Another snow shoe adventure with Erinna, after driving as far up the roads of Berchtesgaden as our little car would manage. Like a good orienteer, Erinna always managed to nuzzle her way through the best paths in the powder.
With Salzburg plastered in snow, Erinna and I tried out our new snow shoes with a short night hike on Kühberg.
In December we hosted three sets of friends from England on mini ski-breaks to the Austrian mountains. Thanks for the fun visits Louise, Marcus, Aisling, Mark, Moffatt & Anna!
Another trip up my favourite local scramble to the summit of the Kleiner Barmstein, this time with Erinna and Blackmore for company. We took bivy gear (including sleeping bags this time...) and awoke after a -8° night to a beautiful sunrise on the summit. Great to have Sweep the dog for company too. Woof.
Our final outing in north eastern Uzbekistan was a trip up the local hill Little Chimgan, followed by a descent into the Gulkham Gorge beneath. We continued down the steep drops until progress was stopped by a narrow ravine near the Gulkamsay River confluence.
Our main mountaineering objective in Uzbekistan was a route on Big Chimgan. After aborting our first attempt the day before in torrential rain, we set off in beautiful winter conditions the next day with Vladimir and Demenskaya. After many hours of uphill ascent we reached the bivy cave and geared up for the snow to come.
Sadly the heavy overnight snowfall was bonded terribly to the warm rock beneath and we we decided to bail a few hundred metres from the summit. The two locals were great company and also demonstrated some rather curious short roping techniques, although fortunately Erinna's first winter abseil was conducted a little more safely. It's a honeymoon, not an expedition!
