the Gemsstock.

I think we did a kind of rumbled check out run down part of the Felsental. But I'm foggy here.

Anyway, back to the midstation, up to the top again and down around to the typical upper Giraffe traverse. Normally, this part is scary with a ledge above a 2-300 drop down to the groomer below. Then a roller coaster whoop de doo on a knife edge with more meat grinder rocks to one's left and 60+ couloirs and rocks to one's right.

That's to get to the Giraffe entrance.

The usual Giraffe entrance was too rocky, so we doubled back towards a chocolate chip ice rock and snow scraper. Chritian direct the group to climb over non skiable rock and ice over a 60+ cliff. He took off his skis and acted as a catch all as people teetered around the crux, dropping a sharp right onto unskiable rock at a good pitch. Lots of tiny steps. Stupid. I laughed so long and hard about this a few hours later, it was just so dumb.

Snow below was tricky windboard and rock couloirs for a few hundred vert, then finally dropped into some softer skiable context in the gut and into the bowl underneath the proper Giraffe. Got some good turns there for another few hundred vert to the deadly traverse. More rock ribs and unskiable sectoin, one which one Christian lost a ski and had to dive after it. Had he not snagged it immediately, it would have roller over a cliff and been gone.

So then to cake and coffee ( about 5 chf for you financial evaluators) at the Lutersee barn where each booth still has the cow's name on it.

Then back up the chair and upper tram to traverse out the Felsental, staying as high left as we could, stopping to don skins and climb the ridge.

Took a while, topped out on a booter ridge and eventually a nice long cirque of decent soft NW facing pow. We arced. I started a small avalanche.

Eventually cut left to the road to Hospental to the old inn where this time, rather than outside we sat inside where it was warmer and threw down beer before the bus back to Andermatt and then the train back to mt-lodge,com in Rueras.

Bless vendul & S, the most sweet, abundant, hard working folks I've had the pleasure of knowing for making these idiocies possible.

[Buster Highmen]

On Sunday, the second to last day, we had to go settle up with the guide service at the Andermatt Gemsstock tram and they asked we get there by 8:30. So after breakfast, z-bo, his dad and I shuffled up the 5 minute wheezy hill to the little Rueras train station and rode the train the 15 miles to Andermatt, past the lifts at Dieni, past one of the touring pickups at Tschamut and past the Schneehuenerstock gondy at the Oberalppass next to the reservoir that's the start of the Rhine river.

A map for reference, it's about 15 miles from Rueras to Andermatt.



(direct link for fullsize and some legibility: https://vcdn.bergfex.at/images/resiz...5a9f6b6@2x.jpg )

The shuttle to the Gemsstock from the train station was running off cycle so we ankled it over to the Gemsstock where the guide office was and made one last attempt to straighten out some issues, to no avail. Much thanks to those gracious enough to help pay.

Rather than ski the Gemsstock again, we decided to ski our way back to Disentis, so we grabbed the jitney, rolled the short trip over to the train station which is at the base of what's called Natschen and hopped the gondy there. We made several east trending laps as the sun warmed the snow, crossing over the Oberalppass with a few laps on the Schneehuenerstock gondy, eventually going up over Calmut, down to Val Val, up to the top of Dieni and then down to the train station at Dieni where we grabbed the train for the 5 minute ride to Sedrun. At Sedrun, one gets out of the train, rides a t-bar for a few minutes and then skis over to the Cuolm da Vi cable car to access Disentis, a monster area in it's own right.

The Cuolm da Vi cable car is automated with no human operator on board. On that particular ride, all the other passengers got out at the midstation, so we took advantage of the situation and made out like Fast Times At Ridgemont High in the cable car, a first for me.

On getting to Cuolm da Vi on the West edge of Disentis, I thought we'd make our way East to the highest t-bar, which we did, but the corn was ripening just perfectly on some sweet steep pitches just off the Parlets chair along the Western side, so we returned West and lapped that a few times.



We were off cycle from RaisingArizona*, Djongo, alias_rice, carvehard and others who were lapping the same zone. z-bo and I were doing the pants legs above. That was among the best snow conditions we'd seen, loving the steep slash and warm ending. Eventually, as the sun sank lower, everyone else split and I lapped that choice snow a few more times before descending to Sedrun and the train 1 stop to Rueras.

[hafjell]

Thanks for this. Love the detail. Thanks also for the train details.

[chaka]

thanks for sharing this! That view on a clear day from the top of Shilthorn of Eiger, Jungfrau and Munch is memorable, isn't it? I've only been to that area in summer, your TR tells me I need to go back in winter. I love you pointed on the Sir Arnold Lunn memorial... I also visited that when there out of respect for the Sir Arnold Lunn run at Taos.

[Buster Highmen]

Yeah, views there are amazing, mix Yosemite with Mt. Rainier.
I was blown away by the skiing off the Schilthorn, lots and lots of choice sidecountry.

Here's a link to a nice little, relatively inexpensive hotel in Muerren: https://www.alpenblick-muerren.ch/ .