Snow report Central Switzerland, 05/20/2017

Snow condition

Snow conditions are quite good here. You can strap in at the parking lot (just under 1900m) and ski all the way back. Rock contact is not really an issue. The tours in the Susten area should go on for a while, the Norostklanke is well snowed in, you can see a small bare spot after a loose snow slide. The edge crevasse is well snowed in.

Snow quality

After a mostly clear night, it was nice and frozen this morning. From about 2700-2800 m then 10 to 15 cm of (settled) powder. Then 10 cm of slightly damp powder on the summit slope. Nice to ski. Then a fairly direct transition to beautiful firn (200m with a light, undisturbed cap in between). On the last few meters it slowed down a bit.

After reading the bulletin on Friday, I wasn't sure whether it would work out today with the north-east flank. Conditions were better than described, and it snowed a little less than forecast. Several loose snow slides (from the day before yesterday or yesterday) could be seen, one of them also triggered a small board, but of course the early bird catches the worm, not everything has come down yet. I started at 5:30 am, summit at 9:15 am, departure at 9:45 am.

Overall impression

Sleeping under a starry sky, great weather, good snow and a summit slope that I don't ski every day made me forget the big rush and the fat legs on the ascent. It was one of the good days of the season.