Our friend Will Boyer was coming to town, so we had to pull out all the stops to show him that there are other cool places in the world other than Reno, Nevada!

With Job being job, I bid farewell to Freddy and Will on Wednesday and Thursday as they departed to Engelberg. They enjoyed a fun day inbounds before rappelling off Titlis and staying at the Grassen Biwak (cheapest room in town lol). The next day, they skied some glory corn on Funffingerstock before heading back and making the last connection back to Zurich. It’s great to see the Fat Ski Prince of Reno recrowned after an incident with a rock earlier this season!

On Friday, I took over the planning reins. I wanted to ski a line called El Canel Del Emperador - The Emperor’s Channel. Quite a noble name, it’s a couloir that is flanked by sheer cliffs of Dolomite-looking rock. It has two chokes about a ski length wide, cutting through the rocky north face of Chaiserstuel for 500 meters. To add to this, the suggested route to access it requires 3 pitches of hanging rappels! I have had this objective simmering since early season, waiting for the right conditions.. We’d had high pressure for over a week, and the avalanche forecast was favorable.

Will is a psych machine, tall with a hearty laugh, a man with the sauciest Instagram captions, and was happy to join for something I was so stoked about! We left early, taking the train toward Engelberg, getting off the train at the Wolfenschiessen stop, then hopping on the PostBus (transport for rural areas) up to Fell (by Oberrickenbach). Our next connection was a ten person cable car up to the small family run Bannalp ski resort. When we got off the tram, I was certainly surprised by the snowpack. Yes it hadn’t snowed in two weeks, but it was mid-March! The patchy ski resort in front of us looked like vestiges of glory that you ski with a Coors in your hand in May. A testament to the very warm and dry season the Alps have been experiencing.

We slogged up the crusty old snow until the blazing sun turned the south face we were skinning up to mush. Though unpleasant, it was short, only 700 meters to the summit of Chaiserstuel. We had a grand lunch of homemade sandwiches and Swiss chocolate, while using the Swisstopo peakfinder tool. From the top of Chaiserstuel, we were able to see Rosstock (in the Riemenstalden Valley which I talked about a few posts back), Titlis, and the Eiger.

We made our way to the first rappel point. The plan was for Freddy to set up the drone, while Will and I were to set the rappel, so we could get sick shots of us descending. Of course any plan so vain was doomed to fail.. To get to the anchor, you need to cross 20 meters of frozen grassy snow over a cliff. Will took the highline, but was extremely insecure while carrying his skis. I watched with trepidation, thinking of Bambi on ice except with a 100 foot cliff below. He had to retreat back to where I was. Now I was nervous and anxious, and for those who know me, this means I move slowly. I put my crampons on and followed the frozen steps towards the anchor until my crampon came off! Oh dear, I tried to stay calm knowing my risk is lower than the alarm bells in my head would lead me to believe. Adjust your crampons BEFORE leaving folks! I fixed the crampon and got to the anchor. During these tense 15 minutes, Freddy had abandoned his drone shot, pulled the ropes off my and Will’s backpacks, set up the anchor for us, and maybe shook his head a few times at us.

The first rappel was mellow, until I showed up at the tiny anchor ledge, where Freddy and I huddled like sardines. Below was a sheer cliff made of loose frozen rocks. Oh the places you go! We sent Will down the crux first. This was my first time on an overhanging rappel, and what I found most remarkable was the amount of ab strength I needed to summon to keep myself and my heavy pack and skis (which were on my pack) upright. Thank you Mark, my pilates instructor, for all the powerhouse training! Phew! We made it down, took off the harnesses, and the hardest part of the day was complete.

We transitioned to booting up the ascent couloir, which would be a cool, albeit short descent in and of itself. But alas, that was a passing thought once we made it to the real entrance. El Canel starts steep, with a rather intimidating cornice. After attempting to break the cornice with no luck, we felt good that it was not moving that day. Will dropped first, effortlessly slarving down the 40+ degree start. The couloir took a 90 degree turn, and he was out of sight.

I dropped (Freddy was filming now that the two baby deer were happily back in their element), scraping down the chalky snow. Once in the gut, I looked up, and felt completely engulfed by the tall vertical walls of the couloir, the only way out to go was down. The snow got better and better as it had been protected from North winds and was filled by slough from above. Though I wish I could say I turned the whole thing, I totally side-slipped through the chokes, using it as a break since my legs were burning! I finally popped out, and there were high fives all around. How sick it is to ski something that you're hyped on with buddies who are also hyped!

To make the most of a great day, we decided to make the endeavor a point to point. So we skinned East and over the ridge, skiing down to Gitschenen, another tiny ski resort/village tucked away in the Isenthal Valley. We made it four minutes before another tiny tram took us down to the road (as I mentioned..low snow). Miraculously again, we walked off the tram and the Postbus picked us up 3 minutes later. Only in Switzerland!! So thankful for incredible public transit. The Postbus took us down the scariest road I think I have ever been on: a one lane road with 180 degree turns perched on a cliff in a normal sized bus. The Postbus has a unique horn noise that I cannot describe, but you can listen to it here. I certainly don’t want to be an oncoming vehicle! This gave us incredible views of Lake Lucerne.

It dropped us off at the Altdorf train station, and two hours later we were home to meet Katura! To top of this great day, we had Fondue for dinner! Thank you Will and Katura for visiting us (and for all the hot photography)! We love having visitors, and it was lovely to host Reno’s finest for a few days.