Kalkkögel

It was dark and the moon was shining brightly as a VW bus drove slowly around the corner at 5 p.m. in the afternoon. People were sitting outside, quietly engrossed in conversation, when a thick flake slowly fell out of the sky.

The small family ski resort of Axamer Lizum became famous above all for the 1964 and 1976 Olympic Games, but most freeriders and ski tourers are now also familiar with it - and not just because of the Freeride Qualifier event, which has been taking place in the impressive setting of the Kalkkögel for several years now.

Thanks to a combination of lift and bus connections, the tour to the Gamskogel from the Axamer Lizum allows you to collect plenty of downhill meters without having to exert yourself too much on the ascent. In addition, the tour offers many options that can be combined as the mood takes you and, thanks to the shady orientation of the slopes, good snow can often still be found a few days after the last snowfall.

On Saturday, 14.03.15, the Axamer Lizum presented itself in its second attempt at the FWQ 3* event with sunshine, a great atmosphere in the Hoadl and good conditions on the contest slope: the Hochtennboden. The participants Julian Zenzmaier and Jochen Mesle were on site for PowderGuide and report on their impressions.

The Kalkkögel in Tyrol are located southwest of Innsbruck between the Axamer Lizum and Schlick 2000 ski resorts. It is precisely this location that could now be the protected area's undoing. The ski areas are to be connected by a lift that runs through the middle of the protected mountain area. The Austrian Alpine Association recently launched a petition in an attempt to counterbalance the ever-increasing political lobbying of the planners.

For the first time, the Open Faces Axamer Lizum was held as a 3-star Freeride World Qualifier, and the performance density and starting field in the Lizum were accordingly high-caliber, as the face unfortunately only offered a few opportunities. For the first time in the history of the Open Faces series, the winners came from four different nations.

This quite easy and mostly very lonely crossing offers many meters of descent with a relatively short ascent as well as a great Kalkkögel panorama. Although the Senderstal seems to be made for ski touring, tours are rarely undertaken. The reason for this is the long ascent via the toboggan run to the Kemater Alm and the aversion of Tyrolean ski tourers to lifts and the aversion of most freeriders to ascents.

Autumn is an unfavorable time for ski tourers. Although some glacier ski areas in Tyrol open their lifts as early as September, skiing off the groomed pistes is usually out of the question due to a lack of snow and the risk of crevasses falling. As a result, the start of this year's ski touring season was mainly characterized by the search. The search for enough snow under the boards.