March 9, 2009, the back yard (Axamer Koegel)

Forecast was bad so I had a nice leisurely breakfast and spent some time emailing and surfing, but the blue sky required outdoor attention despite the strong breeze.  Of course Wolfi had a suggestion, this time a ten minute drive from his apartment.  It is the Austrian equivalent of Mt. Si or Tiger Mountain I guess, of course for an Austrian it must be upskiable.  Wolf's young friends do it in an hour and a quarter for the 3000' gain.

For me the solo trip was a chance to try some new Dynafit skins with their curious tip connector.  Duct tape did not hold the skin as well as hoped, and shoestring was nearly as bad, so I resorted to my old standby skins.  Still hope to find a way to use the new skins since they are wall to wall, tho I hope to keep the same tip just in case I want to use them with Dynafit skis sometime when the price drops low enough to buy.  Wish those skis were indexed to the stock market, source of my retirement funds.

Anyway, I started up the ski run, then veered off to the forestry road which was a mistake.  I headed up a gully that got quite steep, interesting test of the new skins, changed over, and finally called it a day at a hunter's lookout about half way to the Koegel.  The descent to the ski run where I was supposed to have been was very nice boot top powder, well protected from the strong winds today.  Then dust on ice for the rest of the way down.  Good exercise and now I know a great place for a down day.