Pictures From the Skintrack

[dbostedo]

For the first time in my life, I was actually able to ski this steep stuff with normal gs like turns

Sounds awesome!

 

[Primoz]

@Slim normally it's not really big deal, especially if I can climb up on skis. For me climbing up on foot is killing me. One reason is, I have never been climbing, and being on steep face with whole bunch of air under my butt, hanging on ice axe and front tooth of crampons is tense and not really comfortable thing. So I'm way more tensed during such climb then I would be on skis. And I would say it's also more physically demanding then skinning up. But main thing is, I'm way more stressed this way, and after few hours it shows also physically. I figured out, that I can ski down stuff without any issues, being far from limit, while I'm close or over the limit when climbing up same thing.
And I guess pretty hard classic xc skiing session (most likely last classic ski this winter) day before didn't help either, so today I'm pretty much dead

 

[Primoz]

Would xc fit into "photos from the skintrack"? My last classic xc skiing this winter. There's still plenty of snow, but they decided not to do tracks anymore, except hopefully still once for Saturday, so I might get one more skating session this Saturday. It was great season, and I don't think I ever had more then 40 days on xc skis in single winter since I quit racing

 

[Snowflake2420]

Below Mt Bross, CO

 

[Slim]

Cooke City, MT
Guide, me, 10 yo daughter, 13 yo daughter.

 

[Slim]

Still Cooke City, MT.
Didn’t see anyone all day long. Skied 3 laps of 1000 feet (300m) vert each. A record for the girls.

 

[Primoz]

It's been a while since my last photos here, but lately I have been skiing mostly some steep stuff in my backyard, which means I don't really take much photos when I'm in more or less same places every day
Last weekend was slightly different, and as weather and conditions were nice, with some worse weather promising for next 10 days or so, we quickly decided for easier (nothing steeper then III+) but a bit longer tour with 1700m of ascend and slightly less then 20km in distance. But it's all worth, as place is one of most beautiful places in Slovenian Alps, and you can hardly find anything nicer especially when weather is as it was on Saturday.

Starting at 6:00 from parking and climbing over frozen avi debris for bottom 600 height meters of ascend, it was finally time to switch to skis for a while. Temperatures were almost summer like, so it wasn't really all that cold

After another hour on skis, it was time to get back on foot, and even though I have been up there quite few times, it's always so impressive to see that view, once you climb over that north facing chute and see this view on south.

After that, there's one long traverse, which is on way up done easier on foot, especially before sun came over and it was still frozen.

Last 300m of ascent to top were then real easy, but view to Triglav, Slovenia highest mountain, and its north face in background makes it so much nicer.

Last 30 or 40 meters were slightly more demanding, especially as snow was wet and ice axes didn't really have much grip anymore

But then it was time for some cool skiing down to south side.

 

[Noodler]

^^^^^^^ Truly impressive. Such a fantastic landscape you have there.

 

[Primoz]

@Noodler yeah I'm happy to call this place home It's small with less then 300km accross the country on longest side, but plus side of this is, that I need 10min to nearest mountain, and about 1h drive to swim in sea (not that swimming would be my thing ) And terrains for skiing, especially ski touring and freeride (on your own power not with lifts) are awesome. Same goes for mtb in summer, except that officially it's not allowed to ride mtb off the road, but noone respect those rules, not mountain bikers and not police/inspection either

 

[Snowflake2420]

Took a ski mountaineering course this past weekend in Rocky Mountain National Park.

Never worked with ropes, great addition to ski touring skills. Despite very little skiing going on, I want to do more

First working on skills then second day utilizing them to climb a couloir

 

[Tony Storaro]

@Noodler yeah I'm happy to call this place home It's small with less then 300km accross the country on longest side, but plus side of this is, that I need 10min to nearest mountain, and about 1h drive to swim in sea (not that swimming would be my thing ) And terrains for skiing, especially ski touring and freeride (on your own power not with lifts) are awesome. Same goes for mtb in summer, except that officially it's not allowed to ride mtb off the road, but noone respect those rules, not mountain bikers and not police/inspection either

And don't even get me started on fly fishing.

All things considered, Slovenia is probably the best country in Europe for outdoors enthusiasts.

 

[Slim]

@SkiFiore super cool!

What guide service did you go with? How many students and guides?

Time to give iceclimbing a go next fall! Great way to spend time with climbing gear in a winter environment, tons of fun, and often the best iceclimbing conditions are poor ski conditions and vice versa.

I had planned to do something like last year early May...

 

[Snowflake2420]

@SkiFiore super cool!

What guide service did you go with? How many students and guides?

Time to give iceclimbing a go next fall! Great way to spend time with climbing gear in a winter environment, tons of fun, and often the best iceclimbing conditions are poor ski conditions and vice versa.

I had planned to do something like last year early May...

I went with Colorado Mountain School and the ratio was 1 guide to 4 students. As a person who had no climbing experience prior I was happy to have this small group to confirm I was getting everything. It also helped my friend and another participant did have experience.

The guides were phenomenal ours was certified in both ski and rock so she could very well translate rock info to ski mountaineering and why things are different between the two disciplines.

 

[Primoz]

And don't even get me started on fly fishing.
All things considered, Slovenia is probably the best country in Europe for outdoors enthusiasts.

Fly fishing is something I just can't do. I believe some people find it cool and calming, for me it's pure madness... especially when I never caught anything and guy 10m away was dragging fishes out every minute. Not really calming thing to do, but something to make you go nuts
But otherwise I agree with you. Slovenia is probably the best country in Europe for outdoor activites. You can have pretty much everything, and as it's so small, you can actually do all this in single holiday without driving around for more then few minutes

 

[Tony Storaro]

Fly fishing is something I just can't do. I believe some people find it cool and calming, for me it's pure madness... especially when I never caught anything and guy 10m away was dragging fishes out every minute. Not really calming thing to do, but something to make you go nuts

Hehehe... come end May with some luck my friends and I will be in our beloved Mozirje area chasing the YUGE barbels, rainbows and browns in Savinja, then will move to Spodnja Idrjia to hit our even more beloved Idrijca chasing the most beautiful graylings in Europe-thick slabs of gold and red, with some side trips to Triglav National park and fishing THE most beautiful river in Europe-Soča.

Love your country mate, hope you realize you are incredibly lucky to live there.

I am even considering moving there when I get older, it is paradise-everything that I love in life in a relatively small place. What's not to like?

 

[Primoz]

@Tony Storaro for end of May bring also your skis Ok it's still far till then, but at least for now, we still have huge amount of snow higher up in mountains so ski touring is on for quite a while. And if you would happen to be around Kranj let me know (including if you would need apartment around Kranj, as we have one nice one on Booking.com, or directly). It would be great to finally meet someone from here in real life
Otherwise I certainly am happy to live here. Some things are not so great, but all in all, I really have nothing to complain and nature is better then anywhere I have been, and I have seen quite few places. Only thing that would compare for me would be Scandinavia (my wife is from Finland), but still not quite the same. Distances are bigger so you can have one thing or the other, while here you actually have everything in hour of driving range. So yes, I'm old enough to realize that I actually live in middle of paradise. At least paradise for me and our way of life.

 

[James]

Interesting vid from Deb Armstrong with Mike Hattrup going up Mt Hood. Both lose a ski on way down.

 

[pais alto]

^ Lucky those lost skis didn't take off like a scorched cat on that crunchy snow.

 

[neonorchid]

No doubt Jeff and Marcus were feeling right at home up there on that mid-June coral reef crunch snow!

 

[Slim]

@SkiEssentials , Jeff when you said you were in alpine boots, do you mean actual alpine boots without walk mode?

And as a fellow tal guy, please get Marcus a longer ice axe!