Saving lives

After my almost dead experience a few weeks ago (see last blog) I saved a live from a skier. I found him upside down 4 meter away from the piste, I saw his skies till his knees but not moving. He felt into a snow-hole in between bushes. Fast as I could I dug his head free from snow, I found him conscious.
Beside these experience I had many very good days. Good powder face shots, jumps, tricks, high alpine lines, tree runs all it needs for a good winter.

Every winter is so different, that is something I love about it. It brings diffenent experiance and diffenent stories. Big thanks to Mountain Hardwear for putting me in nice & technical clothes.

On the limit

Saturday was a beautiful day in Obergurgl. Like the old days, riding untracked fresh powder in steep technical terrain with the Steinbocks and friends. No sign of danger, a very bit of new snow and a bit of wind sighns. Avalance danger level 2. After many very good runs we hiked higher to the Wurmkogel.  From the top I dropped first into the north face of the mountain. I controlled the sluff in the first 20 meters very steep terrain. Just before the moment where I needed to make a turn to the right to arrive the save spot, a little avalanche (30/40 cm high and 4 meters wide) broke above me. The avalanche took me down and the bad thing was, under me was a cliff from about 100 meters. I started screaming so the boys would know there is a problem. I tried to hold myself in the snow with my arms, but I kept on sliding down on my frontside edge. About 15 meters later I stopped. Then I looked behind me and I saw that I was one meter in front of the cliff.

Carefully I hiked up to, thankful nothing bad happened.  I will be even more careful next time.

Weather Austria

November has been a very unusual month in Austria. It’s been the warmest November ever recorded in weather history (in 240 years).

With most Austrian lower elevation ski resorts still closed and waiting for more snow.We headed back to Obergurgl/Hochgurgl which is one of the 4 non Glacier ski resorts that are currently open in the country. We have had some colder temps and precipitation in most parts of the Alps and it looks like winter is coming and here to stay.

The forecast a mix of sun and clouds left us hopeful to get some decent visibility. With a significant snowfall at higher elevations there were 20cms of fresh pow above 2500m at all aspects of the mountain. Some of the snow was a bit wind buffed from moderate westerly winds. But all in all it was amazingly dry, cold blower pow with a faceshot guarantee.

The Visibility during the day was impaired buy a high cloud cover that only left us with short windows of decent light. At around noon we got to ride some of the higher situated back country before it clouded over in the afternoon. We where happy to see that we were the only ones venturing out into the side country for first lines – we found what we were looking for! In the morning there were also sunny brakes at the bottom of the mountain which gave us the chance to shred some of the great groomers at Obergurgl.

All in all a great day of riding with friends at a great ski resort that offers a big variety of terrain and slopes. The Ski lift infrastructure at Obergurgl/Hochgurgl is amazing connecting every corner of the mountain. Also making it easy to return to a lift from the back/side country.

Text Eike Poepelmaier

My first day freeriding this season in Obergurgl was super nice!

Photos will speak:

After surfing the coastline of Morocco I picked up my girl at Marrakesh airport to discover the mountains of the Anti Atlas and the High-Atlas. It turned out to be an adventure because of heavy rains, washed away streets, broken bridges and heavy snowfall. Not a holiday as expected – we got stucked in the stone dessert. We learned a lot about Moroccan culture and we learned what patience is- that is a good thing…  I hadn’t learn a lot about patience in Europe. Photos will follow.

I’m back at home in civilization now. In the mail I found the latest Magazines with articles that I wrote last summer in total 13 pages, photos and text. So if you’re dutch check out the Taste, the Hoogtelijn and the Snowboard Magazine.

Tomorrow I’ll check out the snow conditions in Obergurgl.

Garden with 50 different vegetables, surfing marokko

Since two weeks I’m back ‚home‘ in France (see photo with the little house and his view). It is still the same beautiful as always, it is an isolated paradise on earth. On south face surrounded by valleys, (climbing) rocks and some little villages from natural stones. My parents live here, we rebuild four ruins. One for my parents, one for me, a sauna and one guesthouse. We used wood and stones from here, and rebuild in old style.

Tonight we counted the different fruits herbs and vegetables in the garden. We counted 50 different vegetables 20 different fruits and 15 different herbs.

Guesthouse http://www.cabreperdu.com

I build here a wooden stair, see photos. Tomorrow I ‚ll got to Marocco till December, surfing and hiking.

Last weekend I was at Kaunertaler gletsjer opening to promote split boarding with Split, Hike & Ride. Inclusive photo shooting and interview for radio FM4. Split Hike and Ride is a genius concept of two Austrians, who can perfectly split your favourite snowboard. They also offer one and more day ski/snowboard touring days for beginners and experienced freeriders. (check facebook: split hike ride).

Last week I climbed rocks in Bürser Platte, after Johann climbed redpoint a 9-. After about 10 meters I climbed into the roof and needed a rest to check out the next moves. The moment I jumped into the rope the hook broke and I fell backwards, head down into the next hook. I hit my head against the rocks and started bleeding and I was dizzy. Lucky me it stopped bleeding fast and the next day I was fine again. Happy that I could keep on climbing, and proud to climb another hard line in redpoint a technical overhanging crack (8+).

Last week I was teaching and training kayaking with a friend Gernot in Karnten (see foto). This weekend I teach and train down-hill biking, the weekend after splitboarding on the glacier. In between I’m climbing and I lurn to ride pool on skateboard and inline skates. After splitboarding I’ll travel to france for climbing and to build a wooden stair and before the winter arives one month surfing and traveling Marocco. Then I learn to know a girl of my dreams and it looks like she like me to :)Dawn, life is good to me!

Beside I lurn/study forms of consciousness, among other I read the book of Martin Weber ‘Der Mensch in Gleichgewicht’ (Men in balance). He has lots of success in healing professional athletes. He explains very good how big the influence of our way of thinking is and what we can change. New forms of consciousness opens and things that happened are getting logic and problems are possible to get solved.

Magic moments after rain, at my home mountain Blisadona. Blisadona and the mountains behind are wild like the mountains in New Zealand and the sky yesterday was clear like the sky in New Zealand. After almost daily climbing in the valley it felt good to breathe the air of da mountains again.