Category: Winter
-
More food, rain, near-redemption and a sudden end in Georgia
Photos by Francis Dennig, Sebastian Stumpf and Martin Georgia is a country neighbouring the sky. At least, this is what several billboards at the Sarpi border checkpoint tell travellers who enter by road from Artvin province in Türkiye, another neighbour of Georgia’s. While this surely sounds like a bold claim, it is not certain that…
-
A detour through Kurdistan and a brief return to skiing in the Kaçkars
Photos by Johannes Braun, Sebastian Stumpf and Martin Once Markus gets going behind the wheel, he can be hard to stop. There is of course no denying that, yet again, the weather was also a factor. With snow lines climbing to beyond 2,000m in altitude, stops in Erzincan or Erzurum were not particularly appealing. And…
-
Anatolia: arguably too much Köfte, not enough skiing
Photos by Sebastian Stumpf and Martin Luckily, someone in the car noticed that we were overshooting the right turn towards Istanbul and that Burgas was, in fact, on the Black Sea coast. This small detour notwithstanding, Turkish passport checks at the Hamzabeyli checkpoint were cleared quickly. Customs were a different story. Instructions by officials were…
-
From the Carpathian to the Rila Mountains, Shopski-Style
Photos by Sebastian Stumpf and Martin It was not a particularly difficult decision to leave the Alps in this ‘winter’ of 2023, which was the second warmest on record and lacking precipitation. Although snow only seemed abundant in the far west of North America, or so Instagram and local sources were suggesting, another trip that…
-
Special operation Powder in Austria
Photos and videos by Raphaël Brageul, Yvan Pellegrinelli and Martin Trusted sources of imagery intelligence for western Austria were unequivocal: 90cm of fresh snow on Thursday, February 2nd, and several dozens more between Friday and Sunday. Sure, forecasts are forecasts, but three days out they surely couldnt’t be too far off. With the last snowfalls…
-
Un mois de janvier chez nous comme il se doit
Photos par Raphaël Brageul, Yvan Pellegrinelli et Martin On ne va pas mentir, il a bien fallu attendre un mois avant de rechausser les skis pour de vrai après un passage de l’hiver en décembre 2022 qui fut court. Un épisode de froid et une chute de neige, concentrés sur la Haute Savoie, avaient néanmoins…
-
Otto Leixl: Hüttengaudi dies- und jenseits der Schneefrage
Photos von Peter Dorfinger, Jonas Nefzger, Frederic Schwarz und Martin Die drei Tage im Dezember auf der Otto-Leixl-Hütte sind mittlerweile der jährliche Fixpunkt der Schitourensaison. Während Frederic und die alteingesessene Runde aus Bayern dem Nirwana schon einige Schritte näher sind und, so wird zumindest behauptet, sich von der leidigen Schneefrage schon längst befreit haben, tun…
-
Grande Finale on the BC Powder Highway and the long way home
Photos by Peter Dorfinger and Martin Gears shifted in our last week in BC and the skiing would become excellent again. Not that this had much to do at all with our being in better physical shape after three weeks of driving, hotspringing and, yes, some ski touring. Luck played a role. But the main…
-
Week 2 in BC: The Rain, Slush and Crust Highway turns to Powder again
Photos by Annikki Santala, Peter Dorfinger and Martin After stopping for dinner in Revelstoke on the way west from Rogers Pass, we spent Friday night in Sicamous. Accommodation in Revelstoke was fully booked. The goal was to pick up Annikki from Kelowna airport at 4pm on Saturday, which would leave time for a small ski…
-
Week 1 on the BC Powder Highway: Winter is back with a vengeance
Photos by Peter Dorfinger and Martin The vastness of British Columbia did not make it any easier to choose where to go. As we drove north on Highway 93 through the rain, we decided that we might as well keep going until it got colder. We did take a break at Fairmont Hot Springs. After…
My Impressions 