Nordic skiing (Skilanglauf) around Munich

Many Brits think that skiing means spending lots of money on fancy kit and then shooting down a mountain with a good chance of ending up on the orthopaedic ward. This is probably true for Alpine skiing especially if you start in middle age.

There is an alternative, though. Step forward, Nordic skiing! On the German eBay, you will get shoes, ski‘s and poles for 200 EUR and that is fine for a start. Google for ski and pole length though and ensure that the ski‘s have scales or a wee carpet in the middle because these are the easy maintenance skis that are good to start. 

Generally, there are two styles. The first is classic Nordic style and that is what most do first and the second one is skating, which is faster. Check YouTube to see what I mean. Especially for the classic Nordic style just go into a Loipe and start. On the first 400 metres, you‘ll take a tumble or three but after that people will be fine in a flat Loipe without any lessons.

There are three types of Loipe: blue = easy, red = intermediate and black = difficult. Unless you want to do downhill with skinny ski‘s and help to fill the orthopaedic ward of your resort, start with a blue Loipe. You will glide through winter wonderland!

I was skiing as a child but Ana picked it up very quickly here in Munich and we love it and love to Nordic ski with friends from Scotland and elsewhere. So here a wee introduction of some Loipen where we go to.

Dietramszell. This is our local one, just 25 Km‘s from home. Dietramszell is home to a baroque monastery and if there is enough snow the local club of Mosham cuts a beautiful Loipe. Three or four years back we had a huge dump of snow…

… and so ski‘d in Dietramszell. Here‘s Ana…

… and here she is in Dietramszell winter wonderland forest.

Here another snowy photo.

Here is me a more recently.

Roughly 60 km from home is the Jachenau, a glen near the bonny Walchensee. From the carport it follows a river…

… and then over open meadows. Btw here I am skating,

There are some nice local Bavarian restaurants and a cake house.

Here is Ana on a sunny day in the Jachenau.

If there is no snow below 900 metres of altitude the solution is Seefeld which has hosted Olympic game and wold championship competitions. Here Ana approaches the landmark church in Seefeld.

Seefeld has hundreds of km of Loipen and you best travel to Innsbruck and then take public transport to Seefeld. As a beginner, it is best if you move further to Leutasch as it is in a high, even glen surrounded by 2000ers. Here is Ana on one of the many Leutasch Loipen.

Here On a sunny day. It costs 15 EUR for the day (this is the most expensive Loipe) but the Loipen are perfect. 

On a sunny day you can sit in a deck chair, sip a coffee and see the world glide past. 

Our favourite Loipe is the Karwendelloipe but it is for classic Nordic skiing only. It first goes East from Hinterriss through a glen that looks like Canada…

… and then turns South and up the hill…

… for some time…

… to reach the Ahornboden, a cul de sac in the Karwendelloipe mountain range.

There are some Maple trees (Ahorn means Maple)…

… and the scenery is stunning.

On the Eastern end of the Karwendelloipe mountain range is Pertisau at the bonny Achensee, a high loch. There are some Loipen that each go up a glen (hard work) and then you can downhill back to the start. The scenery is stunning, too.

Friends of ours live part of their life in the Allgäu which is near Schloss Neuschwanstein (Walt Disney castle for the Americans). There is a high Loipe in Balderschwang that is in condition when few other things are. Here is my friend Thorsten skating…

… and here is myself.

Here is Thorsten skating up a hill which is the ultimate cardiovascular workout.

Last weekend, team Scotland came to Sankt Johann in Austria which is near the Wilder Kaiser where we have climbed. Here is the Loipe with the Kaiser behind.

The leader of the Scottish expedition is Stefan Janik here leading the troops classic Nordic style…

… and here is team Scotland on bonny day 2. 

There is a big blue Loipen loop and with sunshine and snow and perfect Loipen, life is near perfect.

Here some rimed up trees…

… and here Lisa is gliding down a Loipe with the Wilder Kaiser in the distance.

Here another view of the perfect Loipe…

… and here against the sun.

Hopefully, you will now think that Nordic skiing is possibly better than sticking a needle in the eye. Ana and I are always happy to have some guest for the weekend so if you consider Nordic skiing then get to Munich and we‘ll Nordic ski together (or do other mountain things if it is not winter).

HW

SMC Olperer (3476 m) north ridge winter ascent

The Scottish Mountaineering Club, short SMC, was founded in 1889, 20 years after the German Alpine Club DAV. By chance, I found out that another SMC member, Mark Litterick, lives in Holzkirchen, 18 km down the road from Unterhaching. So we decided to do some mountaineering together.

As temperatures were reaching 15 degrees in early January 2022, we decided to go high and try the Olperer, a granite pyramid high above the Zillertal. On the 4.1.2022 we went via Achensee and Mayrhofen to Hintertux (whilst avoiding the Zillertaler Schürzenjäger, don't ask) and paid 24 Euros for the lift to the Tuxfernerhaus at 2605 m. We were the only ski tourers on the well-groomed pistes and soon saw the Olperer granite pyramid with a Föhnsturm blowing over it.

Here is the North Ridge. You ascend first on the snowed up glacier on the right and then cross to the ridge. We were unsure whether the climb was feasible because of the strong Föhn but saw another team on it so all go. 

At the Wildlahnerscharte bealach we geared up. It was Scottish with a swirling, strong wind and spindrift and I was getting ready for some hot aches. 

We ascended the glacier and then stepped onto the ridge which has triangular Metallbügel (iron holds). The Metallbügel are great for belaying and clipping quickdraws. Here isMark leading the second pitch.

Soon after we noted that the skiing below stopped presumably because of the high winds.

The crux of the route is an overhang with a couple of „Metallbügel“ and a sling hanging down. This looks like a dodgy affair in winter. So like the team ahead of us we avoided it on the right with some granite mixed climbing (full points) back to the ridge.

After that it becomes easier and we just carried on with a running rope to reach the summit in two pitches. Here is Mark on the last pitch with the Föhnstorm blowing over the summit.

No summit photos. It was stormy, getting late and we had to quickly down climb with two abseils to reach the glen in daylight. Here is me doing the first one down the overhang. Even abseiling was dodgy.

And here is Mark doing the second abseil with the panorama of the Northern Alps behind.

We raced to the bealach as the light was fading. We de-geared, jumped onto the skis, and skied on empty pistes to the Tuxfernerhaus and from there with two gondolas to the bottom as it was getting too dark for skiing and as we did not know what pistes we had to take. We were the only ones in our gondolas as the skiing had stopped around lunchtime because of the high winds.

Overall a fantastic SMC outing. If you consider doing the Olperer in winter then it should ideally be mild in Munich (10 degrees in Munich means roughly -8 degrees at 3500 m) and there should be little wind. The ski ascent is on piste, so no avalanche danger but there could be avalanche danger on the glacier to the right of the Olperer. For gear we took a 50 m rope 4 short quickdraws, 2 long quickdraws, a set of nuts which we did not use and three friends. We climbed with two ice axes each just like a Scottish winter climb.

HW