More Glacier Skiing
Here is a video from yesterday’s classic distance ski. In addition to skiing footage, it also includes some well-integrated scenic clips. In my opinion it was the best day on the glacier so far. We were treated to a clear sky, fresh powder, and hard wax conditions. I didn’t want to stop skiing!
However, the weather on the glacier is extremely changeable and today the conditions were less ideal. We’ve been taking the first tram up to the glacier in the morning (around 7:45am). When we showed up at the tram station this morning the recorded wind speed at the top was 58 km/hour. Earlier this week we had experienced 43 km/hour wind which was rather unpleasant so we decided to switch our morning and afternoon workouts and try skiing in the afternoon instead. The wind had subsided substantially when we returned to the tram station in the afternoon and we decided to go for it. We were the only ones on the glacier when we first arrived. It was sleeting and the visibility was extremely poor which made following the serpentines difficult. I had to keep one foot in the track on the downhills to ensure I didn’t ski off the trail and the light was so flat that I kept loosing my balance. Despite the suboptimal weather, the skiing was quite good and the conditions lent a sense of adventure to the workout. As we were skiing, the wind picked up and the recently groomed tracks began to fill with snow which made following the trail even more difficult. Liz and I skied together and took turns leading. We also each took a turn skiing into a snow bank because we couldn’t see the trail! We all decided to implement the buddy system this afternoon to ensure that no one got lost or left behind.
Very low visibility!
Pepa sharing some pre-workout advice
This really captures the views from the glacier today. If you look closely at the center of the photo you can discern some very faint figures.
Tomorrow will be our final day in Austria and our last time skiing on the glacier. It’s forecasted to be clear, but you never know what the weather will do!