mitch blog

After not much snow for the whole season here in Austria the conditions on the Wildseeloder in Fieberbrunn were difficult. The lookers left side, facing more north seemed to be filled in with some old powder which would produce a lot of sluff when riding there, on the lookers right side which is more east facing we expected hard snow that may turn into spring snow with the morning sun. Like my Austrian mates who finally finished on the podium i went for the gamble and did hope for soft spring snow on the to me more interesting lookers right side of the mountain. Early morning on the event day some fön wind already started to hit the mountains making me a little nervous for the snow conditions. But when i dropped in with  bib number 4 the snow was just right. Feels great to finally win after trying hard the whole season and to share the podium with Max Zipser and the british gentlemen James Stentiford. I am also stoked to see skier Stefan Häusl winning his first Worldtour event in front of Reine Barkered and the local and hero Hauni Haunholder. Good vibes, great organisation, sorry for the last skiers who had to ride with flat light. Sorry also for one of the strongest snowboarders on the tour, Matt Annetts who broke his knee cap in sochi last week and is out for the rest of the season.

my line choice on the lookers right of the wildseeloder

and here a link to the story on our favorite radio station in Austria, Heinz Reich for Fm4

On the Iliniza Sur:

After we already got shut down on our attempt to climb and ride Cayambe and Cotopaxi because of bad weather and scatchy snow conditions  we were getting a little frustrated. When our local friend and guide Gaspar told us that a  lonely Snowboarder made the summit and did ride down the 5300m high Iliniza Sur
we were all getting excited again and headed up to the Refuge of the Ilinizas.

On the 2 hour hike up to the refuge we met the mysterious Snowboarder,  Clark from Idaho who was probably the first ever to ride the steeps of the iliniza Sur. When he told us that he was having a great powder run our motivation level was rising  higher.

Wake up call at  2:15a.m.- light snowfall and fog – hiking to the base of the glacier – putting on the crampons and roping up – climbing higher.
With all the fog that night the temperature was not dropping as we were hoping and even  we were getting  higher we were still breaking through the mushy snow.

When the steep part  of our climb started we were checking the snow layers – 60 cm of wet snow on a bad layer and a quite big, steep face ahead of us. With our group of seven the risk was too big to keep on going for the summit in this conditions. That was it again!? Frustration!!!

Summary:

One day too late? or two days too early? No weather forecasts, fresh snow every day mixed with crazy temperature changes made it impossible for us to climb and ride the summits of Ecuadors high volcanos.

The local people say that it has way more snow than usually which i thought would be good for us. It felt  like we were always very  close to have an epic run of one of the high summits but it just didnt want to be. The line between good snow to ride and too scatchy snow conditions to get up there is get thinner as higher you climb. Also i must say that this trip did show me that riding on a performence level over 5000m is a very difficult mission! Even if you are well acclimatized  it seems that you never feel 100% fit for freeriding and charging the way you would like to.

Even we were defeated in all three attempts in the last 14 days it was a great experience for me to attend the summits4kids project on both sides: on the one hand  learning about the charity side of the project by visiting the Talita Kumi NGO here in Quito and on the other hand the Ski/Snowboard mountaineering attempts on the high volcanos of Ecuador.  Now it is time for me to go back to the northern hemisphere winter. Thanks to the summits4kids team, specially Giulia and Marja, for setting up this great project.

To find out more about summits4kids and how you could support the Talita Kumi place of refuge for teenage girls and young  mothers who are struggling in the difficult reality of Quito please visit: www.summits4kids.org