After the extensive Obergurgling Aljoša, David and the crew did take the Silvester day off while Magda was preparing the Endstation for the new years party. Žiga and myself on the other hand just couldn`t sit still. We had a nice parkday at Kuhtai with it`s PERFECTLY shaped pipe on the first day after the Obergugls (boy I wish I could ride pipe somewhat well :P), but that just wasn`t enough. So I called up a friend of mine I meet on Bali in September.

Claudia, a teacher and long term Arlberg local originally from Slazburg, had promised me that she would show us her playground in the winter and since there was no fresh in sight I figured why not. It was Silvester day and I did want to spend it on snow. Žiga was up for action as always 🙂 and so we thought we would ride a few hours getting the scenic description of the local powlines and then head back to prepare for new years.

But as it turned out, even thou Claudia had  the same thought, we were all so motivated that it turned into another full day of hunting for pow that we thought was gone for sure. Started at 9 and finished at 17.30 with our last ascent to the Rüfikopf and back to the connection lift trough the Oberalp Tal next to the legendary Valluga in the sunset.

The terrain here is truly insane. If you know your way around all the German daddys with there brand new ABS bags and lacking riding skills, there is a lot of untracked to be found. Sure the standard lines are ridden to death before midday but if you are willing to hike a bit, you are gonna have an awesome time.

After riding for a week without a brake for our last ascent I was so done for that It was like walking in a space suite. It reminded me of a experience I had on the Eiger where we went up with the train and I was able to go outside the Station Installation into a snowstorm at almost 4000 m. One move after another. Nice and slow. I really have to admit that I did have to drink a RedBull to get the sugar for my concentration. But after two turns in fresh untracked pow I was back as new on the way down.

Žiga also found a nice untracked culuar under the Flexenspitze. That one sure was fun. Thou the snow situation was bad on the first look it was really a lot better then we expected. Especially in the Oberalp Tal proving that if you look hard enough you will find. Also Claudia proved to be really a hardcore powder hunter and a super guide so we will definitely meet up again and do more powpow togehter 😛 the area there is huge and there are tons of lines just waiting to be ridden 🙂

Also Claudia complemented us saying that this was the first time riding with two dudes who don`t need a food brake every two hours. A bit of Milka on the lift is enough, the Adrenalin does the rest.

After that without a second of a brake we headed out for Silvseter. For us it was a working one, but one that really payed off. Working for Silvester with once friends was an awesome experience and the shitload of cash we got covered the whole tripcosts 😛 I might do that again 🙂

PS: Oh and on the next day after 4 hours of sleep I still managed to do a few runs on Lizum before heading back to Ljubljana with a Pitstop in Spital for some architectural photography.. because as you know for the 1.1. of a year one needs to ride on snow to appease yuki hime 🙂