There was a lovely spring end of term feeling in Leukerbad, the Swiss ski resort and spa town nestled above the Swiss Rhone and below the striking cliffs of the Gemmi Pass. It was closing weekend for both the lift at Gemmi and the fine base camp at Lammeren Hut but the sunny Saturday with great spring snow meant many teams were out touring and enjoying the fine conditions.
Ski touring from the Gemmi Pass lift up towards the Lammeren Hut with the Rinderhorn behind.
The striking zig zag ‘path’ (in summer!) up to the Gemmi Pass, seen from the cable car
We toured up and past the Lammeren Hut to enjoy a sunny summit picnic and great views from the Lammerenhorn, 2806m summit including east to the impressive West Face of the Bietschorn:
Expansive panorama from the Lammerenhorn easier summit 2806m, Bietschorn beyond
Our other West Oberland touring team took the more technical and physical ascent of the Daubenhorn 2942m and we all enjoyed some fun juicy spring snow turns on the West facing afternoon descent.
West Oberland Ski Mountaineering Team on the summit of the Daubenhorn 2942m. Photo Gav Pike
The Lammeren Hutte. A great base camp for ski touring. Come and join us for either our weekend or mid week trips next year!
After a sociable evening at Lammerenhutte Sunday morning dawned rather cloudy and some thick snow flakes started to fall as we rolled out for the steady climb up the Wildstrubel 3244m.
Sunshine and snow showers on the ski touring ascent of the Wildstrubel.
Snow volume is good on both the lower slopes and glacier plateau higher up and we made good steady progress as the weather made up it’s mind which way to go!
Atmospheric light and swirling cloud on the ski ascent of the Wildstrubel
For the final ascent to the summit the cloud thickened but the wind dropped and there was even a little fresh snow. A tactical picnic and summit faff proved just long enough for the clouds to clear and offer much improved visibility and some fun turns on the descent.
A little fresh snow on the upper glacier plateau of the Wildstrubel.
Nice sunny spring snow on the descent back to Gemmi from Wildstubel.
One of the few drawbacks of this wonderful ski touring area is the long flat plateau between Gemmi and Lammeren. Great for cross country skiing, less inspiring for ski tourers looking for nice turns! We made good use of the stable spring snow pack and did a high descending traverse on the rive droite of this plateau taking the steep north facing slopes and keeping a bit of momentum nearly all the way to the piste at the end of the Lammerenboden.
Stable steep snow traverse option to avoid the plateau of Lammerenboden
The final 20 minute climb to Gemmi confirmed what we had suspected all morning…we had definitely earned a rösti for our efforts and the last hour of opening at great Gemmi pass café delivered in good style!
Ski mountaineering in spring is awesome! It’s just necessary to retain some motivation over the long season, but this shouldn’t be hard as the rewards of skiing on the high glaciers are high and particularly inspiring when the timing delivers the famous spring magic carpet ride for the descent!
Juicy spring snow turns on the descent of the Daubenhorn 2942m. Photo Gav Pike
This week we have teams hoping to ski Gran Paradiso, Mont Blanc, The Bishorn, Imperial Crown as well as various classic Chamonix day tours and the Vallee Blanche.
For our remaining spring ski mountaineering group trips this season, we only have 2 places available on 2 different but consecutive trips in early May, so a great option is to join both. Firstly the Chamonix high altitude ski touring day on 2 May and Ski Gran Paradiso, 3-4 May, see below.
If you would like to join our West Oberland ski touring team courses next season the dates are 22-23 March for the mid week trip and 10-11th April for the weekend.
