Over the hills and far away

Ein Sommernachtstraum

2008-06-20T06:34:00.000-07:00

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Wenn wir Schatten euch beleidigt,
O so glaubt-und wohl verteidigt
Sind wir dann- ihr alle schier
Habet nur geschlummert hier
Und geschaut in Nachtgesichtern
Eures eignen Hirnes Dichten.
Wollt ihr diesen Kindertand,
Der wie leere Träume schwand,
Liebe Herrn, nicht gar verschmähn,
Sollt ihr bald was Beßres sehn.

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Eine Produktion nach William Shakespeare, von und mit Tobi, Mag und mir.

Schnock:
Scheint der Mond in der Nacht, wo wir unser Spiel spielen?

Hippolyta:
Wie kommt's, daß der Mondschein weggegangen ist, ehe
Thisbe zurückkommt und ihren Liebhaber findet?

Theseus:
Sie wird ihn beim Sternenlicht finden.-Hier kommt sie;

Theseus:
Geh, Philostrat, berufe
Die junge Welt Athens zu Lustbarkeiten!
Erweck den raschen, leichten Geist der Lust,
Den Gram verweise hin zu Leichenzügen:
Der bleiche Gast geziemt nicht unserm Pomp.

Hermia:
Bei jedem Schwur, den Männer je gebrochen,
Mehr an der Zahl, als Frauen je gesprochen;
Du findest sicher morgen mitternacht
Mich an dem Platz, wo wir es ausgemacht.

Hermia:
Wenn Leid denn immer treue Liebe traf,
So steht es fest im Rate des Geschicks.

Drum laß Geduld uns durch die Prüfung lernen,
Weil Leid der Liebe so geeignet ist
Wie Träume, Seufzer, stille Wünsche, Tränen,
Der armen kranken Leidenschaft Gefolge.

Hermia:
Je mehr gehaßt, je mehr verfolgt er mich.

Helena:
Je mehr geliebt, je ärger haßt er mich.

Elfe:
Über Täler und Höhn,
Durch Dornen und Steine,
Über Gräben und Zäune,
Durch Flammen und Seen
Wandl' ich, schlüpf ich überall,
Schneller als des Mondes Ball.
Ich dien der Elfenkönigin
Und tau ihr Ring' aufs Grüne hin.

Titania:
Der Lenz, der Sommer,
Der zeitigende Herbst, der zornge Winter,
Sie alle tauschen die gewohnte Tracht,
Und die erstaunte Welt erkennt nicht mehr
An ihrer Frucht und Art, wer jeder ist.

Helena:
Wenn Ihr mich schlagt, ich muß Euch dennoch schmeicheln.
Begegnet mir wie Eurem Hündchen nur,
Stoßt, schlagt mich, achtet mich gering, verliert mich:
Vergönnt mir nur, unwürdig, wie ich bin,
Euch zu begleiten.

Hermia:
Doch aus Gefälligkeit und Lieb, ich bitte,
Rückt weiter weg! so weit, wie nach der Sitte
Der Menschen sich, getrennt von einem Mann,
Ein tugendsames Mädchen betten kann.

Droll:
Hin und her, hin und her,
Alle führ ich hin und her.
Land und Städte scheun mich sehr.
Kobold, führ sie hin und her!

Helena:
O träge, lange Nacht, verkürze dich!
Und Tageslicht, laß mich nicht länger schmachten
Zur Heimat führe weg von diesen mich,
Die meine arme Gegenwart verachten.

Demetrius:
Dies alles scheint so klein und unerkennbar
Wie ferne Berge, schwindend im Gewölk.

Hermia:
Mir ist, ich säh dies mit geteiltem Auge,
Dem alles doppelt scheint.

Theseus:
Eine sehr höfliche Bestie und sehr gewissenhaft.

Demetrius:
Das Beste von Bestien, gnädiger Herr, was ich je gesehn habe.

Lysander:
Dieser Löwe ist ein rechter Fuchs an Herzhaftigkeit.

Theseus:
Wahrhaftig, und eine Gans an Klugheit.

Demetrius:
Wohl denn, wir wachen also. Auf, ihm nach!
Und plaudern wir im Gehn von unsern Träumen.

Theseus:
Mondschein und Löwe sind übriggeblieben, um die Toten zu
begraben.

Droll:
Und wir Elfen, die mit Tanz
Hekates Gespann umhüpfen
Und, gescheucht vom Sonnenglanz,
Träumen gleich ins Dunkel schlüpfen,
Schwärmen jetzt; keine Maus
Störe dies geweihte Haus!
Voran komm ich mit Besenreis,
Den Flur zu fegen blank und weiß.

Cow Tongus & Sheep's Cold

2008-06-15T06:10:00.000-07:00

Recapping the last few weeks, weather has been less than ideal mostly with few clear nights and high freezing levels. When life is a bitch to us, we ride her harder.

Recommended music: Puppetmastaz - Take me on a ride

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The Cows

A cow tongue, if you’ve never had the pleasure, is a lot like wet sand paper, or maybe like a kitten tongue if the tongue were the size of the kitten. Cow spit has properties similar to slug slime and leaves a persistent goo trail on skin and clothing.

The courteous way to approach a cow is, of course, head on lest you be kicked in yours and offering a hand for inspection. Sleeping cows are best left alone, as are eating cows. The reproach in the big, glossy eyes of a cow pausing in mid chew to stare at you with a half devoured bouquet of wildflowers hanging from her mouth is peerless.

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The Heat

On the glaciers there is a layer of Sahara dust. In the valley the very air is sticky. Even after the sun has gone down, heat radiates off the rocks. Biting little flies buzz around my bare legs, overhead my friend’s ample butt is dangling from a top rope, gravity squeezing soft flesh into harness straps. It’s still unbearably hot. Fingertips move gently over warm, dusty stone, feeling blindly for cracks and tiny holds, a deliberate exercise in self control with closed eyes and face pressed into rock as hands do their work and feet begin to slip. Clouds of chalk suspended in the humid air, sweat trickling down shirtless climbers’ backs. Minds, like fingers, wander. The memories of white mornings help through sweltering afternoons.

Marika

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The Water

The day when the rain came, and a dripping, green world. Thick clouds cling to the mountains that surround the city and where peaks usually pop up behind church towers and in between apartment buildings there is nothing but grey. Life is an island in the mist.

Skiing in the rain and a familiar mountain to ourselves. Sitting in the lodge where we have spent days of our lives, staring out into the impenetrable fog, content to let time pass and amusing ourselves by gossiping about the other people there, gosh that guy must be like 30 years older than her and just look at that makeup! Her face is totally going to melt when she goes outside! Streams appear in the middle of rocks and ice, water gushing from the heart of the glacier.
Dude.
Where are we?

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The Smell of Blood

A cold snap this time of year is called Schafskälte here, Sheep’s Cold, for the sheep that have just been shorn and must then suffer frost. It usually comes around mid June but always before Johanni, Saint John’s day, when midsummer fires burn on the peaks and for one night the hills have glowing red eyes.

The hours just before sunrise are always coldest and so, sometimes, it is with the time before midsummer. In the mountains old terrors, long forgotten, wake. Drawn from the cold fog by the scent of our warm, living flesh come creatures of ancient nightmares, the cruel, merciless ghosts of gentle beings long dead, frozen among summer flowers.

Our desperate flight remains a blur in my mind, I remember little but the image of Keksie leading us in a mad rush to warmth and light, towards the safety of the parking lot where the Stubai Zombie Killer Sheep have no power.

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Teh Krew

After the sheep experience I wasn’t really feeling the whole lone wolf rad solo thing and no one wanted to go do extreme skiing with me so I joined my jibber friends. We built the most awesomest kicker set up ever. The boys came close to beheading each other while team tagging the afore mentioned awesomest kicker set up ever. I was amused.

Tobi Superman

Magnus with a huge floated despair.

Jochen: „I thought it would be sunny so I left my poles at home.“

Note rest of krew getting slowly drunk in the bg. cHiLlaZ 4EvEr!!!1!!1

Magnus risked his life and pants chasing off the killer sheep.

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The Rad

Heartened by this display of heroic courage, I have since taken up again the fascinating past time of skinning around in the fog alone.

Of late, there has even been some new snow to scrape off the frozen desert dust.

And so it goes. One stays entertained.

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BOO!

like a drug

2008-06-05T03:14:00.000-07:00

While the rain is washing away the last dirty patches of snow here, first reports of powder in the Andes are coming in from friends in the great white south. Tickets are booked, nothing to do but wait and go through old pictures. Some highlights from the last years..

music for the mood, Queens of the Stone Age - Like a Drug

Ushuaia - Cerro Glaciar Martial
If this is the end of the world - Let it blow

Bariloche

Lopez, Catedral Norte, Catedral Sur, Freyfreyfreyforever

Esquel

La Hoya, La Torta, Cocinero, Cholila

Más en el Norte
Chillan, Santiago, Los Penitentes, Las Leñas

Pfingstmontag @ P-tal

2008-05-12T22:50:00.000-07:00

Some of you will already know there's no place to go

This is the modern man, as good as I am

Here in the heart of the sun my memory melts

Swellegant, elephant pain, he never forgets

Moloko - Should've Been, Could've Been

Superior Logistics

2008-05-11T22:33:00.000-07:00

Responsible planning is essential to safe backcoutnry skiing in a high alpine environment. We’ve got it all figured out.

Lena and Flo drive to Kaunertal and place their car at the skiarea parking lot. Simon, Juho, Marika and I also drive to Kaunertal, get Lena and Flo’s car, drive to where we plan to end up later, leave their car there and drive back to the parking lot. At the summit of Weisseespitze Simon figures out that he left the key to Lena and Flo’s car in his car. Juho and Marika defy the radically extreme Weisseespitz Nwand to get the key from Simon’s car, descend to Gepatschferner, use Lena and Flo’s car, for which they now helpfully have the key, to get Simon’s car from the parking lot and drive back with both cars to where they started out to wait for Simon and me to finish defying the even more radical and extreme Fluchtkogl Nwand. Simon then goes to Ötztal with Lena and Flo’s car to pick up Lena and Flo. We drive to Simon’s place in his car, leave it there and drive home in my car.

Weisseespitze, Fulchtkogel background left

Summit done proper.

Contemplating the difference between percieved and actual steepness, which in this case was not what you would expect.

The Nface is a constant rollover but short and without any bad exposure. Walk in the park after last weekend. Simon makes it sound much more exciting and is generally more coherent, as usual.

Harvest past the extreeeeemnessss.

Gepatsch

Some interesting route finding and the glacier spits us out at the cars (remarkably).

Nachtschatten

2008-05-09T04:09:00.000-07:00

Man muss ja immer früher aufstehen für den Mist. Das Wasserkraftwerk sieht nachts aus wie ein Ufo. Dann abwägen zwischen Stirnlampe ja oder nein, sehen und gesehen werden, nicht, dass einen wer sehen würde, wenn, und egal wärs sowieso, aber trotzdem. Rot glühende barryvox Herzen wabern durch die Nacht, bis die Sonne aufgeht.

(Halbe Wechnerwand/ Kleinkram)

Roadside Spring Slides & Linker Fernerkogl

2008-05-05T00:46:00.000-07:00

We got a reasonable amount of new snow in April. In combination with an isothermal, rather rotten snowpack on sunny aspects and a sizable layer of depth hoar on north facing slopes, this has led to new features in the landscape. We figure the mountains are suffering some really bad hangovers so it ios understandable that they repeatedly puke into the valleys.

The dirve to and from the skiarea on Kaunertal glacier is usually the most exciting part of any skiday there. This time, upon driving home, we found that the road was temporarily unavailble. We were required to drive along a hiking trail for a bit. The road is here:

Another mild inconvenience further along:

You encounter these every few kilometers and it is always an exciting game to guess if there will be any new ones that you have not seen. When a bigger one has come down, it is always a very social occasion. The townspeople of the quaint little mounatin villages will gather and congregate with the tourists passing through to discuss the delightful pastoral scene of springtime in the alps.

This is the linker Fernerkogel, a mountain between the Sölden and Pitztal skiareas. The picture was taken in febuary on one of our tours to the diagonal chute of 1000 meters of crap.

The summit is easily accessed from the other side via a very flat glacier. It is a very popular tour, you can see some faint tracks at the top from people who have skied down the glacier. After someone posted a tr on ze german board of doing just this, which included some interesting pictures of the current state of the narrow lines coming off to the right, we figured it might be time to pay a visit.

More strange blue colour with Keksie, Kaisa and Veikko merrily trudging across the glacier.

Gratuitious scenery shot

Just a mirror for the sun.

Keksie and Kaisa heroically conquer the summit.

After contemplating for a while Keksie and I back off from the chute and follow the others down the mellow glacier as seen in first pic.

Back in the same place after an earlier start the next day.

If i had enough money to get everything i want, i would own an alpine touring set up. I don’t and i don’t so i made my usual wobbly parallel hop turns on tele gear and in combination with some most elegant sideslipping made it past the interesting top part. Keksie does the same with a fixed heel and considerably more grace and heads for happier places where eating shit is once again a reasonable option.

The snow in the chute was actually very nice but we had underestimated the amount by which the rockfaces above it would warm up even early in the day with cloudy weather. We were not much inclined to enjoy the showers of snow and rocks the mountain was provinding and made sure to quickly fuck off.

Shame Marius missed out as he is usually an integral part of the more interesting adventures in p-valley.

pink

2008-04-30T02:26:00.000-07:00

There is an alley of pear trees in bloom and when they lose their petals in the wind it looks like snow.

Spandex clad beerguts on roadbikes are back in force, people appear to have woken up from whatever kind of koma they spend the winters in. The teenage girls who hang out in the skatepark to ignore the boys seem happy that it is once again possible to wear that particular combination of low rise jeans and short tops, which allows the nonchalant showing off of ones thong without neccesarily getting pneumonia.

Fat green meadows and the sweet smelling pink obscenities planted to complement the urban tristesse that surfaces sometimes even here, in our sound of music version of a city, make a strange contrast after days spent in stark whiteness.

While corn is nice there is certainly something to be said for the warm sloppy spring storms on the glaciers.

Powder 8s with Kaisa

30.4. Dawnpatrol, Wechnerscharte

Another early, early morning departure from our favourite powerplant.

Skinned up in the shade and decided on a whim to ski down on the sunny side.

Keksie carving thru the blu

The Velvet Underground

2008-04-21T09:48:00.000-07:00

Some things require that one get up very early or, depending on where one stands in these matters, very late. Timed to the task at hand, the alarm clock may yield odd looks from those that the bars and clubs have spat out, the ones that are drifting from oblivion towards bed. Every so often we may get a nighttime journey through moonlight and mountains. Sad flightless creatures, living in the shadowy depths of narrow valleys, we are trapped in a two dimensional world of black sky and blacker mountains. Only the clouds, torn shards of glistening silver vapour suspended between one darkness and another give any illusion of depth.

The endless beat that is the radio at four in the morning is replaced by the sound of blood pumping through veins and screaming muscles as the moon sets and the sun rises.

In other words, corn season – bring it on already.

The lovelys

(Vordere Karlesspitze)

Butter

2008-04-18T08:59:00.000-07:00

Die Blumen schießen, die Bäume schlagen aus, die Vögel schreien schon in der Früh um fünf. Erste Firntour des Jahres.

Harvest Season

Sand durch die Sanduhr

aka Hochwanner Ostflanke.

Schrankogl

2008-04-13T06:24:00.000-07:00

Short skin up Daunscharte from the wonderful LIFTS and then a good 1000 meters of rolling glacier.

Then we skinned again.

For a long while

Through the scenery

of springtime in the Alps.

Random picture of our bad ass crew. L to R: Bad ass telechick fiddling with bad ass telebindings. Manu, Bad ass girlfriend of my Bad ass ski buddy Simon, not pictured. Sylvia, Bad ass mom of Bad ass ski buddy Simon. Jogi, Bad ass mofo and teamriding industry ho. We are all very extreme.

We are not there yet.

Simon’s birthday is coming up. Manu and Sylvia discuss party preparations. It will be a Bad ass party so I tilted the camera.

Everything was fine and dandy for the first 1000 or so meters of skinning, then I got a headache from the sun and a cough fom my cold. At this point we started bootpacking up a ridgeline with 28 false summits. Manu and Sylvia left most of their gear, the others and I carried a lot of heavy shit.

Side note: Not only can I breath only marginally through my nose, my ears haven’t popped for three days. As long as I am more than 2000 meters above sea level, I feel fine. As soon as I leave the mountain an invisible pillow appears around my head and dampens all noise. I can hear myself breath a lot louder than I can hear my roommates talk about the lack of biodegradable trash bags we are currently suffering or my classmates sharing their frustration about our collective inability to calculate the eigenmodes of a hurricane and why is professor W. so fixated on the god damn hurricanes anyway. Please cry me a river.

The cross is to tell you when you are at the top.

Simon looking ike I feel. (Austria is flat and boring.)

We signed the summit register and could finally go home. Jogi, Simon and I skied from the summit. Manu and Sylvia were pissed they had left their skis and had to climb back down the ridge.

After the first northfacing pitch that matched ourselves in radicalness, we had a lot more rolling glaciers and slush and finally a trail full of sled ruts (wooden sleds, not braap sleds). 3000m of skiing and we only climbed about half. HAHAHA.

Looking back:

Someone pointed out to me that I have a sunburn. Oh, you don't say?

Die Hagebutte

2008-04-07T06:11:00.000-07:00

Ein Männlein steht im Walde ganz still und stumm,
Es hat von lauter Purpur ein Mäntlein um.
Sagt, wer mag das Männlein sein,
Das da steht im Wald allein
Mit dem purpurroten Mäntelein.

The storms that improved if not saved our touring season. Flieg, Engelchen, flieg!

Sonne

2008-03-31T08:03:00.000-07:00

Eins, zwei, drei, vier, fünf, sechs, sieben, acht, neun, zehn
Alle warten auf das Licht
fürchtet euch, fürchtet euch nicht

die Sonne scheint mir aus den Augen
sie wird heut Nacht nicht untergehen

und die Welt zählt laut bis zehn

Die Sonne scheint mir aus den Händen
kann verbrennen, kann euch blenden

wenn sie aus den Fäusten bricht
legt sich heiß auf das Gesicht

sie wird heut Nacht nicht untergehen

und die Welt zählt laut bis zehn

Die Sonne scheint mir aus den Händen
kann verbrennen, kann dich blenden

wenn sie aus den Fäusten bricht
legt sich heiss auf dein Gesicht

legt sich schmerzend auf die Brust
das Gleichgewicht wird zum Verlust

lässt dich hart zu Boden gehen

und die Welt zählt laut bis zehn

Hier kommt die Sonne
Sie ist der hellste Stern von allen

Und wird nie vom Himmel fallen.

Rammstein - Sonne

Music for the masses

2008-03-23T11:24:00.000-07:00

For my life after work, I'm looking forward to...

I meet my friends from the office and we swim, play soccer or golf.

Gimme the beat boys, and free my soul.

I wanna get lost in your rock'n roll

and drift away.

Austria's finest family resort

2008-03-09T10:54:00.000-07:00

All text is quoted from the informative resort website.

For beginners and advanced skiers alike as well as for the whole family, the range of slopes on the plateau is ideal: wide pistes with plenty of space - even for carving - provide skiing pleasure at all levels of difficulty.

The new Funarena Boarderclub mit BoarderX, wave run, cool sounds and more is the hit for furious fun for beginners and advanced boarders.

Carving run The 'Lawensabfahrt' provides carvers with their own piste to practise their wide asyms. Thanks to its diverse range of specious, selective and best-prepared slopes, Tyrol's ski dimension offers excellent conditions especially for carvers and anyone else who wants to try out and enjoy the sport.

Under the moto 'The mountain is alive' the ski school is presenting a thrilling show with demonstrations of all kinds of snow sports, stirring music and spectacular effects every Tuesday from 09.00 p.m. 'Fisser Flieger' and 'Skyswing' offer a big portion of extra thrill for all daringly. The 75th anniversary of the ski school builts the thematic background for this overwhelming action.

The condition of the ski runs in Tyrol's Ski-Dimension is ideal ‑ smooth and velvety white ‑ thanks to a high-standard grooming scheme. Every bit of the 180 kilometres of slopes is kept in this top condition day after day, night after night.

This snow lover's dream can be accessed by 53 powerful and modern cable cars and lifts that operate efficiently and providing modern comfort at 1,200 to 2,800 metres above sea level ‑ and in Tyrol's Ski-Dimension there is no risk of a dreaded ski lift queue.

With its unique range of attractions for children, Tyrol's ski dimension is the top family ski area in the Alps. From a large variety of child-friendly accommodations through to special-reserved childrens' zones within the skiing area with special attractions such as
- magic carpet conveyor lifts
- practise lift
- kids' truck
- dino forest
- fairy tale village
- kids' stage
- playground
- stabis
- sails
- kids's town
- zoo
- adventure tower
- Europe's first childrens's run

and much more is on offer here.

'bout time

2008-03-06T10:46:00.000-08:00

Winter is not dead, sharks have sharp teeth, projects added to the list.