New year new sport.

A few years ago, I lost my mojo for skiing. As someone who craves the peaceful wilderness of mountains, I was increasingly frustrated with the crowds and costs of a typical European ski resort. I needed something that gave me a more stimulating and wholesome experience.

In came ski touring. I’ve tried this before, jumping in at the deep end with a trip to Iceland with a bunch of continentals who were seasoned tourers. Although fun and beautiful, I was completely outside my comfort zone, so decided to take it more seriously the second time round. Mr. B and I signed up to a long weekend of skills training in Chamonix in mid-January.  We had a great guide, and I left feeling confident enough to try my first one-week hut to hut trip. After much deliberation on how much I wanted to challenge myself, I decided on an intermediate tour: the Mountain Tracks Austrian Silvretta Alps Traverse.

Our group of five, plus our guide Giovanni, were treated to plenty of sunshine, little wind and good snow conditions. The huts were comfortable and convivial, and their three course dinners (with seconds!) were much more flavoursome and filling than I’d expected. I managed to sleep without disturbance in the dorm rooms and enjoyed the fact that we could take ‘marching’ tea and sandwiches from breakfast to keep us going during the day. We ascended between 1,000-1,500m each day, and enjoyed long gentle powdery runs down to the huts. Although we were never that far, as the crow flies, from civilisation, and there were others doing similar routes, I experienced a wonderful feeling of remoteness. I was humbled by the rocky peaks that surrounded us and thrilled to spot several chamois goats, a golden eagle and a couple of ptarmigans.

The ability to ski tour opens yet another world of adventure to us. Georgia, Turkey, Montenegro, Kazakhstan and many other countries offer interesting ski touring opportunities. It’s definitely the future of skiing for me (and I’m hoping Mr. B agrees!)