Mythen, CH 03/09/16: Bluebird Day

After yesterday's dump and limited sightlines, we're getting at least two days of blue skies combined with cold midwinter temps. My lodging: Berggasthaus Hand -- very cozy, reasonably priced, perfectly situated near the Handgruobi t-bar, run by a pleasant couple who made me feel really welcome:



View of the lake from the patio:



The majority of European skiers don't go storm chasing like we do; they wait until the next day when it's sunny, so when I went to the lift at 8:45 this morning, the parking lot across the street was already half full -- so much for my private ski area:



Having to share the t-bar with others felt odd after yesterday:







My goal for today was to do the end-to-end circuit, so I brought out my 82-waist skis for the first time on this trip:



Still, there were bone dry sloppy seconds everywhere so I made a point of blasting through the leftovers whenever I could.









People were really happy to be out on a bluebird day. No joke, these two were yodeling as they cruised by. I heard a lot of that today:



The two huge outcroppings in that ^^ pic are what this entire ski region is built around: Big Mythen is on the left and Little Mythen is on the right. In addition to being great for photo ops, they're useful for orientation if you momentarily lose your sense of direction.

There's even a house at the top of Big Mythen; no idea how people get up there to use it:



I spent the next two hours making my way across the ski area:





As you probably remember from my other Euro reports, there are often cows in nearby barns waiting for the snow to melt so they can be let loose on the mountains. The fragrant smell of manure is your frequent companion here. Here's a nice reminder to throw rubbish in cans ("I'd rather eat grass than garbage, thanks":



By 11:30, I made it to the far end of the region, Brunni-Haggenegg, with the two Mythens in the background:





At the top, I did a ten-minute uphill shuffle on this traverse:



To nail a short but beautiful line:



On the way back, I took one of only two gondolas in this entire region. This one has to be from the 1960s and holds a maximum of 15. Not an issue today but I suspect that big lift lines develop on busy days:





Remember this pic from yesterday?



Here's what it looked like today:



A bit further down:



Time for a lunch break:



My strategy for a cost-sensitive on-mountain meal on this entire trip has been soup with plenty of excellent bread, a big beer, followed by a piece of pie: $17





After lunch, I hit as much of the north-facing leftovers as I could. It was in beautiful shape and with my skinny skis, I was often thigh-deep, accompanied by plenty of face shots. Here's the top of one of those lines with a couple guys who also found it to their liking:

BOOM MYTHEN!!  Nice! Thanks

Wow dude. Just wow.

So what's your story James? Retired millionaire that has fallen in love with skiing?

Regardless of the method well done! You are living the dream!

Wow.  Sweet!

Sure, it looks sweet, but think of what you're missing back here in New York!

OK, never mind....

Love the rope tows. Love.

Shouldn't. Speak. For James. But of course will.

James is just another guy like us. Flatlander with a family and a job. He works the deals, gets flights with credit card miles and lately it seems hardly skis in the east, maybe to save money?  He knows the language(s) and loves the culture, it's what he does.

Also... he seems to have great luck with trips planned way in advance. He's batting about 800 from what I've seen.  One thing about James is that he loves the culture so much that he will have fun even if conditions suck.

WOW  --- JUST WOW!

Beautiful!  We are planning another European trip for next winter, and this has surely put me in the mood to start working on it!