Our first ski tour of the season leaving from Munich in the morning.

route

Back to one of my favorite valleys.

great weather to start

Just 1h30m drive from Munich the Rißtal (Riss Valley) is always on my list while planning. Its technically Austria but curiously once in the valley one can’t reach the rest of Austria without first driving back through Germany.

bike + skis = next level

The road to the end of the valley is closed in winter but that does not stop winter enthusiasts. It’s possible to bike it.

mt couple

Since our planned tour was only a kilometer from where the road closes we skinned along the cross-country trail instead.

we are going up there?!?

Leaving the cross-country trail we headed up a mountain road, meeting impressive / intimidating views.

According to a route I found online one could tour up the road till it turns into a steep mountain trail and continue upwards. Upon reaching the end of the road however there was no clear path up a series of sheer cliffs. Damn route. Instead we tried to hike though the woods to the side of the cliffs, skis on back.

booting through the woods

high point

This went okay to a point. We even had a glimmer of hope that crossing to the other side of the ridge and skiing down the backside would be possible. The snow though bountiful did not support this mission. The powder snow didn’t have a good base underneath and was very rocky.

pano

We transitioned from accent mode to descent mode and skiing down what we could, walking the rest.

gearing up

walking back

In the end skiing the road back was fun and the views made the whole tour worth it. Looking forward to exploring Rißtal more.