Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Kandersteg

It was snowing when I got to Kandersteg, it was snowing upon departure. In between my two guests and I could do two great ski tours and three days of ice climbing.

The weather pattern for our stay, 26.02.2014 through 03.03.2014, was like clockwork. Snow daily with accumulations from 10-20cm followed by three to four hours of clearing and sun (with accompanying warm temperatures) before the next small weather disturbance would move in. Ice conditions were sub-par, but there was always something to climb.

We only had one semi-clear night in which the ice could build up. Luckily the temperatures would always hover around zero Celsius which somewhat combated the negative effects of the damp air masses that would bring in the snow showers.

I was again housed at the apartments of Adams Alpine Eden (http://www.adamsalpineeden.com) in the center of the village. It is great to be able to access climbing and skiing right from the accommodations front door. Cooking for ourselves and sharing the four-person space makes a climbing trip to Switzerland relatively affordable.

The highlight of the trip was the great skiing. By far the best powder of the season. The avalanches level was always at "3" so we skied appropriate terrain and were very defensive. There is a lot of snow! and due to the frequent föhn winds up high, many slopes were fully loaded with wind-blown snow.

It is just so nice to get out of the northeast Alps around Salzburg and get to a location that has snow, ice and real winter-like conditions.

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