Snow report Grisons, 03/21/2015

Snow condition

Just enough for three stars. You can reach the valley almost everywhere. On the south side, of course, it gets poor further up, but with creativity you can still get quite far here. Overall, the snow cover gives the impression of having been heavily worked by the wind. The almost 10 cm of fresh snow improves the conditions, but in many sections of the slope it is more cosmetic.

Snow quality

There was everything from one to a maximum of four stars. From the worst rumpy snow to loose powder that fell in the night from Saturday to Sunday. The fresh snow is still pretty loose from 1800 m upwards, and where there is enough of it, it is quite good to ski. However, depending on the hardness of the old snow base, there is a constant rumble on the descent.

The SLF had issued an avalanche warning level 1, but this seems to have been quite a misjudgement for this area. We were greeted at an altitude of around 2700 m by a small spontaneous avalanche from the steep terrain. In many places there is VERY trigger-happy drift snow. Cracks and smaller snow slabs and boards could be observed constantly. Even if it would hardly have been enough to bury people in a life-threatening manner, it was certainly enough for a fall or entrainment accident or a burial in a terrain trap.

Overall impression

Very nice tour, with a great guide in a beautiful area, in rather moderate but by no means bad conditions. Many thanks to our super guide Powderhousen, in whose 5-star-plus chalet we spent a wonderful weekend. Can be recommended without hesitation...