Toreck ski tour, Kleinwalsertal, 2017-01-06

What Toreck is like when there isn't enough snow; just after the first 55-75 cm of fresh snow in January. Beautiful, and fabulous to ski in the lower section with lots of snow all the way down. Further up, a gnarly labyrinth of dwarf mountainpine (Ge: Latschenfelder) with some gentle bush climbing on the way towards Toreck summit. At the waymark (1829) we could get a better look at the last stretch to the summit: A sea of mountainpine before the final slopes. Thus we decided to stop here, saving the summit to another day when snow levels have improved. A great day out nonetheless!

Looking back at the valley and the blue sky. Beautiful track - thanks for that!

Bush climbing... We tried to be gentle to the pines. They are quite sturdy, but considering that we were not alone here today, we do hope that some more snow will give the vegetation more relief.
Ooomph! The snow is settling beneath us. While not exactly avalanche prone terrain right here, it's still a discomforting sound.

View to Toreck, the uppermost part of the ridge is bathing in sunshine. In the foreground: mountainpine, making progess slow. We turn around here.
View to Hohe Ifen from our turnaround point, and in the foreground, tourers deciding to continue in spite of the upcoming dwarf mountainpine labyrinth.

Sea of mountainpine!