I monitor the Feldberg webcam. It's the highest peak in the Black Forest, and an excellent area for cross country and backcountry touring. I don't recommend it for alpine skiing, mostly because of the unbelievable lift lines that are packed with some of the rudest and most obnoxious skiers on the continent.
That said, I took a drive down to Feldberg with my daughter and a friend a couple of weeks ago as soon as the webcam indicated there was skiable snow on the mountain. It was my first chance to try out my new Garmont touring boots with my backcountry rig, and I was pretty pleased with the way they felt the first time out. They are a bit narrow in the toes, but that is normal for my EE foot. I'm going to see if they can be widened at the ski shop, but it may be problematic because of the bellows that allow for touring flexion. We skied up to the peak from the parking lot at the base of the ski area - about 2 kilometers. The waxless base on my Karhu 10th Mountains worked pretty well on the uphill, but I am going to have to get some skins for better performance on the uphill steeps.
The second trip was for some alpine skiing at the Nebelhorn in Oberstdorf, in the Allgau region of Bavaria. The snow was flying on the mountain, and there was only one run officially open, but we managed to get some good runs in despite the limited terrain. Several people were seen skiing on the closed run down the mountain, and I would have liked to join them in the virgin powder down that long, steep trail, but my daughter was having problems with her rented boots and we had to cut the trip short. I saw a lot of sign from the chamois that are native to the region and we saw one big fat doe while we were riding the cable car back down the mountain. I'm going to have to get hooked up with a hunting trip to get one of those someday soon.
We are going back to the Allgau again this weekend, to our favorite area - Ifen.
Not been but heard alot about the Nebelhorn and the competitions held there each year - the mountain run race, skating competition and freestyle ski competitions
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