Engelberg Magazin Nr. 25

Für die Titlis Rundtour müs- sen die Wetter- und Schnee- bedingungen perfekt sein. Skiers can only set out on the Titlis circuit if the weather and snow conditions are just right.

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but here it is hard and icy. Fa lling over is not an option, because then you wou ld slide sev- era l painf u l metres across slipper y, rock-hard ice. And it wou ld be even worse to ac tua lly lose a ski, as it wou ldn’ t come to a rest until it landed in the va lley far below. I a lso can’ t simply continue abseiling, at tached securely to the rope, as by now I’ve reached the end of it. So I have no a lternative but to unbuck le my skis f rom my rucksack, lay them crosswise and tr y to step into them, achiev ing the right combination of f irm and gentle. On my si x th

ago, professiona l rock climber and adventurer Stefan Glowacz opened up one of the most cha llenging climbing routes in the A lps here with his f riend Markus Dor f leitner. “Last Ex it Titlis” has the dif f icu lty level 8b. The Grassen- Biwak hut is situated on a sma ll col, protec ted f rom the wind, and today it is bathed in warm sunshine. The Grassen-Biwak is a wonder f u l spot for an overnight stopover. The sma ll yet comfor table hut sleeps 18, but the most appea l- ing thing about it has to be the wine cubby. “Last time we got quite boozed up, a lthough

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at tempt, I f ina lly manage it! I am exuberant at overcom- ing the f irst cha llenge, but I have to stay concentrated: the narrow cou loir doesn’ t get any wider until 100 metres f ur ther down, when

we were on ly going to drink one bot tle of red,” reminisces photographer Baschi, reca ll- ing a tour three years ago. But we won’ t be stay ing here that long; for us, this is “Last Ex it Engelberg.” The

A local mountain guide care- fully plans and leads the tours.

it a lso becomes less steep. We reach the slope with trembling knees. The snow is more slushy than f luf f y, but we are able to enjoy a pleasant descent down the Ch li glacier, with delightf u l v iews of the mountains opposite, including the Wendenhorn and the Fünf f ingerstöck. Af ter our f irst session of relaxed swoosh- ing, we are conf ronted with a second and third abseiling sec tion, but these are not as narrow as the f irst and are each around 30 metres long. Af ter that we have around 200 metres of descent before we have to at tach our skins for the ascent over the Wenden glacier. On ly the f irst par t is steep; af ter that the way up is gentle and sunny. On our lef t, the south face of the Titlis gets closer and more imposing with ever y step we take: a great wa ll of limestone looming ver tica lly out of the snow up into the blue sky. When we stop for a bite to eat outside the Grassen-Biwak hut at 2,647 metres a.s.l., Pau l tells us that the Titlis is ver y popu lar with rock climbers in the summer. Over ten years

route takes us down the eastern f lank of the Titlis v ia Firndossen and down into the va lley to Herrenrüti. Our high-A lpine ski tour f in- ishes with a tota l of 1,500 metres of f lowing descent. Early on, we sweep airily over sof t, loose snow; f ur ther down there are narrow passages and icy sec tions through wood land. We take the bus back to Engelberg as the last cable car of the day brings the f ina l few skiers back down f rom the Titlis. Af ter a lmost twelve hours of abseiling, climb- ing and downhill skiing we are thorough ly exhausted. This epic day in the snow is not one any of us is likely to forget in a hurr y. This is an abridged form of an ar ti- cle that initia lly appeared in the German magazine Fit for Fun: www.f itfor f un.de.

Wir fördern erfolgreich junge Schneesportta- lente – seit 1995 Seit bald 25 Jahren fördert die Sport- mittelschule Engelberg junge Sportta- lente auf ihrem Weg in den Profisport und legt gleichzeitig die Basis für eine aussichtsreiche berufliche Karriere für die Zeit nach dem Sport.

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