Category: April 2013

Mongolia… It’s not a country where you first think about mountains, glaciers and the option of skiing… It was always a dream to go there, exploring this country… Actually not on skis but half a year ago I found an article about the Tavan Bogd Range and the idea came up “Why not taking the skis?”…

So here we go… Talked to some friends and told them my idea… First it was actually planned to get together a female expedition but as things never come like they are planned, we got together the coolest team ever:

Steph Skrobar, Fischer teammate, ski-mountaineering guide, founder of Die Bergstation, Michi Mayrhofer, one of my best skibuddies, ski-mountaineering guide, Liz Kristoferitsch, also ski- and snowboard-mountaineering guide and myself, the addicted mountain girl who loves being out there…
Four Austrian Freeskiing athletes, accompanied by french cameraman Thomas Andrillon and our photographer Tobias Zlu Haller for the trip…

Our aim is to climb and ski some remote peaks in the Altai Tavan Bogd mountains, peaks that are more than 4000 meters high, not many ski-expeditions have been there yet, so we might even ski some first descents… Definetely we’ll be the ones with the widest skis there… I’m taking my Fischer 106 Watea Babe 😉

Every move, all the excitement, the beauty of nature, the life of the nomads and the fascinating culture will
be captured on film by Tom and pictured by Zlu, so we’ll bring back an adventurous story of our experiences there…

Looking forward to!

We’ll be flying out tomorrow from Munich and we’ll be back 27th of May…

Time for adventure now…

Wish us luck and that everything goes well!!!

Take care and all the best,

Mel:-)

THE TEAM SAYS THANKS a lot to:
Salewa
who is supporting us with tents, down sleeping bags, harnesses and duffle bags,
Goal Zero
who supports us with solar panels,
Pieps
for the Global finder,
ZAMG weather service
danke Josef – we’ll get updated by the ZAMG weather service
Stubai Bergsport
for crampons, ice-axes and carabiners
Pure Fit Energy Bars
for the yummy Energy bars!

MEL SAYS THANKS a lot to her sponsors:
Fischer Skis, ski boots, ski poles
Bergans of Norway Ski clothing and Outdoor wear
Ortovox Backpacks, beacon, probe, shovel
Shred Optics Helmets, googles, sunglasses
Zanier gloves, heat pads
Riggler headbands, beanies
Stubai Bergsport crampons, ice axe, carabiners
ABS Airbag ABS Airbag

Skitour to Wilder Pfaff with Pia, Liz and Flo…

Actually Zuckerhütl was planned again today but when we hiked up, the snow was much more wet than the past days… Although we were earlier than two days ago, we decided to skip the Zuckerhütl and hike up directly to Wilder Pfaff… Our aim was to ski the northeast face of the Pfaff… Luckily we were just in time before the clouds moved in… Quite wet snow, hard to ski as it was slowing down all the time 😉 We skied all the way down to the valley… Awesome day and adventurous skiing 🙂
Thanks for the day everybody!!!!

Perspective of Wilder Pfaff and the northeast face…

the other day it looked like that… but we skied it 🙂

find Pia…

@ Sulzenau Almen…

Liz crossing the stream…

Happy girls… Liz and Pia…

Facts: Brochkogel, Northwest face, 250m, 55 degrees steepness

Due to the perfect conditions, Flo, Liz and myself decided to climb and ski Brochkogel today… We planned to do this already a couple of days ago – and here we go – it was great!!! The Innsbruck connection was there one day earlier and left there lines there, so we had some tracks for hiking – thanks guys!
As the main face was quite tracked out already, me and Liz skied a bit further right, great conditions there – some sluff coming down but absolutely manageable 🙂

Taschachferner…

Wildspitze to the left, Brochkogel to the right…

on tour…

Wildspitze, 3768m

Mel and Liz…

on the way up…

Liz and Flo…

Liz and Mel on top of Brochkogel…

my line lookers right…

how beautiful…

Together with my friends Pia, Eli and Olli we went for a glacier skitour in the Stubai Alps… The classic Zuckerhütl, 3507m was our goal for the day…
The condtions were awesome! Beautiful day and still powder! Lots of people, especially at the upper part of the ridge, people were repelling down, so everything was stuck for a moment…
Sadly, the others didn’t manage to get to the peak without crampons, so it was just me, by myself hiking up to the peak and skiing down the short Northface afterwards… Sharky at the beginning, nice pow in the face afterwards… Took my five turns to ski down 😉 If you have a close look, you can find my tracks lookers left… Hard to see though 😉

Another beautiful day on the mountain with great people!!! Thanks a lot!!!

Pia and Eli…

Mel…

Oh happy day… Pia and Mel…

On top…

find my turns 😉 not many… was quite speedy…

The girls… Eli, Pia, Mel…

Zuckerhütl…

Olli, Mel, Pia, Eli

Our Mongolia Expedition Team (Steph Skrobar, Michi Mayrhofer, Liz Kristoferitsch, Zlu T. Haller and Tom Andrillon) gathered together at Stubaier glacier for 3 days, working on crevasse training, rope skills, etc… Even Tom, our cameraman came all the way from Annency, to join us at least for one day! Thanks a lot Tom!
Great days at the glacier! Thanks also a lot to Stubaier glacier who supported the team with free lift tickets!
http://www.stubaier-gletscher.com/

Tom our cool cameraman…

Zlu and our mountain guide Hans…

crevasse training… Steph & Michi…

hanging down below in the artificial crevasse… Zlu and Steph…

Our team: Tom, Steph, Mel, Liz, Zlu, Michi… Pic by Tobias Haller

Photographer: Tobias Haller

Steph… Pic by Tobias Haller

I’m superhappy and proud to get supported by BERGANS OF NORWAY from now on :-)!!!

As I’ve spent already some time in Norway and am totally passionate about this beautiful country, nature and people, I’m looking forward to a great partnership with THE Norwegian Outdoor Company!!!!

“POWERED BY PASSION”
“The Norwegian environment is unique with its 2000 m high mountains that plunge down into the fjords, ice cold tundras, beautiful forests, stunning plains and numerous leisure activities. We in Bergans are motivated by a passion to enable us all to be outside enjoying the wonderful nature we are surrounded by. Bergans therefore work persistently to be able to provide the very best equipment for your outdoor experience.”

“PRACTICAL TESTING”
“Bergans has more than 100 years of experience with trips and expeditions. Practical testing in extreme arctic regions has always been an important part of developing our products further. Polar explorers such as Roald Amundsen, Lincoln Ellsworth and Robert Scott were among the first to use Bergans rucksacks on their expeditions. In modern times, Team Bergans members such as Cecilie Skog (Seven Summits and The Three Poles) and Rune Gjeldnes (Arctic Ocean, The Longest March) have continued this tradition. They have used Bergans clothing, tents and rucksacks on their expeditions.”

TUSEN TAKK!!!!

Here’s my new outfit that I already love 🙂

And again… We landed in Obergurgl… The place where I’ve spent a lot of years in snow… And as spring is greeting and temperatures are rising, it’s the ideal starting point for our skitour to the Liebener Spitze…

No tracks, nobody there, just the three of us, enjoying the silence and beauty of the mountains… Being so small, inbetween the seracs and mountains…

Gaisbergtal…

Gaisbergferner…

Nordflanke Liebener Spitze… Our planned skiroute with to many rocks sticking out…

what a view…

Teresa mit’n Gipfelbuch….

Teresa…

Teresa again…

our tracks…

We all were sick the past days and it was the first day out again… For me and Teresa it was quite a fight but we were so happy when we stood at the top…
For me it was a double fight… Fighting against the pain in my knee and catching breath… And still it was worth every minute… Winter has been long, lots of injuries have happened in the past… When your mind is strong but your body is screaming “STOP”, you have to listen to your body… Although it’s hard and you don’t want to hear it…
Taking a “Time-out” for the next days… Spring has come… Bike season is starting…

Fighting… Will always be part of my life… Love my live… The way it is…

Thanks everybody for being part of it…

Toooo lazy to write in English, ich switche auf Deutsch 🙂

6 Tage Jamtalhütte, die coolsten Ausbilder, viel Input, eine super Truppe, der Schmäh is g’laufen, super woar’s! Danke an alle die mit dabei waren!!!!
Leider musste ich frühzeitig abreisen, denn Stiegen steigen gehört nicht zu meinen Fähigkeiten 😉 Auf nasser Stiege in der Hütte ausgerutscht, Fuss verstaucht und dann auch noch ein viraler Infekt… Oft geht’s bled… Aber wie gesagt, bis dahin war’s auf alle Fälle die coolste Ausbildung EVER!!!!

Seil-, und Spaltenbergungstechnik, verschiedenste Verankerungen, Eisschrauben setzen, abfahren am Seil, etc… Wertvolle Ausbildungsinhalte für die Skihochtouren Instruktor Ausbildung…

DANKE an die zwei alpinen Koryphäen: Walter Würtl & Peter Plattner – se Dreamteam 🙂

“Lemons – würden wir Engländer sagen…” (…Insiderschmäh…)

Cool woars!

Ausrüstungscheck…

Münchhausentechnik…

Münchhausen vs. Mammut…

die coolsten Ausbilder EVER 🙂

DANKE, super woars!