Haig Vs Dachstein Which is Best?

Me skiing on the Haig

“Holy crap it’s already August”. Sorry for the language but that was my reaction a few days ago when I realized it was the end of July. I was thinking today I am almost half way through the training season. It’s been about four months since the racing season ended and there are about four months until the next races start. Wow time really does fly.

Right then, the past month. July is that time of year when skiers put in the big hours that will build the base of training needed for the upcoming race season. So it’s the perfect time to head up to the Haig glacier outside of Canmore to put in some big hours on snow in the middle of summer. Though this was not my first time glacier skiing (I went to Austria and skied on the Dachstein glacier last fall) it was my first time going to the Haig. This gave me the distinction of being a “Haig rookie” Something that my teammates were quite intent on reminding me from time to time. Though the Dachstein and Haig glaciers share many similarities (they are both glaciers with ski tracks on then for starters) in some ways they could not be more different. The Dachstein is in the Alps, in the middle of one of the most densely populated continents on the planet… the Haig is not. The Dachstein has a gondola that you ride up every day to get from the bottom of the valley up to the glacier, once on the glacier there is a restaurant where you can get your fill of a typical Austrian Lunch (a small sandwich and a litre of beer) you can look down a thousand feet below you from the observation deck and on top of all of this you quite literally rub shoulders with world cup stars on the gondola ride every day. The Haig, again, has none of these things. Luxuries on the Haig are limited to a shower that sometimes has hot water, a TV with a small collection of old movies and outhouses that are sometimes on fire. No, life on the Haig is not glamorous. When comparing the two the nicest thing you can say about the Haig is that it’s more Rustic or Canadian whichever one you think sounds best. Having now done camps on both glaciers, which do I prefer? Well I honestly think I prefer the Haig. The Haig is remote when you are up there you sometimes feel like you are in your own world. The scenery is beautiful and in terms of training there is very little to distract you from what you have to do. It’s a simple life you train eat sleep repeat. This is not to say I did not enjoy the Dachstein last year, I did and if the opportunity came up I would go again, but I like the Haig, I like the simple life for a few days, I like the two and half hour run from the trail head to the camp, I like the scenery, I even like the storms that roll in so suddenly. My teammates might mock and who knows, maybe when it’s my 5^th or 6^th time at the Haig I’ll have changed my mind, but for now I can’t wait for next year when I get to go there again.

View on the hike from the camp to the glacier

Oh yeah and training has been going well. I am in better shape than I have been at this time of year and skiing on the glacier allowed me to make significant improvements in my technique that will hopefully help out next year.

That’s all for now.

Hiking to the glacier

Our camp was done as a "yo-yo" camp. We spent four days on the glacier, four days back in Canmore and then four more days on the glacier. This is a picture of Geoff Kabush racing at mountain bike nationals in Canmore. We got to watch the races between glacier stints. The picture isn't great because it was taken with my phone as my camera was still at the Haig.