Spent a nice weekend in the mountains with fellow
ZSS members the weekend just after I turned a whopping 32 years old. Timo, Nicole, Saskia, Markus and I headed up to Chamanna Jenatsch apparently the highest hut in the canton of Graubünden. We reached the hut starting from the Julierpass road and over Piz Surgonda in surreal weather and lighting conditions. The snow left a lot to be desired but it was nice to be surrounded by some large peaks -- I had been wanting to come to the Jenatsch hut for some time since Molly and I
did a bike tour a few years ago over Suvrettapass that came out a bit further down in the Val Bever. The hut is highly recommended -- the hut keepers are incredibly friendly people, their food is amazing, and if you're into it they even have a sauna (to me it seems crazy to fly wood up by helicopter for a sauna, but who am I to say what is sane). They have a nice little booklet about Jürg Jenatsch who was apparently quite a guy and freed the canton of Graubünden from foreign control. It involves stories of high intrigue from the 17th century... Markus studied it diligently and delivered a history mini-lecture to the rest of us over dinner...
The second day was pure kitsch -- cloudless skies, perfect temperatures, though the snow had a bit of a sneaky crust that made for less than pleasant skiing here and there. We made it to two summits (Piz Calderas and Tschima da Flix) and enjoyed ridiculous views all day. Unfortunately, the weather moved in shortly after we arrived at the hut and we could hear the howling winds all night -- the final day was a bit miserable with terrible visibility, low temperatures, and a sketchy avalanche situation due to the wind-transported snow.... but we all made it across Fuorcla Laviner out to Tinizong unscathed.
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| heading up Val d'Agnel from the Julierpass road |
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| Nicole and Saskia approaching Piz Surgonda summit |
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| Markus and Timo on Piz Surgonda (3196m) |
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| Nicole skiing off Piz Surgonda ridge |
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| Timo looking across at Piz Picuogl |
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| skiers approaching Chamanna Jenatsch from the direction of Piz d'Agnel |
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| perfect morning in the mountains... |
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| Markus and Timo heading up toward Vadret Calderas; Jenatsch hut in the background |
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| Skiers on Vadret Calderas |
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| Saskia and Timo approaching the summit pyramid on Piz Calderas |
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| final climb to the summit of Piz Calderas |
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| hand shakes all around on Piz Calderas (3397m) |
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| Looking northwest off the summit of Piz Calderas |
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| climbers on the summit of Piz Calderas with the Bernina group in the background |
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| Timo, Saskia, Nicole and Markus on the summit |
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| Nicole skiing off Piz Calderas with our next objective, Tschima da Flix in the background |
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| final approach to Tschima da Flix (3316m) |
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| Piz Calderas from Tschima da Flix -- you can see the approach/descent tracks including some crazy cliff schenanigans |
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| Timo skiing down Vadret Calderas below Tschima da Flix |
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| poor visibility and strong winds... |
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| nice traverse... but don't slip |
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| Timo and Nicole below the face that we skied -- Fuorcla (pass) Laviner at the top. We came down somewhere in the middle... |
