raphy

I have been in Berlin since Monday and will leave again this coming Friday night. I am here on business and therefore haven’t had much time checking out town.

The weather has been fairly unstable so far. We have had heavy rain for 5 minutes followed by sleet on Tuesday and more rain today. But tonight when I went into town to meet my distant uncle Joerg the weather was good and a warmisch wind was blowing. I met up with Joerg as I had lost my wallet in his care a few weeks ago when I visited them for the first time and he had found it on Monday. Pure coincidence that I was in Berlin the very day that he found it. I am glad I got my wallet back but I would rather not have lost it, as I have long replaced everything in it for good money.

Tonight went to the Hackesche Hoefe, buildings and courts with lots of small shops, cafes, cinema, restaurants well worth checking out. After that we walked down Oranienstrasse or sth like that and came close to the Synagogue where I had dinner in the exquisite reastaurant Kadima. I had quail (Wachtel) for the first time in my life. It tasted nice and tender but there really isn’t a lot of meat on such a tiny bird. I also had the chance to try beers from Israel. Goldstar dark which is one of the best bee I’ve ever had and another one called Maccabee that was ok but nothing special.

On Monday, the first proper tour was on the program and Jachen Planta from Fuldera was our mountain guide.

After breakfast at 7.30 and getting ready afterwards we left the house soon after 9am and drove to Sta. Maria where we took a sharp turn to the right and up the hill on the Umbrail Passstrasse.

The road is a narrow double lane road and it is not open all the way to Bormio in Italy in the winter. At about 1800 meters above ground there was a “Barriere” and behind it there was too much snow on the road to continue.

We parked the car, put on the snowshoes and started walking on the road towards the foot of the mountain. It was good going as there was kind of a path from people that had been going the same way. We took a break after about 90 minutes and then left the road to go uphill in a more direct way. The mountain guide on his skis went first and us group of snowboarders followed. Alpine touring on skis is usually easier than on snowshoes, as the skis won’t sink into the snow as much as the person on snow shoes. On harder surfaces however, the snow shoes won’t sink in and it is then possible to go uphill in a straight line when the guys on ski have to do serpentines (zick zack).

After another break and a very steep ascent we came to a place a bit below the summit where it wasn’t possible to continue on snowshoes or skis and we dropped them and continued on foot. We finally got to the summit at 3033 meters above ground; 1200 meters higher then were we started. From the summit there was a 360 degrees view of mountains, valleys and more mountains. You could see Tirol, Muenstertal, Italy, Austria and Switzerland. Brilliant!

Going downhill wasn’t too bad at all, we were pleasantly surprised by the quality of the snow and enjoyed the ride back to the bus. All in all a fantastic day.

This year is the third time that I am taking part in Roli’s Alpine Touring Camp. We are staying in the Chasa Muntanella in Valchava. There hasn’t been a lot of snow this winter yet and many hills and mountains that should be covered in snow only show off their brown and dead vegetation from last year.

We arrived at the house at lunchtime after a 4 hour train and bus ride. After some soup for lunch we got ready for a short walk with snow shoes and the all the other gear. We walked for about an hour, starting at the house. At the end we learned the basics regarding avalanches and how to react if somebody is buried in an avalanche and how to rescue him, followed by learning how to use an Avalanche Transceiver Beacon (Lawinenverschuettetensuchgeraet kurs LVS).