Snow report Vaud and Fribourg Alps, 12/26/2019

Snow condition

There is plenty of snow from 1500m at the start of the Col du Pillon cable car. Even the fir trees still have snow on them despite the rain. It looks almost less so at the top. The wind has been whistling violently with fresh snow for the last few days. Ridges have been blown free, creating mighty cornices. The drifted snow can be found in gullies and hollows.

Snow quality

Where the wind got to it, it milled over the snow like sandpaper. It reflects like an ice rink that has just been removed. But this makes it easy to see the snow packs that have been blown in. In gullies and hollows there is a dusting of about 10-20cm. Up to 2200 and a little bit it has projected. So there's nothing to get below that. The noise when driving on the rainy snow is definitely something to get used to.

On the opposite slope at an altitude of approx. 1900m and south-east exposure, we observe an increasing number of ground snow avalanches. In the Glacier 3000 area itself, there are cracks in the snowpack (clearly visible from the chair), which appear stable. However, the snowpack as a whole is very heavy and caked. It's difficult to say what the situation will be like the next time it snows - possibly dangerous due to the layer of greasy paper underneath.

Overall impression

Easy to spot drift snow fields are fun even if most of the fresh snow from the Christmas week is really unusable.
There's very little going on, no crowds for runs or lift slots and the view from the Upper Valais to the Jura is simply gigantic.