Splitboarding in Kaunertal, Austria: High Alpine Big Mountain Riding in the Alps

Generally there is very little snow in the Alps at the moment. There was some early season snow especially in the Arlberg region and the east of the swiss Alps a couple of weeks ago but most of that has been melted and rained away.

So if you want to find some interesting skiing and touring – go up high! The Kaunertal is a glacier ski area opened most of the year. It’s located in south/west Austria right on the Italien boarder. Ski touring to the Weissseespitze you actually skin partly through Italy before reaching the Peak. The Gepatscherferner glacier is humongous and one of the biggest in the Alps.

We had perfect conditions for our touring day sun and low winds. Our mission of the day was to skin/ridge climb up to the Weissseespitze a peak that is 3526 m. A 600-700 vertical meter skin starting at about 2900 m.

Rider: Irian van Helfteren, Photo: Bas Elhorst

We thought the most likely scenario would be to ski a mellow run on the Glacier and then ridge climb back down. But after some consideration we decided to go for the north face just below the peak. A huge, steep big mountain line above the resort. It was a great run and for many of us the first run of the season. It skied well – Compact, settled powder on a hard but not icy surface.

At the moment the weather outlook doesn’t look great, mostly high pressure in the forecast. But on the bright side this will give us the opportunity to explore more high alpine terrain.