This entire THING, be it splitboarding, hiking, snowshoeing, you name it, is about discovery. Not just exploring the fabulous outdoors that lure us in every time but our inner self.
Going out into nature is not about an act of bravery or an ego trip. Corny as it may sound, it actually is about embracing the new, from the outside aswell as inside.
Late spring in the Bucegi Mountains isn’t exactly AK (Alaska) when it comes to snowpack depth. But after all, it is spring so you make the most of what you get. We started our trip from Padina Hut, skinning our way up Ialomita Valley. This cabin has become one of the best destinations for ski & split-boarders alike. I mean, why not, it’s located in the heart of the range, at an elevation of 1550 m. Plus that it’s accesible by car and the views are fantastic. It’s no wonder that every season we organise a significant number of single day or overnight tours that start from this very spot.
Check out our two Backcountry Hutweekend Tours that we have planned for February.
Weather was perfect, however layering winter clothes for 12 degrees C can prove difficult…
Early on we started to see some signs of instability in the snowpack. It was spring’s usual suspects, wet slides. Although we didn’t have a lot of snow to worry about, a wet snowpack can be dangerous. Should be noted that it’s easy to let your guard down in spring. You might think – “It’s late season, just some slushy lines left etc” and then you wake up in a very serious situation. So we took extra precautions with every traverse and exposed path we had to take.
The initial plan was to try to skin all they up the valley to Omu (2505m), the highest peak in this particular range. We knew quite a few good lines in that area and figured that just a minimum amount of snow would suffice.
As we were casually skinning along we glanced to our right, exactly where Ialomita Valley and Sugari Valley make a junction. And there it was, the most spectacular, untouched narrow funnel shaped valley descending right from the Bucegi plateau. We stopped in our tracks and started analysing the view. Line looked pretty steep but with no trees, gullies or other hazards. (“terrain traps” in backcountry slang). Excited about the new ridin’ horizons we took on the challenge.
We figured that the best way of reaching the starting point was by passing Babele Hut (2206m) and then checking our maps for an accurate landmark.
Sun was really beating down on us but in less than 1h30min we were feeling pretty confident about the entrance. It happened to be right behind the Salvamont rescut unit.
Big up for the men and women at Salvamon Romania who put their lives on the line for others.
We knew that this whole attempt could be a real fail and miss. This is, afterall, one of the trademarks of ski touring, “you never know what you gonna get”. (an innocent Forrest Gump reference cause why not…)
With maps in hand we reach our last checkpoint, by the name of the rocky “Baba mare”. (Direct translation would be “Big Old Woman”)
So he had a well deserved lunch and then we decided that a snow pit would be mandatory. (A snow pit is made to carry out various snow stability tests). Needless to say that we were pretty psyched after getting excellent results but still kept our guard up.
Even though this is older avalanche debris it still heightened the senses.
With all this in consideration, the snow on this funny looking funnel shaped line was unbelievable! We picked a good line to our 1st safe spot and one by one, in the typical “Yippie Ki Yay Mother*#&%$” fashion, we rode down. The excellent snow and the riding experience felt like mid winter but the bright sun and blue skies felt like sunbathing in Peru. With every regroup the stoke just got higher and higher. A giant grin across everyone’s face was pretty much the story of the day.
Trips like these make it all worthwhile. Always being safe and cautious whilst having the freedom to let plans change naturally can lead to some of your best days in the mountains!
Happy to say that this cool line is now in our “repertoire” of tour options.
Get in touch with us for the whole scoop.