Gröbner Hals Skiing

Published on 2006-1-7 by Michael Stanton

Gröbner Hals, January 7, 2006

I decided to try a "Dawn Patrol" kind of trip here in Munich, which seems really odd to folks. Of course it seemed odd to folks back in Seattle too, but makes perfect sense for the busy dad on the go: a chance to get out and breath the mountain air, and be back home in time for city errands or playing with the kids!

I picked an easy ski tour to a pass called the Gröbner Hals. It is near a very pretty mountain lake called the Achensee, and a town at it's north side called Achenkirch. I escaped the perpetual fog over Munich and was parked at the Kinderhotel at the base of the route after an hour and twenty minutes of driving. I began skinning up a very flat valley at sunrise, admiring the snowy peaks at the end. Eventually I realized I was on the wrong side of the river, following a groomed cross-country ski path that would surely end, while I wanted a road that switchbacked up the other side of the valley. I took off my skis and toiled across a creek, only getting my boots wet. I decided to walk a while on the other side until it got steep again.

When this happened I ran into some equipment trouble. I tried three times to put my skis back on, but one or the other kept falling off. I eventually figured out what happened: during the walk, compacted snow froze into ice deep in the metal binding holes of my boots. My superficial cleanings weren't enough. Without a good sharp tool (like a nail) to clean the holes, I finally had to take off my boots and breath on them to melt the ice. Argh, in total this cost 30 minutes of precious time! Oh well, it was something I had to learn sometime.

Skinning up a road, I admired some waterfall ice on the other side of the valley. They were very short, looked like 20 meter high routes. Soon I broke out of the trees into open slopes of the upper valley. Admiring the peaks on both sides, I came to three farm buildings, closed up tight for the winter. Another 30 minutes of climbing brought me to the Gröbner Hals, where a stunning view of the Karwendel mountains awaited me. They have no glaciers, but especially in the area around the Eng valley, they are tortured, black and dramatic. I wish I brought my camera! The mountains were extremely quiet all around, and the blue sky and warm sun were restorative.

Now it was time to ski down. Unfortunately, the steepest part of the ski was right from the top, and I wished I could get kind of "warmed up" on something easier. Naturally, I fell after one turn, and to add insult to injury, a ski came off and slid 100 feet down the hill, past the interesting steep section! As I waded down the slope I cursed for effect. Oh well, I still had plenty of challenges ahead. Because the snow hadn't had much time to be warmed by the sun, there was still an upper crust which, to my dismay, made it harder to turn. So I pretty much "survived" my way down, not enjoying it as much as I'd hoped (considering that it's a very easy route!). Lower, I took a wrong turn and left the road. Falling somewhere along the way, I saw I was committed to a more advanced ski descent. Still, it looked possible, so I kept going, only falling once when I skied into the skirts of a tree. Later I reached a hut in the forest, then after another hundred feet of shaky skiing I found the road again. Now I could just stand and coast the remaining two miles (roughly?) to the car.

Cool, I'll have to get a lot of these ski tours under my belt, happy to be starting now!