Snow report Stubai Valley, 03/01/2020

Snow condition

The general snow conditions on the Stubai Glacier are good. You can get down to the valley without any problems, and the off-piste terrain also looks good for the most part. However, as is typical for Stubai, the ridges are blown away and there is still a risk of sharking after the next snowfall. In the steep lines (e.g. gullies on the apery Pfaffengrat, Schaufelspitze north flank) it doesn't look so great yet, but spring is still to come.

Snow quality

Unfortunately, the snow is pretty blown away and almost everywhere. This means that it is mostly wind-pressed or there is some fresh snow on a hard crust. In some places it was still enough for a few nice turns, especially in the areas that weren't groomed yesterday. Powdery snow was also found in shallower hollows.

Drift snow is certainly the main danger at the moment. However, the drift snow accumulations were only to be found in shallower hollows today. Steeper slopes of all exposures were completely blown away or wind-pressed.

Overall impression

We actually only went to the Stubai Glacier to practise our ice climbing skills for the steep face season. As the weather was much better than expected and there were still a few untracked slopes late in the morning, we managed to get in a few nice turns.
The time is slowly approaching when the Stubai Glacier will once again be an option for freeriding. Especially in view of the snowfall in the coming days.