Engelberg: Titlis & Brunni, CH, Jan. 25, 2019

Tony Crocker

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On Friday ChrisC, Liz and I met at the Titlis base about 10:15.
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We rode the gondola to Stand, skied to Laubersgrat chair and headed for the Laub.

View from top of the Laub:
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This time we skied some variations more center (Liz and me) and skier’s left (ChrisC). ChrisC here:
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Lower down we moved skier’s left as we saw a surface lift and presumed it would lead to lift or trail not requiring a bus ride. There was more variable snow over here, some good powder but also chunks and debris to avoid.,
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We had nice meadow skipping powder near that T-bar but it was flat tedious slog behind that to the #5 piste leading down to Engelberg. I recommend skiing far right to that restaurant and taking the bus.

Once again Liz had a real workout on the Laub and decided to take a bus to the small Brunni area on the other side of town. ChrisC and I headed back up to the Jochstock to ski Sulz, the last of the off piste routes for me. The Sulz is very visible riding the gondola from Trubsee to Stand and we had all checked it out earlier that morning. Dropping north off the top of Jochstock or bearing skier’s right off the #10 piste leads to a valley that joins the Steinberg well below the glacier.

From the top of Jochstock ChrisC and I traversed right into this bowl of the Sulz.
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Lower down I skirted a rollover to the left but was able to direct ChrisC into a more direct line of untracked.
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We finally followed the Sulz valley to the merge with Steinberg. Looking back up where we skied:
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Looking up Steinberg from the same spot:
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And looking down:
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By traversing right we have the straightforward exit to Trubsee which we had skied the previous two days.

If you ski the Sulz fall line from the #10 piste you run into this cliff band. There’s a traverse out to skier’s left but there are also the two Icicle Couloirs next to the ice center of this pic but not visible at this oblique angle.
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ChrisC returned to the Sulz and ended up skiing one of those couloirs. He also took a couple of runs in the Steintali.

Meanwhile I headed down to the base and took a 2:15 bus to Brunni to reconnect with Liz. There’s a busy learning area at the base but I’m taking the tram up another 1,800 vertical.
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Note that midday in the sun at only 3,400 feet it’s still cold enough to make snow.

Brunni has just 4 pistes though a couple of them add up to about 2,000 vertical feet. Liz had skied the three above the tram and was probably riding the tram down when I was riding it up.

Like Brevant-Flegere in Chamonix, Brunni provides great views of the signature terrain on the opposite side of the valley. Here’s a zoomed view of the Laub.
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Here is the 600 vertical foot T-bar which James had read about being steep.
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There’s some off-piste over here too, but it’s been in the sun for a week so I was not tempted.
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Overview of Brunnihutte, with Titlis, Laub and upper Galtiberg in background:
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The 833 vertical chair coming up to Brunnihutte has a sled run as well as 2 pistes. On my first ride I saw some kids on sleds but was too late to get a picture of them.

Views from the ridgeline piste #2 are impressive.
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This is where I got the full view of Galtiberg that I posted in the prior report.

Piste #4 descends to a bus stop in Fellenruti. I couldn’t find anyone at the top of the tram that knew about it, but the bus schedule was posted at the base of the Ristis chair. I headed down at 3:30, piste #4 about to go into the shade here.
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I made it to the bus stop at 3:35, and 11 skiers got on it at 3:45. I skied 11,900 vertical with about 3K of powder on the Titlis side and 4,600 vertical at Brunni.
 
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