Ortler Tour
March 31 - April 6th, 2008
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| It was an odd year in the Alps. From mid March
to the end of April, it was cool, unsettled and at times, very
snowy. This years first trip on the Ortler brought a group of
friends from Washington state over to the Sudtirol region of
Italy for what turned out to be a most unusual trip. It began
with Larry Miller and Sussi Rowntree losing their luggage in
British airway's terminal 5 fiasco, and continued with Jerry
and Steph Peters arriving with strept throat. But the fun didn't
stop there.... |
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| After running all over Sulden to procure
gear for Larry and Sussi, and Jerry and Steph seeing a
doctor in a nearby village, we were somehow able to leave
for skiing by noon. Steph decided to take a rest day and
remain in Sulden, so Tim Connelly (guide) took Larry,
Sussi, Marc Robertson and Stacy Moon on to the Marteller
hut for the night. Here Sussi begins the initial descent
on her new rental skis which encouraged her to "explore
her limits". |
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| Larry and Jerry did a short off piste
run and returned to Sulden for the night with the plan
of meeting the others at the Branca hut the following
day. Here Jerry tops out on the ridge leading to the start
of the run. |
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| Jerry gets freshies down the wide open
slopes above Sulden. |
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| The following day, as planned, Larry,
Jerry and Steph made their way to the Branca to meet up
with the rest of the group. Fortunately the weather was
perfect. |
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| The perfect weather didn't last however
and we spent the next few days touring in near whiteout
conditions. Here the group climbs up through "the
tube" so we would have the rock walls for reference.
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| The tube leads up to a high glacier on
Pizzo Tresoro and we got just enough visibility to coax
us higher and higher towards the summit. In the end, we
topped out and had great skiing back to the hut. Here
Tim sets a track up toward the glacier. |
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| The following day dawned clear, but very
windy. Tim, Sussi and Steph headed for the Pizzini hut,
while Larry headed up San Juacinto for some skiing with
the rest of the group. Rather than climb the standard
route towards the summit, we were drawn to a beautiful
untracked bowl just above and left of the obvious couliour
in this photo. |
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| Here Marc climbs up into the bowl with
views into the Cedec valley beyond. The peak dominating
the center of the photo is the Grand Zebru and the Pizzini
hut sits in the center of the valley.. |
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| The skiing down the bowl was superb and
the area had a wonderful alpine flavor. |
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| The following day we left the comfort
of the Pizzini hut (private rooms and showers) in fairly
sunny, but deteriorating weather. Here Larry and Sussi
tour up toward a high pass on the Cedec glacier below
the Grand Zebru. Meanwhile, Tim was climbing the Grand
Zebru with Stacy and Marc. The three would summit the
peak and ski down right from the very top - nice work
boys! |
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| As we toured we came across the ruins
of a World War One bunker on a high point on the glacier.
With visibility rapidly disappearing, we took lunch there
before heading down in a whiteout. |
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| With minimal visibility outside, it seemed
the only safe thing to do was to return to the Pizzini
hut for some cappuccino and hot tea. |
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| (L to R) Steph, Jerry, Larry and Sussi
enjoy hot drinks at the Pizinni hut. |
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| Our final day turned into an incredible
storm that would wind up dumping several feet of snow
by the next morning. We climbed to a high pass (Marc in
photo here), and took refuge in the Cassati hut while
we waited for a break in the weather. Meanwhile the hut
sounded an air raid siren for skiers lost in the storm.
Finally, we left the hut with the aid of GPS and navigated
our way back to Sulden. When we could finally see something
again, we enjoyed knee deep powder that took us right
back into the ski area. |
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