April 3, 2008, Jaufenpass (Sudtirol)

Our favorite sunny, powdery microclimate in Sudtirol seemed to be failing us when we woke at 7 to snowfall above Sterzing.  Thinking of checking out a new valley for us, we headed up and found only new snow on the ground at 1500m where out tour was to begin.  After a(nother) machiatto and chat with the road crew on their 10am beer break, we decided the only place to find sure base was at Jaufenpass (2090m).

Reached a parking pullout 100m below the pass around noon, put the skis on, headed down on 4" base over a not so firm slush crust.  200m down we decided the base was too unpleasant, so skinned back up to the level of the car but further east into more open (and hopefully more solid sun affected base)  When that turned out to be just as bad, we decided to call it a day, and put April in the bag.

Rob reached the car a few minutes ahead of me and decided to ski on up above looking for one last possible good (short) run.   He found the best 100m of the day and the clouds parted enough to give a quick bluebird powder run back to the car and a ride back to Innsbruck for our powder wizard to work his magic and show us the goods tomorrow.

Back in Austria we found the coffee much more expensive, but beer still just as cheap....