A woman crosses a snowy besseggen ridge in Norway
Crossing Norway’s Besseggen ridge in winter. Image: Shutterstock
Tristan Kennedy reflects on the wonders of modern kit for ski mountaineering
On the surface of it, the rocky outcrop, 3,040 metres above sea level overlooking the Adamello Glacier in Italy, felt like an odd place to put a barbed-wire fence. And yet there it was. Or, at least, there were the remains of a fence – the twisted metal poking in and out of the snow, the spikes, though rusted, still looked cruel enough to do some damage. My first thought was to wonder who could possibly have been trying to pen their sheep in this high. But a quick dig around in the snow soon revealed the real reason for the remains. There were bullet casings everywhere.
I’d come on a three-day ski mountaineering trip with my wife, brother and sister-in-law to explore the Adamello range, some of the highest mountains in Italy’s Trentino region, and to ski across the enormous, eponymous glacier, the largest anywhere in the country. We quickly learned, however, that the snowy white beauty of these landscapes hid a darker past.
Up until the end of the First World War, when it was ceded to the Italians, Trentino was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The mountains of the Adamello-Presanella Group, which now mark little more than the border with the neighbouring Italian region of Lombardy, once formed the frontline in the bitterly contested, high-altitude conflict between two opposing armies. The barbed wire we’d stumbled across wasn’t evidence of agricultural development, but of a brutal battle in one of the least-hospitable environments on Earth.
Between 1915, when Italy joined the Allies, and 1918, when peace finally came, around 180,000 men lost their lives in these mountains in what became known as the ‘White War’. Only around one-third of these deaths were the direct result of combat – the rest were killed by avalanches, accidents, or simply succumbing to exposure. As Edward Alexander Powell, a war correspondent for the New York World newspaper, wrote: ‘On no front, not on the sun-scorched plains of Mesopotamia, nor in the frozen Mazurian marshes, nor in the mud of Flanders, does the fighting man lead so arduous an existence as up here on the roof of the world.’
Last summer, we learned the remains of this conflict are still highly visible. It’s not just barbed wire and bullet cases – mess tins, shells and even the occasional unexploded grenade have been found. In recent years, there have been more grisly relics, too. As the climate crisis bites, bodies have started to melt out of some of the glaciers – many of them eerily well-preserved. In the ski resort of Passo Tonale, where our trip started, a war memorial contains the bones of men who fought over these passes. The most recent entry reads ‘Unknown Soldier. Found on the Presena Glacier 11-9-2000’.
Discovering this history during our trip – which included one night in a rifugio built on the site of an old Italian barracks, and named ai Caduti dell’Adamello, or ‘to the fallen of the Adamello’ – added a fascinating extra element to the ski mountaineering itself. But it also got me thinking about every aspect of how we were moving through these mountains – and how lucky we were to have modern equipment.
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We were dressed in moisture-wicking thermal baselayers, with lightweight goose-down mid-layers and outerwear made of Gore-Tex – a wondrous, semi-permeable material, invented in 1959, that protects you from wind and snow while allowing moisture from sweat to pass through the other way. By contrast, our counterparts in the Austrian and Italian armies a century before would have been dressed in bulky woollen layers that became heavier when wet with snow and kept cold, clammy sweat trapped inside.
On our feet were lightweight skis and splitboards made from wood, wrapped in fibreglass and plastic, with p-tex bases that made sliding downhill easy, and synthetic, detachable ‘skins’ on the bottom for the climbs. But as we learned from a fascinating museum housed in an old Austrian fort, only some specialist troops in the Italian Alpini (the world’s oldest alpine regiment) and the Austrian Kaiserjäger would have been using skis at all. Most would have been given standard-issue boots, which they would wrap with puttees to keep the snow out, or heavy wooden snow shoes if they were lucky.
Meanwhile, our acetate sunglasses and lightweight snow goggles, with their interchangeable lenses, would have seemed like technology from outer space. Troops in the First World War only had goggles made of glass, or more often, muslin or gauze, to protect their eyes from snow blindness.
And yet, despite their woeful lack of equipment, these men achieved incredible feats of alpinism. On the top of Cresta Croce, a 3,307-metre peak not far from the present-day Refuge of the Fallen, there’s an enormous cannon. Technically known as a type 149/23, it was nicknamed ‘the Hippopotamus’ and weighed more than six tonnes – yet it was dragged up the rocks and over the glacial ice using nothing but mules and, when they couldn’t go any further, manpower.
I thought of the men responsible as we trekked back across the Adamello glacier from the refuge, roped-up with lightweight climbing cord in case of hidden crevasses. It was difficult enough climbing up and over the Passo Pisgana as it was – and we were only carrying our own packs, with crampons, lightweight ice axes and extra layers. It was difficult to imagine what it might have felt like with the added weight of a rifle, ammunition and other equipment – let alone doing so while facing the constant threat of enemy fire.
At the top, we stopped for a snack, removed our climbing skins, and took in the spectacular views. We were up here for the love of it, excited about the new snow and the epic descent that awaited us. Surrounding us, half buried in the snow, was more barbed wire. Left by poor souls who had no such choice.
Wishlist – Three items that will make ski mountaineering trips better
Orange Fjällräven Bergtagen Thinwool Thermal Top
The Luxury: Fjällräven Bergtagen Thinwool Thermal Top – £100
Baselayers are an essential part of any backcountry layering system – but not all baselayers are as luxurious or as comfortable as Fjällräven’s Bergtagen Thinwool thermal. Like everything made by the Swedish brand, founded in 1960 by outdoors-lover Åke Nordin, this is the highest quality. It’s made from a fine jersey knit of merino sheep wool, a naturally insulating and moisture-wicking material that’s ideal for baselayers. It feels comfortable against the skin and, crucially, doesn’t smell as much as many synthetic alternatives. Designed for both summer and winter sports in cold conditions, this is ideal for ski mountaineering. fjallraven.com
Salice 105 Snow Goggles
The Surprisingly Useful: Salice 105 Snow Goggles – £95
Salice has been making high-quality eyewear for more than a century. In a market that’s dominated by a handful of large conglomerates (such as Luxottica, which owns both RayBan and Oakley), Salice stands out because it’s still family owned. The company’s 105 Snow Goggles feature a rimless frame design that offers the widest possible field of vision. Available in a range of different colours to suit different conditions, they feature anti-fog lenses, and they look great, too! salice.com
Arc’Teryx Rush Men’s Bib Pants - £650
The Essential: Arc’Teryx Rush Men’s Bib Pants – £650
Decent waterproof and breathable outerwear is a must when it comes to ski mountaineering and it doesn’t get much more decent than the kit made by Canadian backcountry specialists Arc’Teryx. Their Rush Bib Pants are made of Gore-Tex Pro, the company’s highest-grade material. It’s incredibly waterproof and highly breathable, so you don’t have to worry about working up a sweat on the climbs. There are two-length leg vents in case it gets really hot. The mid-height bib stops snow going down your pants, and contains two zip pockets. There are further pockets on the legs – always useful for stashing things you need on the go: radio, nav device, sunglasses, snack bars, whatever. arcteryx.com