Sunrise looking across at the Matterhorn. What could be better....well... breakfast was a bigger affair than usual with cold meats instead if the usual muesli and bread....but...if I had one bit of culture to pass on to Switzerland it would be sausage, baked beans, tomatoes, bacon, mushrooms, hash browns, toast and eggs all piled into a great heap and covered in tomato sauce. No wonder the Europeans are all hurrying around, they are all hungry!
The day started with a quick ski up the Breithorn. This is the easiest of the 4000m peaks but is a notable achievement for the group and you guessed it, the hugging and kissing was going off! This time it was extreme hugging and kissing since it was you fall you die!
From we were to descent the Schwarsztor or Black Door. Like the Vallee Blanche in Chamonix this is the local classic for off piste runs. The run goes over a convex roll for 500m before breaking up into an icefall . It is easy to forget that you are not on a controlled ski area and if you down one of the many crevasses about all that will result is that some Swiss official will shake his head and say "Scheiße geschieht"
Like all good things, eventually the run ended and it was back to our real jobs....walking up hill. The route wound through an ice fall and it was sometimes dodgy with skiers coming down the same track. You knew that it was unlikely there was a crevasse on the track and stepping off the track brought the possibility of an unwanted crevasse. Skiers coming down also knew this making for an interesting game of nerves when deciding who would jump out of the way first.
View from the deck with the sun going down behind the Matterhorn. Just another day ski touring in Europe!
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