Ski Tour in the Swiss Alps

Ski touring, skiing, hut fun – every Carnival, I traditionally meet up with friends at the Naturfreundehaus Tscherwald by Lake Walen. As we live far apart, it’s one of the few opportunities to chat in good company and be active together in nature. It’s also interesting to see how we ourselves change year after year, especially with the growing children who are always there in large numbers.

On the day of arrival, the hut warden assured me at midday that the access road was snow-free and dry after a sunny day. Later, a few kilometres before reaching my destination in the valley bottom by Lake Walen, it started to rain heavily. With every bend of the steep winding road up to Amden, the rain turned into snowfall and finally a proper blizzard, with a maximum visibility of 10 m in the headlights. With the help of the car’s electronic traction control, I just managed to get up to the village, but at the turn-off to the hut, I couldn’t go any further due to the deep fresh snow and soft slush underneath. Fortunately, I was able to get picked up by Heinz, the hut warden, in his four-wheel-drive vehicle and arrived safely at the warm hut.

The next morning greeted us with blue skies and sunshine over wonderful powder snow, making it a glorious day for skiing. This allowed me to expand my limited deep snow and ski touring experience. The following days until departure were quite changeable; from Föhn winds to blizzards, a variety of weather was on offer, but also calm and sunny spells (picture above) for a ski tour to Gulmen or romantic sunsets.