Archive For June 30, 2024
Hungarian Ski Tourer was always going to be a long shot and a hard sell. Hungary is not the flattest country in Europe but is not far off it. However, bordering the plains of the Danube are a few wooded hills and on some of them pistes have been cut to create tiny ski areas. Bankut is largest of these minnows offering five pistes totalling 3.5km in length and a similar number of lifts. Looking at the publicity photos the Bánkúti Síiskola ski school is kept busy on the increasingly rare snowy days of winter.
Our plan was to skin up through the woods, descending the pistes should there be insufficient snow between the trees. We were booked into the Fehersas ski lodge and looking forward to experiencing the Hungarian ski vibe.
Sadly there wasn’t a snow flake. Not one, and we were the only guests at the lodge. No snow, no skiing and we had to make our own vibe! Unfortunately the snows of November and December had disappeared due to the record-breaking warmth of January and February 2024. It was 10°C when we set out to walk the deserted slopes.
Still, it was nice to see and we loved our two-day visit to Budapest. Much as it was enjoyable I’m not sure Hungarian Ski Tourer will feature in the programme again!
We are enjoying a beer at the 10 Barrel Brewing Company, Boise, Idaho. Not long landed from Amsterdam we’re surprised to see some of our fellow early evening drinkers carrying firearms. What does the law allow in this, the fifth most Republican state in the US? A quick internet search gives us – ‘Idaho permits the open carrying of handguns on the person with no permit or license. Idaho also allows for the carrying of long guns in public……’ Oooh, we are along way from home!
Kirk Bachman is a mountain man through and through. He’s someone who likes a carefully thought out plan and once made will stick to it. No shooting from the hip once on the skis. This methodical approach has kept him out of trouble for decades of skiing on the often delicate Idaho snow pack. A lovely man, he has an interesting turn of phrase which kept the Brits in the contingent guessing. We threaded the needle, chased the mouse, greased the pig, bird-dogged, avoided dancing on the dragon’s back, put less weight on the buffalo trap, enjoyed wypitty pie and didn’t noodle his tracks.
Skiing the Sawtooths with a huge persistant slab risk the snow was definitely the problem and as we know, when that’s the case, the terrain is the answer. Keep off the steep stuff. In fact the avalanche risk was high everywhere we went but fortunately there is so much fun to be had on easy terrain in the US. After Idaho we enjoyed smooth, blowy, powder cruising from Cooke City, Montana before finishing up in the Tetons for our finale.
The US is expensive these days but if your ski touring budget will stretch to it you should go. For so many reasons, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.