Freeriding with the King of Engelberg
We also wake up on Friday in a thick soup of fog. Nothing is moving outside yet and Jojo and I are a little worried about how things are going to continue. But we remain optimistic. We meet Yves at the station at 08:20 sharp and take the bus to the valley station instead of walking. He has already warned us - he doesn't like walking and it's not really necessary on the Titlis. So we leave the skins at home today and grab our downhill-orientated freeride skis. In the gondola, it slowly but clearly gets brighter and then WOW - the Titlis and the surrounding mountains are bathed in sunlight, blue skies and a sea of clouds as far as the eye can see. A marvellous view that makes you understand where the name Engelberg might have come from. Engelberg is known for its BIG FIVE freeride runs:
Steinberg, Sulz, Laub, Steintäli and Galtiberg
Today we have chosen three of the five, the three that are feasible without a traverse and at the moment. We head straight for the first one. The Steinberg is clearly visible below the Titlis Rotair gondola and is dotted with a few protruding pieces of glacier and several large cliffs. Unfortunately, the hoped-for fresh snow has not materialised this time, but we still want to give it a try.
After the first few turns, however, we are quite surprised at the quality of the snow. We were expecting hard, wind-compressed snow with a lid, but on the contrary, the snow is unusually good. And so we follow Yves downhill through the labyrinth of stones, glacier sections and quite fun snow towards Trübsee. The descent is steep in places and requires knowledge of where to traverse and when to turn off, which is no problem with Yves, but you should take a closer look at the route on your own. And you should also take a look around: it's really impressive when you look up and suddenly a huge blue piece of ice rises out of the rock in front of you, which you've just steered around. Because the snow here was still so good, we decide to ski the big Sulz second, where you ski down into the same valley, only you start from a different point. We wind our way back down to Trübsee through a few gullies and open faces with a headwind. Here too, despite the lack of fresh snow, we still find a few slopes with decent powder turns. The third lap takes us over another variant of the Steinberg and back over the glacier.
However, as the wind continues to pick up up here and the sections that were previously easy to ride are now slowly becoming bogged down, we decide to tackle the third destination for today. The “Laub”. For this we start at the "Stand". Yves takes us on his favourite lap, which he suspects could still be quite good. We first have to cross a few rocks and stones and I wonder whether this is the right route. Once we reach our destination, there is no longer any doubt, as a beautiful hollow, lined with untracked snow, opens up our journey into the valley. As the avalanche conditions are favourable, it is possible to ski the “Laub” today. This is known for its avalanche risk due to the wide open terrain. We are also cautious, but the situation here has eased and we enjoy knee-deep powder. Unbelievable, even though it's been days since the last snowfall. At the bottom, we come out at a rustic hut and have to take the "Freeride Express" from here. An old Toyota Haice 4WD that will make the hearts of all Japan lovers beat faster. The journey back to the start of the valley descent costs 2.50CHF. An acceptable price for the little extra adventure, but if you want to save the money, you can also push out or walk.
