Snow report Upper Bavaria, 05/01/2019

Snow condition

I was very surprised this morning, as the snow conditions are still pretty good. I was able to start directly from the car at 1100 m on skis and, apart from a few short interruptions, I was able to ski all the way back to the car. Up to about 1400 m, however, it gets quite thin and you will soon have to expect more walking. Today I was traveling in the west-northwest exposures up to about 1500 m and then south. Above 1400/ 1500 m it will remain quite good for some time, especially on the shady side.

Snow quality

The amount of fresh snow increased with increasing altitude to around 10-15 cm. On the ascent, the surface was frozen from around 1400 m. With the sunlight, it quickly became soft and damp. On the descent, it was a mix of soft, damp and deep, crumbly and stable. All in all, it was more challenging to ride.

Not classic spring conditions. Only the surface was slightly frozen today, underneath it was already damp. With the strong warming, you should watch out for wet snow avalanches and avoid sliding snow cracks.

Overall impression

Despite modest downhill conditions, a beautiful day of touring, no people on the mountain, sun and no wind and views that felt like high winter.