R&R

Had a couple of days off work recently so I planed an overnight trip into the mountains. The old cabin that we found a few months ago seemed like the perfect place to spend the night in. Up there time passed quickly. First day flew by between roaming the alpine tundra, cutting wood for the fire, fixing bits and pieces in and around the cabin. Miercuri was in charge of our touristic activities on the second day, which meant we had to inspect every single marmot burrow in the area. Kind of super fun for her, a lot less for me so I got busy with my camera. Below are a few pictures from that trip.

No fun on leash!

Preparing for the night

Getting the fire going

Cozy

Reading

Early morning

Crocuses

Insolation

Training ride

Took the bike out for a spin this morning. The plan was to try and climb up 25km on Transfăgărăsan road, then turn around and enjoy the descent. Left quite early to take advantage of cooler temperatures and get back home in time for work.

Snow still covers the road in places at higher altitudes but it is melting rapidly. Road should officially open in about a week, right now two huge concrete beams are blocking vehicle access beyond Bâlea Cascadă. Not a problem to get through by foot, bike or ski.

Turned around shortly after passing the 25km mark, about 5km before Bâlea Lake. Descent was a joy, having the road to myself I didn't have to worry about incoming traffic. Average speed going up: 11km/h. Average speed going down: a bit over 50km/h.

Initiation

My cousin B has been eager to leave behind the comfort of ski lifts and taste the thrills of backcountry skiing. We headed for Bâlea Lake early on Sunday morning to introduce him to skiing unmarked and ungroomed pistes.

Long climb

Weather wasn't great. We started our ascent through thick fog. By the time we reached the top, the mountain opened up a bit but overcast clouds made the surface definition of the snow to disappear. This was not a complete whiteout but still made reading the slope extremely difficult.

First turns

We commenced our descent into Doamnei Valley as soon as the sun made it through the clouds. Took B some time to adapt to the new conditions. As expected he found steering a lot more difficult than on groomed runs. Eventually he gained enough confidence to let the skis slide through more than a couple of turns at a time.

I've made it!

B made it through the most difficult spots in one piece. Scary to him were the big boulders we had to avoid. He was constantly under the impression that hitting one of those was imminent and unavoidable.

Posing

Having reached the place where snow became insufficient to continue on skis, we changed into hiking boots, strapped skis on our backs and slowly made our way home through the forest. Starting a bit dull, this turned out to be a great day in the end. Will B stick to backcountry skiing? That I don't know for sure...

Heading home