I spent more and more time off-piste, at freeride camps and avalanche courses - and started to go on tours. Initially with snowshoes and for some time with a splitboard. Eventually, ski touring with a split snowboard became my main winter sport.
When I saw a sports documentary about the "Fischer Transalp" on TV in 2011, I was immediately fascinated by the idea of crossing the Alps on skis and couldn't let go. Last year, during a freeride camp, I found out that the freeride and alpine school "dieBergstation", which accompanied the Fischer Transalp as a mountain and ski guide at the time and played a key role in organizing this undertaking, would be offering the Transalp as a tour in the future. After a few conversations with Stephan Skrobar, one of the two operators, about what exactly was in store for me, I decided to try the tour on a snowboard.
So I was about to face my biggest sporting challenge: I would walk and ride my snowboard once through the Alps - from Virgental in East Tyrol to Ramsau near Berchtesgaden.
In total, there were six of us: three skiers and me. Ski guide Stephan and mountain guide Karl took the lead.
After the original plan had to be adjusted at short notice due to the current weather conditions, we met at nine o'clock on April 1, 2013 at the Wildbachklamm gorge in Ramsau near Berchtesgaden. We then took a shuttle to our starting point: Hinterbichl am Großvenediger. Due to the conditions of the last few days, we were able to start the first stage, the ascent to the Johannishütte at 2,121 m, in the afternoon as an increase in the risk of avalanches due to warming, as is normally expected in spring, was not to be expected due to the low temperatures. And so, after a two-hour ascent, we reached the hut in the afternoon.
After a delicious dinner, we set up camp there for the night, together with other mountaineers and tourers who had planned the same as us for the next day: The ascent of the 3657 m high Großvenediger.
After an extremely early start to the day, we set off at 7:00 a.m.: a quick application of thick sunscreen, hip belt on, skins on the split board, 16 kg backpack on the hump - and then tackling the 1,600 vertical meters. The increasingly thin air didn't make the task any easier! But thanks to the great pace of mountain guide Karl and the motivation of ski guide Stephan - and of course the will to conquer the highest mountain in Salzburg and the fifth highest mountain in Austria - we reached the summit of the Großvenediger after five hours and, after a short balancing act over the famous summit ridge to the summit cross, we were able to enjoy the incredible panorama of the Alpine peaks in fantastic weather. With very good visibility, we could also see our route ahead and our destination in the distance - at the end of the horizon.
After a short recovery period, some muesli bars and a few cups of tea, we got ready for the descent to the Kürsinger Hütte, where the next overnight stay was planned. The untracked north-west slope, visible from above, made freeriders' hearts beat faster and gave us hope of an excellent descent. Unfortunately, the snow turned out to be pure crushed snow, which made the descent rather a strenuous task. But the panorama and the good weather made up for the poor snow conditions. After a short ascent, we reached the Kürsinger hut in the early afternoon. As the weather forecast didn't predict anything good for the next few days, we were the only guests at the hut, which is one of the largest mountain huts in the area. So we were able to enjoy the breathtaking scenery and the sunset in the mountains in peace and quiet over a beer and an excellent dinner.
It had snowed a few centimetres overnight and the clouds were still hanging on the surrounding peaks. The plan for the day was to climb one of these peaks and then continue down through the Obersulzbachtal valley to Neukirchen. The weather was kind to us again, and after a few cloudy hours the sky cleared. However, we had to abandon our plans after about 600 meters of ascent due to the risk of avalanches and started the descent straight away. This was the first time that the clear disadvantage of the snowboard compared to skis became apparent, as it is much easier to push off on skis on flat terrain than on a snowboard - and unfortunately you can't skate on a snowboard. After a short snack on the Postalm, we finally reached Neukirchen at around 3 p.m., where Emil, the landlord of the Kürsingerhütte, shuttled us to our accommodation in Bramberg - the Naturresort Senningerhof. Back in civilization, we were able to enjoy the benefits of the sauna and shopping facilities.
The next day, we took the gondola up the Wildkogel, the only ascent aid during our entire tour. Another glorious day awaited us - despite the bad weather forecast. After a rapid descent down the back side of the ski area into a basin, we climbed the 2200 m high Steinkogel due to the great snow conditions. After a really good "Baaz-Powder" descent, we had to put on our skins again to be able to ski down to the Oberlandhütte in Aschau near Kitzbühel. Once again, we had to push out a very long valley, and that in constantly warming temperatures, which made the wet snow increasingly lazy. But at the end of the day, we reached our overnight accommodation without any problems.
The next morning, a cab took us to our next starting point, Oberaurauch near Kitzbühel. And while we climbed our next summit, the Sonnspitze, ski guide Stephan had to continue by cab to Leogang to our next accommodation due to stomach cramps. Despite relatively thick cloud cover, we reached our destination quickly and continued on towards Hochfilzen. After a carrying passage of around 1.5 km, we reached the Gasthof zur eisernen Hand, from where we took a shuttle to our accommodation in Leogang.
Because Bernhard, one of the participants, had broken part of his ski boot on the last tour and developed a large blister on the sole of his foot, there were only three of us left for the last stage the next day. Stephan was feeling better again, however, and so we set off for the final crossing. After a short cab ride to the starting point in Weissbach near Lofer, we set off for our last summit of the Transalp, the 2,321 m high Seehorn. Due to the poor visibility caused by fog and clouds, orientation on the 1,600 meters of altitude was only possible with GPS. But we were able to solve this problem and reached the summit after four hours. There we prepared for the descent for the last time. I converted my "touring skis" into a snowboard for the last time and we completed a very difficult and adventurous descent due to the dense fog. Thanks to the GPS and Stephan's excellent guidance, we found the right steep gully that led us into the Wimbach-Gries - initially following a long and narrow ridge. From there, we were able to push out the flat valley for a few more kilometers until we finally reached the Wimbach gorge and followed the hiking trail for another 2.5 km with the board on the backpack to the car.
After 6 days, we were able to look back on a successful crossing of the Alps: In total, we covered around 150 km of route and around 8,000 meters of ascent and around 9,000 meters of descent.