Reunion on the Gottesacker plateau

“I know you said, it beforehand – but it’s huge!” Eliane can’t take her eyes off the Ifen. And I’m sitting next to her on the chair lift with a broad “told you so” grin on my face. The Ifen is a safe bet if you want to impress people. I’m also grinning because I know that’s just the first of many “Wows!” to come. However, there is one thing I do not suspect: just how much this weekend on the Gottesacker plateau will blow me away too...
 

Thankfully we have got wiser with age - or at least more tolerant. More and more, I spent time with snowboarders, both on piste and in powder. But no sooner had we got used to each other than we parted ways again: I discovered ski-touring and was drawn more and more to the backcountry. There weren’t many snowboarders that could keep up: too complicated, too difficult, too frustrating. 

Then, a few years ago, the splitboard appeared: a snowboard that splits along its length for the touring ascent, with bindings that can
be mounted straight or sideways. This meant that snowboarders could climb using skins too, and without snowshoes or short skis, and especially, without a heavy snowboard on their backs. So now we’re together again. If you compare the two halves of the splitboard to a pair of touring skis, the difference isn’t that big, or better said, that wide. 

So first of all, we enjoyed a wonderful day on piste on the beautiful natural snow at the foot of the Ifen. The sun shone in textbook fashion, while all the clouds seemed to have been sucked down into the lowlands. While enjoying a drink in the Auenhütte at the end of the day, we realised that we hadn’t had a Plan B. Bad weather? We hadn’t even considered it. When angels travel... - whether on skis or on a snowboard. 

The pampering continued in our accommodation at the Hotel Gemma. A bit of floating in the pool, more gossip on the loungers, then too much dinner, because the owner, who also runs the kitchen, is such a wonderful cook. 

With Franky, we made the right decision twice. He’s not just a ski guide, but also a photographer. As a guide, he showed us some of the best descents (and enjoyed them himself too, if his whoops of joy were anything to go by). And his photographer’s eye led us unerringly to the most beautiful corner of the Gottesacker plateau. It’s the truth! In fact, it’s an all-in-one playground for us tourers; manageable ascents, wide slopes, gentle cruising through off-piste terrain - and a final descent that has us all rejoicing, splitboarder, skitourer and even our guide, who is probably one of the best freeriders in the valley. 

“Pretty, pretty, good. Wow!” “Yeah, even though...” says Franky, pausing dramatically, “we’re actually on German soil here.” That gives us two German gals even more to cheer about. We have no objections, however, when our Kleinwalsertal guide takes us back to the Gottesacker saddle and thus back to Austria.

The descent via Schmalzboden ends up on a meandering cat-track through the forest, and suddenly we find ourselves on the crosscountry trail in Wäldele. Stride, repeat. Silence reigns. There is no need for words between the three of us now. Although. Franky does then utter one sentence: “Fancy an aprés cappuccino in s’Hirscheck?” Spiltboarder and skier are unanimous: “Don’t forget the aprés cake!”