Tickets purchased, into the cable car and it is only a few early rising skiers and other tourers to accompany us upwards. All talk is about what we may expect from todays tour. Our group is made up of snowboarders, ex-snowboarders who tried touring on their boards and then took up skiing and skiers.

What unites us all though is our desire for a great day out and the chance to pick up some tips and hints from André, Beat and Mario.
Half-way up the «Mittelallalin» tunnel our train stops to let us out at window exit to the «Hohlaub glacier». The train departs with only a handfull of skiers left on board to enjoy the freshly prepared slopes, whilst we step out of the tunnel to enjoy a landscape prepared by a far greater force. Exiting the tunnel rewards us with lots of blue skies but a keen wind.

A short slide down onto the glacier and the skins are mounted on skis whilst the boarders fit their snowshoes. Divided up into four groups we rope-up together in our groups as the tour features a lot of glacier traversing. Although the white blanket of smooth snow stretching out before us looks harmless enough, those who were here in summer know what lurks beneath. So, always safety first. A check that our avalanche search devices are working correctly and we are away. At a gentle tempo to warm up our leg muscles we head off toward the eastern end of the «Hohlaub Grat». André had this tour organized with the aim of only a small amount of uphill and not to great a distance to cover, to enable us to reach a good area to improve our «off piste» techniques, whilst not tiring out our legs to much!
Rounding the «Hohlaub Grat» brings us on to the greater expanse of the «Allalin Glacier where the skiers pull out a small gap over the snowboarders, who have now mounted their boards and who are thankful of André`s insistence that everyone brings ski poles as they have a means of propulsion over the flatter terrain. The ex-boarders feel sorry for them as they have been in the same situation before. Crossing the undulating terrain of the glacier we are often blasted by a cold wind but no-one is deterred and the tempo increases as everyone warms up and relaxes a little into their stride. Only once do we cross other tracks and these are heading in the direction of the «Fluchthorn». Carrying on our destination of the»Hangende Glacier» comes into view ahead. By now we have all found the rhythmn of our group and the rope stays at a constant tension between each one of us.

After approximately three kilometers and 150 – 200 metres of ascending we arrive at the «Hangende Glacier». As the last bit of climbing is completed and a short slide downhill commences a skier loses a skin due to a broken mounting clip. The following snowboarders retrieve the skin and the area is now jokingly referred to as the «Fels Joch».

Luckily, that was the last of the ascents, but had the clip broken earlier it would have been much worse. Something learnt maybe? Always carry spare clips and tools for emergency repairs. Boards and skis are removed for the short, steep climb up onto a rocky outcrop in front of the glacier for a well deserved break.

After a bite to eat and a warm drink skis and boards are fitted for the first descent. As Mario sets off, he remarks the uphill and flat sections were the main course, now comes dessert- the downhill. He`s away making it look easy. The rest of us follow with a little trepidation as this first slope has powder snow, snow with a hard crusty surface but soft below and hard packed snow. With words of encouragement from André, Beat and Mario-«lean forward more, carry more speed, bend in the knees more and maybe you should of had a couple of glasses of wine to relax more» we make our way down, albeit with a few falls on the way! Now the boarders come into their own with a few quick left, right turns and longer sweeping carving turns they leave the skiers behind them. Now the ex-boarders are wishing they were back on their boards!

At the bottom of the slope everyone groups together and it`s all laughs and smiles as the first descent is under our belts and some nervous tension has been released. We push off down a gentler slope of pure powder snow and as confidence builds the turns are coming better, smoother, cleaner and faster. Speed picks up and everyone enjoys that «powder hit» sensation of floating and gliding along with hardly a hint of resistance from the snow.

Soon we come into view of the frozen over «Mattmark» reservoir and are greeted by a strong, constant, cold wind. We make our way over the «Schwarzberg Alp» until we are at the resevoir sides.

Gently picking our way along the steep sides we come out along the path through a small tunnel to the Mattmark dam restaurant. Our luck is in as the restaurant is open today due to the Saas Almagell ski club`s holding of a race from here down to the village of the same name. We go inside to escape the cold wind and to warm up with a hot chocolate or to quench our thirst with a beer.

Refreshed, we kit back up, and as the race route is still marked with flags, and despite tired legs, an unofficial race back to Saas Almagell breaks out. The roughly five kilometers, mostly through forest, are quickly covered and we grab a passing tourist for our group photo to finish the day.