This March, we were back to the Albula! Elizabeth Moceri and Paul Farrelle stayed on after the Vanoise trip to join us, and we also met up with Juan Diaz, David Ries, Ken Newton, Graham Simpson, Elizabeth Hampson, and Scott Kingland. Several of these folks had skied with us before, as you can see by the list below.

Other Trips with Mo Moceri

Other Trips with Ken Newton

Other trips with Paul Farrelle

Other Trips with David Ries

Other trips with Scott Kingland

Ortler - March 2013

From left to right: Juan, David, Ken, Graham, Paul, Mo, Elizabeth, and Scott.

As usual our first day was a lift-served tour out of the ski area at Diavolezza. The clouds were in and out as we skinned across the Pers Glacier.

An attention-getting reminder, that you are not in Kansas anymore!

Heading toward the Jenatsch hut ("Just around the corner...") on day 2.

Day 3 dawned clear and beautiful for our crossing into Bergün.

Heading up in perfect skinning conditions.

Piz Puogl in the distance as we head up the hill.

A steep traverse made much easier by good tracks put in the previous day.

Piz Bever across the valley.

Our climb is rewarded by some fine snow descending below Piz Laviner.

Traversing below Piz Bial.

And some north facing snow into the Alp da Mulix.

Pretty good!

A long descent.

In Bergün, our night's stop is in the Grand Hotel Kurhaus, a fine specimen of Swiss Historic Hotels. Conditions are very Spring-like already on this March afternoon.

Time to eat!

Well, almost. First we had to check out the beautiful bar.

The early thaw and the arrival of some more poor weather having scrapped our plan to ride lifts out of Bergün (most of which were closed) we hopped on a train for our Plan B.

Fortunately the train lines are prolific in this part of the alps. Less than an hour later we were skinning up to the Es-Cha hut from the village of Madulain.

The weather deteriorating as we climbed.

The next morning found us approaching a steep climb over the Porta d'Es-Cha in the fog.

A preview of things to come.

A bit of technicality to overcome the final steepness...

But it's smooth sailing on the other side.

Another party topping out on the col behind us.

A nice long glide down the glacier brought us to the Kesch hut.

The following morning we headed out in mixed cloud and sunshine to see what we could ski.

We headed toward the Fuorcla Viluoch below Piz Porchabella.

Beautiful light.

For our second lap we headed up toward Piz Kesch.

About to lose the light!

Though the top of the run was in fog, we got out beneath it before the end. A lovely late-afternoon run back to the hut.

For our final day the weather was very windy, and we split the group to accommodate some illness running its course through the herd! A dusting of snow in the trees on the descent towards Bergün.

Those who defied the elements were rewarded with frosty conditions.

The descent from the Sertig Pass.

Nearing the bottom of our last run of the trip.

The village of Sertig Dörfli, where we will catch the bus.

The welcoming inn is decked out for Easter! A bus, a couple of trains, and it's back to Pontresina where the journey began. Thanks to all who joined us for another Albula adventure!