Ski touring

First ski touring trip this season, a two hours long climb in Bâlea. Legs did their fair share of work but upper body gave in pretty much from the beginning. Longer trips are out of the question without some additional training...

Ice and Rocks

Sîmbăta Valley

Some pictures from last Sunday's hike up the Sîmbăta Valley. I stayed low as higher up avalanche risk jumped from nil to 4 overnight. It looks like more snow and lower temperatures are heading this way.

Saturday's trip - Doamnei Valley

I went for a day trip in the mountains last Saturday. Snow had begun to pile up since midweek so I was keen to take a close-up look at the snowpack. It is always a good thing to keep an eye on the snowpack from early on as this makes assessing the avalanche risk a lot easier later on.

Wind slabs had already formed on leeward terrain, being over 30cm thick in places. There was a lot of ice on the rocks as well, making walking quite difficult. One wrong step and one of my trekking poles met its end. It snapped in two like a dry twig. It had a nice life however, 7 years of beautiful trips.

Miercuri was over the moon with the fresh snow. She led the way most of the trip. I am always amazed at how well she remembers different trails. With fresh snow, the trail was barely visible but she followed it perfectly. She remembers even the tricky bits which sometimes go against her instinct to follow the path of least resistance.