Vocabulary word of the day: Lawinen. Avalanche.
You can’t ski in this weather. The wind pushes you backwards so there’s no point in even dropping your skis on the snow. There’s a solution to that – get out of the meadows and up in the narrower valleys. The trails are more challenging and there are fewer people out. There’s only one problem: it’s avalanche season. When it’s avalanche season, I stay put in our tiny corner of the snowglobe, catch up on local news, and go snowshoeing in our neighborhood.
The mountains are just west of us, the way to town is east. We’re lucky that way. Getting to town is no problem, even in avalanche weather. Something crazy would have to happen to close the road to Liezen. I haven’t heard the local news yet today, but I think all of our roads are open. It’s further west, near Salzburg, that they’re having problems. Though we have all the makings of a good avalanche here – very heavy snow after a day of rainfall.
There’s a whole science to avalanche safety. You can do lots of training that tells you what to look for in the snow, what areas to avoid, how to respond if, heaven forbid, you get swept away in an avalanche. When the weather is like this, the evening news shows super cool dudes throwing explosives out of helicopters on to risk prone hillsides. I just stay off the snow or confine myself to the flats when the avalanche warnings are flying around.
If you’re uneducated in avalanche safety – as I am – it’s irresponsible to be out playing in risky areas. We’re lucky – we have loads of marked trails in sort of populated areas. (Populated, in this case, means there might be a farmhouse.) We use the forest roads for snowshoeing and the valley trails for cross country skiing. I don’t head out on new routes or go back in the narrow valleys during avalanche season. The trails might be safe, but one good rattle can close the roads for a week. If I head west to ski, I have to take a cell phone, Just In Case. I’d be fine, we have friends just over there that would house me for the interim, but better safe, eh?
This all sounds very dramatic, but you’re just hearing my frustration. The snow is plentiful and quite good. But the wind is mean and the avalanche warnings suggest that the back valleys are off limits. I guess I’ll join in on that run to town this afternoon for a little grocery shopping. If I’m going to be stuck in the house, I want to do some cooking.