Training Log Archive: 007

Proper mountain ski-tour! Gantrisch, out 4 hours. Loved it so much, so great to be out in the wild, mountainous winter landscape! Definitely pushed the edges of my comfort zone at points though..
We weren't sure how far we would be able to go before it would get too hard/dangerous for me. So we started up/along until we were quite close to the pass which was the 'crux' of the route. It was so tempting to go up there but part way up the slope we decided it wan't worth the risk. It was extremely hard and icy which made traversing difficult and I didn't have crampons for my skis unfortunately.. The first bit of the decent from the pass would have been really hard and nothing to catch you from a >100m fall/slide.
But from where we turned, the ski down was SOO much fun, over some little knolls, past a snow-covered hut, through a slope of small trees and around to the base of another hill. By this point my confidence was up and we started heading up this big conical hill which I had seen in the morning and had thought 'no frigging way would I go up or down that!'
Was really enjoying the hike up, just in a t-shirt (bad idea in hindsight).. but close to the top I slipped and had a terrifying moment of losing all grip and sliding. Louis managed to grab me and stop us luckily but I lost a pole (and quite a bit of skin off my elbow) and we were all a bit shaken so decided to make our way back down from there. It's a delicate task to take off skis, remove skins, do up shoes and get skis back on all whilst on a precarious icy slope, but once I had the skis on in secure skiing mode I felt confident about the descent. Pleased I never really lost my nerve, especially about the descents which would have terrified me weeks ago, and lucky to have Jas and Louis patiently guide me safely!
Now extra motivated to practice getting my turning more secure on steep and tricky slopes, today I was bit erratic even if I never lost it! Also need ski crampons if I ever tour up in this icyness again..

Kind of double booked myself this weekend with skiing plans, so just a quick XC ski in Studen (almost no snow left) with Eef and Simon. Nice to be challenged by having faster skiing companions!
Had to really rush at the end and take a short-cut through fields to get back in time to get my train/train/bus halfway across the country..

Got to Schwarzsee, in the Gantrisch area, just in time for a short crash course in off-piste skiing with Louis before being allowed to join for a ski-tour on Sunday ;) Got heaps more confidence turning on steep icy and bumpy stuff, went down something black and for the first time ever enjoyed getting a tiny bit of air going over bumps! Still very much a novice though and need a lot more certainty on the steep stuff.
So stunning skiing down just as it was getting dusky, descending from the setting-sun soaked peaks, down into the fog. Life in Switzerland is quite surreal sometimes..

quick morning black roll sesh..

Lunch run Honggerberg, with Eef, Harry, Ian and Lukas, a much faster bunch of workmates than usually at WSL and I really had to push to keep up! It felt good :)

jog out to the forest for a short work break
really feels like spring and the hazelnut tassels have come out!

a tad of yoga in the forest

Ez run up Uetliberg with girls from work. Felt like spring!

C • Ut run 2