29.01.2023 -- #

Catch up post from our hütte stay in December 2021.

A week at the Hütte Hoehenegg

It’s December 2021. Masha and I had just got married in October. Six months out we booked a week to ourselves high in the Alps. Much like our Scuol Hütte trip in 2020 but this time no drunk dudes and more us.

lets go to austria

lets go to austria

Nervously checking the webcams we prayed for snow during the weeks leading up the trip. Rolling into St. Martin am Tennengebirge we extatic to be met with snow. Not exactly powder, but still snow!

hütte

hütte

The hütte was a mix of rustic and modern elements. Warmth radiated from the central wood stove creating a cozy environment in the main room. Keeping it stocked with fresh logs was my job. On the modern side in the kitchen there was warm running water and each bedroom had individual heating.

dinner

dinner

We cooked each night and enjoyed dinner and card games together. This trip being in Austria we learned a new Austrian cardgame Schnapsen.

ski boot repair

ski boot repair

mt couple

mt couple

Piste

Before heading back country we took the first day to ski the near by resort of Dachstein.

snowboarding

snowboarding

The snow was pretty icy which was not a great sign of conditions to come. Though we still had a lot of fun.

piste run

mt view

mt view

Korein ridge tour

route

Leaving from the hütte we walked up a dirt road past an old farm house to a snow covered trail.

prep

prep

Plop plop, the skins on the skis hit the powder snow. Click click, the toe piece clicks into place. Off we go on a mountain adventure.

morning sun

morning sun

Snap, oh wait the front binding didn’t properly connect and the one of the skis pops off. Fiddley things ski touring bindings. So back on and then ten leg lifts rotating the small metal pegs in the toe connection to clean it out before tightening it the rest of the way.

masha waking up

masha waking up

morning magic

morning magic

The light breeze swept snow crystals up into the air. Nice powder snow, probally best of the trip.

worth getting up early

worth getting up early

old avalanche

old avalanche

Onward and upward we left the soft snow and crossed over the concrete hard snow of an old avalanche.

the mountains give and take

the mountains give and take

korein ridge

korein ridge

we made it

we made it

time to go back

time to go back

ready to ski

ready to ski

powder turn

powder turn

On the way back we found a different path along a summer hiking trail back to the hütte. Not all of it was skiiable but we still enjoyed and also scoped an area for a nice snow shoe tour.

boot packing back to hütte

boot packing back to hütte

Having friends over

One of my former colleges joined with his family for an overnight. We played a game with the kids were we buried a beeper (ski touring saftey device) then practiced finding it.

search for buried treasure

search for buried treasure

They gifted us a fun game called rummy. It’s a tile game but similar to the gin rummy card game I use to play with my family.

rummy

rummy

Schober tour

route

After some research of nearby routes we drove to down to the base of the valley for our next ski tour. We found parking in town where the snow conditions were quite good, then headed out. Once we toured 100m up a forest road the snow faded away and were left with gravel. This is pretty common in the Alps because the cold air sinks preserving the snow.

mt parking

mt parking

We decided to turn back and drive as far up the road as we could. Forest road driving / parking very much at your own risk sort of arraignment.

headed up

headed up

Eventually the snow came back and we could go back to touring again.

frozen woods

frozen woods

winter oasis

winter oasis

I remember the weather being windy and we were glad to take refuge along side of a hütte only accessed in summer.

sardiners for lunch

sardiners for lunch

final push

final push

Coming up the last one hundred meters to the ridge the wind picked up and the visibility dropped. From where we stopped the summit of Schober could be only reached on foot and we were more for skiing down at that point.

nils?!?

nils?!?

time to turn back?

Overall great tour.

Snow shoe adventure

route

This trip we decided to rent snow shoes from DAV. Was both of our’s first time trying them.

i'm a ninja

i’m a ninja

While I imagine snow shoes perform best in more powder snow conditions they made winter hiking near the hütte super fun.

river crossing

river crossing

I was surprised how fun they were. Like ski touring they let you access normally inaccessible winter terrain. Snow shoes even more because you can more easily move through tight gaps in trees or up super steep sections.

couple in the woods

couple in the woods

headed back

headed back

in nature

in nature

After this experience I would considering getting some of our own.

crossing river back

skis are faster

skis are faster

Until next time

I hope we continue to visit mountain hüttes for years to come.

smoke on the highway

smoke on the highway

\- [ holiday, alpinism, skiing ]