Ski Touring into the Wilderness

There is plenty of snow on the mountains this winter so I was waiting for ideal conditions for a long distance ski touring. The beginning of February started with very warm weather that made the snowy mountain slopes too dangerous, prone to avalanches. Then, towards the middle of the month the weather got cold again so the snow on the mountain slopes froze and stabilized. It snowed again, but not too much to be dangerous. After a few very cold days the weather got warmer, just perfect for some long tours on skis!

We headed south-east from Brasov, to the Bend of the Carpathians. These mountains are not very high (just few peaks rise above 1900 m) and they have mostly gentle slopes. So the danger of avalanches is low. Moreover, the last snow fall came with high winds that swept most of the fresh snow down in the valleys and the forest below. The heights were covered in the old frozen crust that is ideal for moving quickly across the landscape. On the valleys and in the forest there was a thick powder cover... a skier's dream!

Here are photos from the two long ski tours I did with friends. Some of the mountains we crossed are very wild in winter. We met nobody for most of the time. In the most remote area, there was a stretch of more than 15 km with absolutely no other tracks. Not a single trace of human activity, even on the old frozen snow crust! This remoteness means that such tours need good preparation and good snow and weather conditions. Ski touring is perhaps the only way to visit this places in winter.