At noon, the call to work reaches me, whether I would like to come along in the evening with a small but nice ski tour. Meeting point at 18 o'clock, then it goes by car Les Rasses, a small winter sports resort above Yverdon in the Swiss Jura. The place itself is (for local conditions) quite high, on approx. 1100m, Snow is definitely abundant and it seems that there is a lot going on. All the way, tour guides come towards us while we climb the slope. Training all for the Patrol of the Glacier soon.
The headlamps are almost unnecessary, the moon shines on the beautiful snowy landscape, everything appears in black and white ...
Above the tree line (here quite low of course) we turn north and climb against the clearly visible summit of Le Chasseron over wide white meadows. The higher we get, the more surreal the nocturnal summit storm of the other tourers, who seem to come from all over the forest.
Was it still windless in the forest, blowing here above the wind over the plane, which makes it easier to move forward on the hard snow, but the summit stay rather shortened. For the 400 Hm we probably needed 50-60 minutes. Nevertheless, we enjoy the view, which direction Switzerland is just incredibly good. Thanks to the moon you can look up to the Alpine ridge. Both lakes (Lac de Neuchatel and Lake Geneva) sting out of the sea of lights as black areas.
We go down, pack up and fight our way through the wind back to the ridge between summit and P.1521 to that signpost, If the other side of the ridge was flat, it goes steeply down to the leeward side of the mountain (and thus an incredible snow hole). Three or four tracks have already been pulled, otherwise this evening will get lost here NOBODY out. So we have the crazy snow for us. One after the other seeks his way through the light trees, the terrain is about 30 ° steep, wonderful to start.
At the huts La Merlaz (1332m), there is a chocolate and hot tea, then it is cropped and immediately risen again. Not in the pass, but a little to the right (seen from below), that's half an hour. The terrain becomes steeper, up around 35 °. We fell off five meters below the edge of the ridge, then went down the winter wonderland forest again with cheers. Deep snow dust, the lamp cones dance on the white surface.
Back at the hut arrived, is again angefellt, this time there is already a trace :). Where we have previously turned around, you have to climb the last steep meters through the slippery shoot snow layer on the ridge, this is best done with the skis in hand. Once at the top, the skins are inserted one last time, drunk a little tea and then driven off. The treeless plain along is rather unsettling, but then cruising down the freshly groomed piste is just the perfect way to end the good evening tour.
