Snow report Pyrenees Orientales, 02/03/2020

Snow condition

We had to start in the village of Sansa at 1400 m because a herd of cows wouldn't let us drive any further up the road and, well, there was no snow there yet. So first 300 m bootpack, then pretty quickly quite a lot of snow. From 1800-1900 almost a meter, above 2000 1-2 m. Unfortunately, our summit was only 2350 m high, so we were only able to enjoy the snow for a very short time. So above 1800 m it was excellent, below that nothing. As it is generally very dry in the Haut-Conflent region and has correspondingly little snow, I give it 3 stars.

Snow quality

Much better than yesterday. We started early and left before 12, so the snow was still nice and creamy. Generally completely abnormal temperatures. At the start at 1400 m 12 degrees at 8 o'clock. On return 17.5 degrees in the shade. At the top it was cold and draughty.

Snow cover up to approx. 2200 completely soaked and not or hardly frozen overnight. So you have to be careful in steep areas, the wet snow is very easy to kick loose.

Overall impression

I give completely subjective stars for the rare opportunity to climb the Pic de la Pelade on skis and ski 2/3 of the way down, the surreal morning atmosphere in Sansa, the absolute solitude, the numerous animals we were able to see (eagles, chamois, roe deer, deer, marmots). Furthermore, the very creamy descent, which was much better than we had feared, and the incredible view of this wonderfully contrasting landscape. The wonderful weather and the summery temperatures are something else :) Tomorrow we'll be heading to Capcir, where you can simply start much higher and come out higher, which opens up countless possibilities.