Exporing Kühtai with a snowshoe climbing journey

There’s one thing magical concerning the journey to Kühtai. As our bus ascends from Innsbruck, winding its approach alongside Alpine roads that climb progressively ever greater, there’s a gradual transformation from metropolis life to a snow-covered playground.

At 2,020 metres, Austria’s highest snowboarding village welcomes us with its crystalline air and towering peaks, the right stage for our snowshoeing journey. We meet Nick, our Belgian information from the aptly-named Comply with Me ski college.

We’re in skilled fingers – he’s labored within the space for man years and is aware of the area intimately. His respect for the panorama can be evident and he warns us of heightened avalanche dangers, however assures us our route had been rigorously chosen.

Strapping on snowshoes was comparatively straight-forward. These light-weight contraptions broaden our toes like outsized paddles, and the accompanying poles present us with extra stability.

Nick patiently walked us by way of the fundamentals, together with the all-important artwork of falling. It appeared comical at first—practising a tumble—however the knowledge of it quickly grew to become obvious. Falling appropriately might imply the distinction between an amusing anecdote and an unlucky harm. The important thing, it appears, is to fall forwards slightly than sideways.

We set off into the pristine wilderness, the snow crunching beneath our toes. As we ventured additional, the snow grew to become deeper, rising from ankle-deep powder to knee-high drifts – however we solely realised it as soon as our toes sank unexpectedly! Fortunately, we’re in comparatively good condition as we’ve been operating parkruns often again within the UK, so don’t discover it too bodily.

Our route introduced us to a rocky outcrop, a pure perch overlooking the valley beneath. The view was breathtaking, an infinite expanse of white, cut up solely by the highway main again to Innsbruck.

As we organized ourselves for a photograph, the surprising occurred — the snow beneath us gave approach. Straight away, two of us are on the ground, revealing a surpisingly deep void beneath.

There’s no hurt executed and we now have chuckle about it, however our eldest is a bit caught and Nick is cautious to dig him out, slightly than threat dislodging a snowshoe as he pulls his leg up, as that would end in sending it tumbling irretrievably into the depths beneath. As a substitute, a gradual and deliberate excavation occurred, eradicating snow so his foot may very well be freed, footwear intact.

Nick kindly re-takes the photograph for us as we stand simply ahead of new-found gap!

With the drama behind us, we pressed on throughout a snow-covered space the place Nick knew there was a stream beneath. He goes first after which has us observe at a distance, one after the other. Fortunately, the snow held agency this time.

We retraced our steps again in the direction of the village, having totally loved our little snowshoeing journey.

Disclosure: Our journey was sponsored by Innsbruck Tourism.