Ex Dragons Winter included two groups and a total of 14 service personnel from 135 Geo Sqn RE, 3MI Bn, 144 Para Med Sqn, East Midlands UOTC. One group was looking to pass Ski Foundation 3, involving mostly ski touring and contributing toward eligibility for a Ski Leader 1 application, or a ‘Quality Mountain Days (QMD)’ group who were looking at gaining experience ski touring before their next qualification, whether that was Ski Leader 1, 2, or 3.
The trip started with groups and kit squeezing into two vans and travelling the 45 minutes from Innsbruck to Oetz, Tyrol. The next day was collecting kit and on-piste, so most of us could remember how to ski before the more challenging off-piste ski touring.
The two groups did similar tours over the 8 days, but on different days, primarily owing to a big drop of snow and the avalanche risk remaining high for much of the trip.
Satele to Faltegartenkopfl (2184 m): This was supposed to be an introductory day to ease us back into touring, however the weather had other ideas. A mixture of snow and sleet made sure our hoods were up all day, and it got so wet and cold that gloves became frozen and hard. We stopped just before the top to check if we could make it to the cross, however large accumulations of snow drift made it too challenging to tackle the additional 50 meters ascent across a ridge of the summit. Having dropped a lot of snow, you would think the way down at least would make up for our hands nearly dropping off in the transition, however the gradient wasn’t steep enough to gain momentum through the ever-deepening snow.
Motz to Speicher Langental (1806 m): We selected this route as it continued for a long duration in the trees, with the avalanche risk above being considerable. A sign this track wasn’t regularly used was two fallen trees along the track within 500 meters, where some amusing tactics were taken by group members to get over. We followed the walking track, having to put on ski crampons as the path became increasingly icy. Picking our way through the trees and snow drifts, we finally emerged from the wood. We thought the challenges were finally over at the top of a long open field, before we our instructor realised that her boot was broken and wouldn’t go into ski mode during transition. She had to therefore carefully navigate her way down, whilst we all at least enjoyed a few hundred meters of turns before having to remove skis and walk back down to the van!
Lusens carpark to Westfarlen House (2276 m): Our luck with kit continued where on reaching the altitude we had intended, one group member’s binding broke during transition. Again this was fixed with the repair kit to hand and some quick thinking and didn’t seem to cause an issue again. Westfarlen House is a beautiful hut run by a young couple, their friends, and is also home to their two dogs. The hut was quiet when we turned up on the Friday night, and got gradually busier as people arrived after work, with bright head torches since the mist had descended outside. We mostly slept in the same room, with the exception of our chief trip planner, who admitted to snoring loudly, so was given his own private room!
Westfarlenhaus to WeissKogel (2782 m): The weather was beautiful the next day from the hut. We made the most of the plentiful breakfast and headed out to a location known to have the last remnants of the valley’s glacier. It had depleted so much over the years, that sadly we couldn’t see it when nearing the top. There were lots of others out ski touring today and we made the most of the great snow by climbing a further 100 m ascent to ski some powder before reaching the hut again for lunch.
Malstein to Pirchkogel (2350 m): Another beautiful, clear day. We ascended through a forest with plenty of kick-turns to navigate the sometimes tight and steep turns. The powder turns on the open terrain on the way back down made the climb more than worthwhile.
On our last day we enjoyed a day of skiing around the Solden resort, having looked at the ski tour planned for that day, and determining that the solar radiation of the slopes above our path created too much of an avalanche risk. This still gave us an opportunity to ski some difficult off-piste sections, and for some of us to visit the James Bond Museum at the top. By the end of the trip there were some very tired skiers! All in all, this was a brilliantly organised trip, with enough adventure and challenge to last us all a while. We would like to personally thank Ulysses Trust for providing us with the additional funding to further enable 5 Army Reserves to be a part of this amazing experience, the aid was truly appreciated and made it possible for all involved. For me personally, it provided me with the QMDs I needed to be eligible for my Ski Leader 3, and more importantly the tutorage from an experienced SL3 instructor, allowing me to pass SL3 two weeks later.
