Waxenstein Northface

It's a line I spied early this winter as it is pretty obvious since ii is smack in the middle of the Gr. Waxenstein and the Kl. Waxenstein peaks. The large slope turns into a steep couloir that abruptly ends on the ridge. I was unable to ski the last 50-60m since they were icy and had little snow on top of slabby rock.

View from the parking lot

Trusty BD Verdicts

From the snow field

A good view of the couloir

Now the real fun starts

Some other ideas?

On the way down

Light at the top of the couloir

A nice day

Yet another gem of a route here in Bavaria. Something tells me I haven't even scratched the surface yet...
Have another one lined up for Friday

Skiing Mt Etna or this ain't Kansas anymore...

In as much one might think it be a novelty to ski in Sicily, having now been there - and done that, I can say that skiing in Sicily is anything BUT a novelty.

Right, so this winter has been massive in the Alps with nothing short on snow or places to ski, so why travel to Sicily to ski? Well for starters, how about for the sake of skiing on a volcano or perhaps skiing while enjoying the sea view? Actually the best reason is simply for the snow - both the amount and the quality. Sicily and Mt Etna in particular both exceeded our expectations - by a heck of a long way!

So I have been to Sicily a couple of times over the past years to enjoy the quality of the rock climbing (which is also easily quantifiable as world class), so I guess it was only fitting to experience what winter offers on the highest point on the island - Mt Etna.
There are 4 man craters that make up the "summit", the highest of which - the North Crater - sits at 3350m above sea level. Since the high point is only a mere 20 odd kms from the coast - by road, it is easy to imagine that most things go up from there.

Ok so first we need to get there and getting there is pretty easy with several flights per week from mainland Europe and in particular Rome which in turn bring you to the main port town of Catania.

Now for the adventure and skiing...

10 days after the last storm they were still digging out the parking lot and the buildings

The main craters smoking away

From a little closer

summits and views

la bocca nuova crater

day 2 lap around the summits (and through the smoke)

when in Rome...

really impressive

and so is the skiing

one final run on the BD Verdicts

one of the best runs down towards the Riffugio Citelli

perfect corn all 1300m of it

get some

view from the road

well deserved gelatti on the last evening

Here is a short video I made of the trip as well 

Guess we left just in time to experience an eerie glow from one of the craters early Sunday morning...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTOd2tq0OVM

Special thanks to 

Sicily Mt Etna

Good fun up here today