Pizzo Centrale

At the end of the season I finally managed to put my new ski touring boots into use. Some people migth argue that mid april with 25 degree in the valley is not exactly made for skiing - but there's still plenty of snow - well, above 2000 meters..

We decided on backcountry.ch to go for a tour in the Gotthard area. So Dave, Jeanny and I met at the Andermatt gondola saturday morning at 7:15am (getup at 4:30am..) and took the gondola to the top of Gemsstock at 3000 meters.

From there we first had to descent on frozen snow, not exactly a nice ride. After arriving at the low point we started ascending again, first with skis, then by foot after the ski depot. The last section up to the peak was already pure hiking/climbing, as it was exposed to the south. Arriving on the peak we met two guys enjoing their fondue on a small camping cooker and who even invited us for some bits.

Pizzo Centrale (on the right)

After descending again to our skis we traversed and went on for another peak, "Glocketürmli". From there, we had a really nice ride down in the valley.


But then at some point, spring time showed it's full power: the last hill was almost completely burnt away by sun. So we had to take the hiking path by foot for the last section before starting to walk back on the road to Hopsental and then taking the train to Andermatt again.


To finish off the day, we then went to Flüelen at the Vierwaldstädtersee and had some serious BBQ at the lakeside in the evening, doesnt get better ; )

You can find a full gallery of pics here on rockthepowder.com ! And a short additional description of the conditions here on backcountry.ch .