ski mountaineering otztal alps photo diary

This is the photo diary of Dave Butcher for a 6 day ski mountaineering trip in the Otztal Alps of Austria, starting from Solden and finishing in Vent.

Guide

Jon de Montjoye

Hilary Sharp, Jon’s wife

Ordering Black and White Fine Art Prints

If you would like a memento of your trip or a gift, all of the black and white images are available as fine art black and white prints. Most of them were taken with a Mamiya 6 camera on Ilford 120 film and are available as high quality hand made darkroom prints in a range of sizes from 40x30cm to 70x70cm (size refers to mount and frame, image is a few cm smaller).

They all have a 6 digit number at the end of the title to uniquely identify the negative to help ordering – just type this number into the search box in the World Landscapes Gallery and it will show the image and ordering information. Not all images are included so if you can’t find the ones that interest you just send me an email using the Contact page form on this website and we’ll sort out the details between us.

Thursday 24th March 1994 Travel to Haiming

I flew from Manchester to Munich and caught the shuttle train to Munich city station and then the fast train to Innsbruck. From there it was the very sedate local stopping train to Haiming at the end of the Otztal valley. From the station it was a short walk to the modern Hotel Fohrenhof.

Friday 25th, Saturday 26th March 1994 Solden Skiing

After a couple of days of skiing solo at Solden (ski area photos below were taken in 2019 as I didn’t carry my camera on these 2 days in 1994) I met fellow client Bob Cheesewright (a University lecturer from London) before our guide Jon and his wife Hilary arrived. I had met Jon the year before with Brian Hall, they were the guides on the Haute Route.

We were all staying at the Hotel Fohrenhof (now called Haiminger Hof) in Haiming nr Otztal, a very comfortable hotel. The landlady kindly gave me a lift to the next village of Otztal a couple of mornings to catch the bus to Solden, this saved a 2.5 mile walk. I still had the 2.5 mile walk back after skiing in Solden, but I needed the exercise!

Day 1, Sunday 27th March 1994: Solden to Braunschweiger Hut

We had a bit of a late start, Jon de Montjoye forgot about the clocks changing so we lost an hour!

Hilary drove us into Solden to the car park behind the main cable car where we caught the bus to the Rettenbach Glacier where we went into the cafe to prepare by putting on sunscreen and harnesses etc.

From the cafe we caught the chair lift to Rettenbachjoch where I took a few photos before we set off again. From the top of the chair we skied down about a hundred metres, then skied off to the right through deep powder above some cliffs.

Jon pulled a rope out of his rucksack, threw the end over the cliff and asked, “right, who wants to go first?”. Bob and I quickly decided that Hilary should go first, I followed thinking that I might be able to take some striking photos from below looking up. It was a mixture of abseil and side stepping down. Bob came after me and Jon was last since he had belayed us all from the top and had to take in the rope. Unfortunately, the rope was way too short for the drop so we side-stepped the last bit without it.

Once we were all at the foot of the cliff it was onto the glacier through fresh soft powder snow maybe up to 60cm deep. We skied over to the foot of the slope we needed, stopped to put skins on the skis, took off layers of clothes as it was quite warm and started skiing up towards the Linker Fernerkogel. We followed another skiers tracks most of the way to the top which saved Jon a bit of work.

There was a big metal cross at the top held in place by concrete and cables. Bob pulled out a miniature of Bailey’s Cream Liqueur for us to share to celebrate. So much for travelling super light but it seemed to go down quite well!

After some photos it was time to remove the skins, put the skis on and ski to the hut.

The snow was good with patches of ice at the top but porridge at the bottom near the hut. I managed to get a bit of a bouncy rhythm going in the powder and only fell once from leaning forward too much.

Bob had a bit of trouble because his arthritic knees were painful which limited him bending them. In fact, he never looked relaxed on skis the whole tour because of this and had trouble on the both the uphill and downhill ski sections, which was a real shame for such a spectacular trip.

We skied close to the hut before we took off our skis and walked up the last 400m to the Braunschweiger Hut. Had Chamois for dinner and a room for 4, luxury. The hut was quite spacious and wasn’t very busy. It even had running water but not in early morning, and the toilets were inside!

Peak

Linker Fernkogel (3277m)

Day 2, Monday 28th March 1994: Braunschweiger Hut to Vernagt Hut

We skied down from the hut then put skins on and skinned around to catch the T-bar long tow to Mittelbergjoch 3166m.

It was quite a tricky ski descent from here where we side-stepped over some rocks and down to deeply rutted ski tracks to traverse south until we needed to stop and put skins on our skis for the uphill, we were still on the glacier at about 3100m. It was quite crevassed looking towards Wildspitze so we followed the usual route to avoid these which took us southwest, west, southwest again and finally south-southeast until we were on the small plateau area of Mitterkarjoch 3470m at the foot of the Wildspitze. I felt quite lethargic today, Hilary thought it was probably just the altitude so I kept my fingers crossed I’d be better tomorrow.

There were lots of other skiers here and we all skinned up the steep slope in zigzags from the Mitterkarjoch to another small plateau at point 3686m to the west of the summit. Here we left our skis and rucksacks, put on crampons and picked up our ski poles which were more useful than our ice axes for the conditions.

We made our way up using the deep bucket steps in the soft snow to the steep bit at the top below the summit ridge. The last steep section to the ridge was smooth compacted icy snow so I was pleased for the crampons but it was relatively straightforward. Some people using downhill ski boots without crampons were having trouble because of the lack of grip under the soles of their smooth plastic soled boots. I was pleased to have crampons not just vibram soles on my boots!

Then it was along the ridge a short distance to the metal summit cross of the Wildspitze, 2nd highest mountain in Austria. There were spectacular views all round with blue skies so I took quite a few photos.

We came down the same way but one of my crampons came off about halfway back to skis but the snow was soft so it didn’t matter. When I adjusted the crampons to my boots before the trip I obviously didn’t make them tight enough (I adjusted them once we were back at the hut).

Back at the skis we took off the skins, clipped into downhill mode and skied down carefully over ice around some crevasses before a fast section.

We stopped before the next col for lunch and to put skins on. Then we skinned up and traversed around to Brochkogeljoch (3423m).

Once we reached Brochkogeljoch there was a queue of people waiting to descend. Jon just skied past them all and we followed, not waiting for all the others to move on.

Once we were away from the crowds Jon gave us some training in how to do kick turns on the move while going downhill which we practiced as we descended.

We continued down the Kleine Vernagtferner and across the Grosse Vernagtferner. The snow was very heavy now but we had a good ski down before we stopped to put skins on again to ski up a moraine bank which put us above the Vernagt Hut. From here it was skins off to ski down the last half mile to the hut on snow compacted by lots of skiers so it was like a piste!

The Vernagt hut at 2755m was a very large busy hut and we were in the second sitting for dinner. For the second night running we had Chamois for dinner. There was a big wash room with showers and once again the toilets were inside the hut. We were in a room for 4 again.

Peak

Wildspitze (3770m)

Day 3, Tuesday 29th March 1994: Vernagt Hut

We left the hut on skins heading north, which was the way we came in yesterday. There were lots of others going the same way with some icy zig-zags to negotiate on our way up.

I was having a bit of difficulty today with my kick-turns until Hilary pointed out that I was leaning forwards on the turn, as soon as I kept my weight back all was fine again.

We made our own way up rather than following the crowds and were mostly in the clouds with visibility of about 100m, heading left with crags on our left on a higher route to everyone else.

Next we skied across the Grosse Vernagtferner passing just left of the Klimastation at about 2800m, still in the clouds.

Jon kept up a steady pace right up to the edge of the rocky top of the Hochvernagtspitze where we left our skis, visibility was just 20-30 metres now.

The top was covered in ice and snow, very similar to a peak in the Scottish Highlands in winter but we stopped for lunch in the rocks.

It was tricky navigating for Jon in thick cloud as we headed south southwest slowly until we came to a rock rib marked on the map at 3510m. We needed to traverse back east and Jon skied off slowly telling us to stay put then he called for us to follow, the clouds were so thick we couldn’t see him so we slowly followed his tracks.

We went as far as another rock rib then skied southeast and then east past the end of the crags and across the Grosse Vernagtferner until we found the route that we’d used yesterday to ski to the Vernagt hut. We dropped below the clouds at about 3250m which made it much easier from here.

We had good snow to ski down and made fresh tracks in the deep powder higher up before it turned a bit heavy lower down but still good snow to ski. It was hot and sunny as we reached a small valley and the last section. Then, as yesterday, we put skins on to skin up above the Vernagt Hut before taking skins off and skiing the last few hundred metres to the hut at 2755m.

I felt a lot better today, the tiredness of yesterday had gone and I felt fine so it must have been the altitude. It was a short day so I had bratwurst and bread at the hut for my second lunch.

Peak

Hochvernagtspitze (3539m)

Day 4, Wednesday 30th March 1994: Vernagt Hut to Schone Aussicht Hut

Breakfast was at 6.30am and we were on our way by 7.30am with blue sky and cold temperatures.

We skied down a few hundred metres before stopping to put skins on and ski southwest along the ridge of a moraine bank which was narrow with tracks of skis along its crest.

Then we turned northwest before skiing southwest across the Guslarferner. It was quite an easy slope until near top of the pass where it steepened and was icy so we had to slam the edges of our skis into the ice to avoid slipping back. Some rocks were poking through the surface which didn’t help.

The pass was the Ober Guslarjoch at 3361m. We took off our skis and climbed up a relatively easy slope to Fluchtkogel summit 3500m. There were spectacular views from the top so I took quite a few photos. It was hot and sunny with clear blue sky all day.

We returned to our skis, removed the skins and skied down the Kesselwandferner to the west of the Kesselwandspitze.

We soon hit breakable crust which made turns difficult then it was deep porridge. Where the slope steepened we skied left into the crags and down the snow covered Delorette Weg footpath until the the snow ran out.

We took our skis off and carried them for about 400m until we found snow lower down and skied to the Hochjoch Hospiz at 2413m, which was closed, where we stopped for lunch.

We walked down to the valley floor, Bob had trouble keeping up here, crossed the stream by a snow bridge and up the snow bank on the other side where we waited for Bob.

Then it was skins on and we skied up a steep slope to start with then an easy gradient for most of the way to the pass. I kept dropping back to take photos of the group skiing up the valley.

Soon we reached Hochjoch pass at 2861m just above our hut for the night. We were on a pisted track from here down to the large Schone Aussicht Hut (Bella Vista Hut) 2860m which was right on the pass, reaching it at 2.30pm, this was just in Italy.

We had a large room for 4 people on the second floor and it was quite a creaky old building. The other 3 had showers so I reprimanded them for carrying completely unnecessary towels in true Peter Cliff fashion.

The hut was busy during the day until after 6pm as there were ski lifts and pistes of the Val Senales ski area close by. I had a drink on the terrace in the sunshine with Bob to end the day.

There were quite a few ski tourers staying at the hut.

Peak

Fluchtkogel (3500m)

Day 5, Thursday 31st March 1994: Schone Aussicht hut to Similaun Hut

Breakfast wasn’t available until 8am so we had a late start at 9am. There was blue sky but it was cold.

We skied downhill for a half mile or so, stopped to put skins on and continued east uphill across a steep icy slope.

The slope became very steep and icy, Bob had difficulty keeping his ski edges and harscheisen  biting into the ice so Jon laboriously cut steps for him and lifted each ski up into the slot.

We were soon past that short very steep section and the slope lessened for the last half mile to the Hauslabjoch 3283m.

In fact we cut the corner off instead of going to the col, we headed for the end of the ridge where a couple of other groups were milling around with their skis planted vertically in the snow. The end of Fineilspitze at Hauslabjoch is triangular and we headed for the nearest route up to the main ridge, a bit higher than the pass.

We took off our skis and left them lying on the snow as they still had skins on so wouldn’t slide away, put crampons on our boots and started up the ridge with an ice axe and one ski pole for security.

Bob was nervous about the exposure on the snow ridge so Jon tied him on a short rope with him while Hilary and I went up unroped, which meant I could take photos when I wanted to stop. It was steeper and rocky on the north side. The snow on the ridge was quite grippy and deep in places.  It was similar to a few scottish snowy ridges on Munro’s that I’ve done in the past.

Clouds were swirling around the mountain giving us good views every now and then. We soon reached the large metal cross on the summit of Fineilspitze 3516m where I took quite a few photos.

We returned the same way with the patches of deep grippy snow on some of the steps on the ridge made it easier going down.

After tying the axes back onto our rucksacks and removing the skins off our skis we skied down to the Hauslabjoch, down a steep section then across a plateau with an easy gradient to the east then south as we traversed round.

This was near to the place where the 5300 year old neolithic iceman Ötzi was discovered in 1991.

We continued our traverse around, back into Italy and to the Similaun Hut. The weather had closed right in now with the clouds down, poor visibility and it was very cold.

The hut was being refurbished and was very cold inside so I put several layers on for sitting in the hut. Most days I was just in a fleece zip polo top layer but at Similaun I put on a long sleeved T-shirt, long johns and 2 more fleeces just to keep warm indoors!

I had Speckrosti (bacon rosti), salad and a beer for lunch.

After this I went for a walk up the lower slopes of Similaun, our summit for tomorrow, weather permitting. I only went about a half mile as the clouds came down again limiting visibility to just a few metres so I didn’t get the photos I’d hoped for. I followed my tracks and compass to get back to the hut.

Peak

Fineilspitze (3516m)

Day 6, Friday 1st April 1994: Similaun Hut to Vent

We were up at 7.30am but the weather was bad so we waited in case it improved as we wanted to climb the neighbouring mountain – Similaun.

It didn’t improve so at 9.45am we left, heading for the valley. We had to ski close together because the visibility was less than 100m.

Bob’s axe fell off his rucsack as he skied but fortunately I spotted it as I was behind and picked it up for him.

The clouds cleared at around the 2800m level as we skied lower. We picked up a footpath just beyond the Martin Busch Hut, 2501m (closed), it was mostly covered in snow but we had to remove our skis and carry them a few times. Finally we came down to a pisted run which we followed to the edge of Vent, where we finished the tour beside the river.

We stopped for a team photo then walked along a road to the Hotel Post bar at 11.50am for a celebratory drink. I also had Wiener Schnitzel for an early lunch here.

Hilary made her way back to Solden to pick up her van and come back to collect us, we carried on drinking while we waited!

Cameras

Mamiya 6 for 6x6cm negatives, 50mm lens in CCS camera case on neck strap and waist belt so that it was instantly available, Ilford 100 Delta 120, Ilford FP4 220

Nikon AF3 for 35mm Colour Slides/Transparencies, just on a neck strap over one shoulder.

On downhill sections my Mamiya camera was usually secured in its case and the Nikon compact was in a jacket pocket or in my rucksack if no jacket was worn, just in case of a fall.

Equipment

Ski Mountaineering Skis: Kastle Tour Randonnee 180cm skis + Silvretta 404 Bindings

Ski Crampons: Silvretta 404 Harscheisen

Ski Climbing Skins: Pomoco (orange colour on left of photo)

Ski Mountaineering Boots: Dynafit Tour Lite 2

Crampons: Camp Arctic 10 step-in lightweight crampons

Ice Axe: Mountain Technology 50cm

Rucksack: Outside Rock 40 litre (made by POD, weight 1kg empty)