Snow report Stubai Valley, 02/04/2021

Snow condition

The snow conditions are still good. Despite the rather above-average temperatures recently, the snow cover has held up well. All routes into the valley are possible without any problems. Further up, there is more or less snow depending on the exposure. On the north and east sides it looks very good, on the west side it is rather blown away and on the south side the wind and sun have already done some work. All in all, however, a lot is possible in these exposures too. For example, the south-facing rock face of the Ruderhofspitze is now completely covered in snow.

Snow quality

First the good news: there is still good powder snow. The bad news: unfortunately only in very limited areas. You can still find good, loose powder snow in north-facing exposures, which are somewhat more sheltered from the wind, in an altitude range from around 2800m downwards. Protected from the sun and wind, the snow was still relatively powdery even down to 1700m. At higher altitudes, the snow is already quite blown and wind-pressed. Nice passages alternate with a wind cover. On the sunny side, the snow is at least superficially moistened up to over 2600m. So at the moment there's not much downhill fun to be had there, and more slush or quite wet snow further down.

Many wet snow avalanches of considerable size have already come down from south-facing, steeper terrain. Danger still looms from catchment areas that have not yet discharged over the next few days. In the high Alps, watch out for drift snow. The strong winds have transported a lot of snow in the last few days and also today. You should therefore avoid blown-in areas. Due to the high temperatures + sunshine, the drift snow has already accumulated relatively high up, at least on the south side. Unfortunately, you still have to watch out for the old snow problem. It's worth reading through the latest blog entry from the LWD and taking it into account when planning your tour.

Overall impression

Nice circumnavigation of the Stubai Glacier. Found a few nice turns with 3 skins on in any case. The landscape is also really beautiful a little away from the ski area. There were no other people on the way.
Now, however, it would be nice if the avalanche situation eased up so that the good snow conditions could be used for some steeper descents.