Snow report Upper Bavaria, 02/08/2020

Snow condition

Below approx. 1300 significantly worse than before the deluge and the PowderAlert. Above that, there is now more than before. In other words, unlike last week, there's no reasonably usable snow left down to the valley (in shady forest aisles) but zero base beyond 1000m and only cosmetics on top from the "PowderAlert all the way down". Skis have to be carried at least a bit downhill.

Snow quality

Yesterday afternoon there was still some nice powder to be found in the Unkener Heutal around the tree line, today in the Geigelstein area only very sporadically in the mountain pine belt, where you can't let it go. The north-eastern slopes, which are still nice and cold, unfortunately have a very unpleasant wind cover, so that the heavily tracked areas there are even more pleasant to ski than the untracked ones next door. Everything with sunshine in it has a lid. But if you time it right, it might already be soft and still fast (not tried).

A crack, probably spontaneously formed during the precipitation period, lies menacingly above a much frequented north-eastern slope (photo). However, the wind cover is now so hard that you can only trigger it yourself with a lot of bad luck. However, the snow packs in the shade are still very brittle. Once again, the different readings of the warning services are interesting: level 1 in Tyrol up to 2300m, directly adjacent to the Chiemgau Alps level 2 from the tree line.

Overall impression

Went out in the neighborhood again today due to a lack of individual mobility. Before the PowderAlert (last Thursday, see CR) it was much better, because even the middle layers were still fun. Steep gullies are somehow always good to ride, so a subjective second star would also be possible. Objectively, however, the weather was the biggest fun factor today. My recommendation for tomorrow: continue to look for wind-calm, pure north-facing slopes in the Alps.