Rock climbing is one of the things I love the most and with the right clothing you can do it every season. The days when the temperatures are too low to climb outside are quite rare. But what to do when it is too cold outside for some rock climbing or bouldering? Then it is time for me to unpack my skis and ice axis to enjoy the cold snowy winter days outside …
Since I decided to mainly focus on rock climbing in the last years, I rarely had the opportunity for ski touring and ice climbing. But last weekend it was time to get on my skis again and I was very excited to see how it would feel after one year of abstinence. Together with my two younger brothers, we drove to Switzerland to do approach two mountains near the Walensee.
Our goal on the first day was a mountain in the Glarus Alps named Spitzmeilen (2501 m), lying on the border between the Swiss cantons of Glarus and St. Gallen. It lies between the valleys of the Schilstal and Sernftal. The summit of the Spitzmeilen is a striking rock cliff, which gives it a unique and remarkable appearance.
To get to the summit from the valley ground, we had to ascent about 1500 m of altitude. As my youngest brother was quite good in shape and super motivated, we had a pretty fast walking pace. Quite soon we left all the other ski tourers behind us and had to create a new track into the untouched snow. This was quite power-consuming and we were super exhausted in the upper part – nevertheless, we made it to the ski depot right before the summit even though we had started our tour quite late in the day.
The ski slopes down from the mountain pass before the summit was quite steep and extra exciting to test your ski skills after such a long time. But it is like riding a bicycle: if you learned this skill as a child, you never will forget it. And after the first few curves, we felt super comfortable again … Riding down the snowy mountain slopes through the cold winter day was super fun …
On the second, we sought for a more relaxed ski tour as we were pretty done from our first day and decided for a smaller summit named Firtzstock with a fantastic view down on the Walensee. Surprisingly the upper part revealed a steep and clear mountain flank which was perfect for a challenging ski run down.
Skiing is always a lot of fun and I enjoy the rich possibilities to play outside in the mountains and explore new spots. Thanks to my younger brothers for these amazing days. Hopefully, we will have the opportunity to stand on our skis soon again …
