Venus hangs low by a crescent moon, its beaming light pierces the freezing alpine night. The lake beside me froze over some time ago and is blanketed in a lofty layer of snow, and a river from the glacier tumbles down the cliffside, plummeting the temperature even lower. I’m ski touring for the very first time and, despite my watch telling me it’s -4C, I’m awkwardly fumbling to take off some layers.
This demanding form of skiing shuns chairlifts and gondolas for self-propelled adventures into the ski areas outside resort boundaries..