Snow report Vaud and Fribourg Alps, 12/27/2019

Snow condition

There is good skiable snow above 1200m. After that, the base becomes very thin and the snow really watery. The wind has been blowing from the northwest, especially recently, so that most of the snow can be found on slopes exposed to the southeast. Fresh snow overnight approx. 30cm.

Snow quality

Above 1600m you can play around in the finest powder. If you grind through the trees, it gets harder below but still good! As mentioned above, drift snow lies mainly on the lee side below the newly created Vechten on south-eastern slopes. The 30cm of fresh snow lies on top of the old snow and you can feel the contact with it from time to time as hard ground with a corresponding noise.

Ground avalanches are visible. Especially fresh ones, i.e. from today. These are particularly visible on slopes exposed to the south-east and below vechten. Caution is advised. The ground is actually quite slippery. We can also attest to small patches of wet snow. We stay on the busy slopes and avoid steep descents.

Overall impression

Super nice powder day with a reasonable 30cm of fresh powder. The sun comes out from 1pm and the resulting feeling of happiness drowns out the voices of our thighs screaming in the heavy snow below 1600m. Great day! Unfortunately, many people here in Gstaad and the surrounding area are out and about without avalanche transceiver equipment, which leads to many people simply "jetting off" into what could be tricky terrain on the easily visible slopes...