Dust on crust aka early season off piste

The title says it all about early season. Good news is that sun was out, Juha came for a visit and skiing simple off piste lines was easy on less crowded glaciers.

Kaunertal

Last Saturday me and Juha went to Kaunertal. First time in this place for both of us. Sun was out but most of Kaunertal was in the shades. Terrain was good and plenty ideas for small off piste tours, hikes and routes.

Small hike to a south side ridge for some fresh turns over a closed lift. Nice to hike at 3000 meters as warm up.

Enjoy the sun, views and some snacks on the ridge:

Then ski back down to the shady side:

Kaunertal was nice to see. Will be back some day!

Stubai

Then on Sunday me and Juha went to Stubai hoping that there would be less people than on a sunny Saturday when everyone from Innsbruck is there, almost. Turned out we could ski off piste all day and make first tracks to the new dust layer too.

Juha's opening lines:

Speeding to a gully which had collected most of the fresh stuff. Second round already as the tracks show.

Another spot to open up, and trying to make use of the photo opportunities as well.

Since it's early season and base is not there, we need to be careful around the rocks. But sometimes the amount of fresh snow is surprising as well:

Avoiding them shark rocks:

And another open face without tracks:

Same place, different angle:

Looks steep, doesn't it?

Juha enjoying the almost darkest days of the year. Quite different from Finnish dark days of the year (cold and really, really dark).

That was one December 2013 weekend at two basic West Tirol glacier ski resorts.

-Mikko