Snow report Pyrenees Orientales, 03/04/2018

Snow condition

I found it to be good, came down the north side to the parking lot at 1300 meters without any problems, and the hut owner also said that he currently expects a long spring season.

Snow quality

Had a long descent on Sunday, which for me gives between 4 and 5 stars. At the top 5 cm of powder on even, hard ground, then a direct transition to beautiful firn. Great for really stepping on the gas and in a very impressive setting :-) Otherwise rideable but moderate. Sometimes a few centimeters of slab powder, often very hard but rideable snow, good powder days are rather rare here, there are probably many good firn days. In general, compared to the Alps, you often need crampons and ice axes, all tourers had them with them (but the equipment was not necessary at the weekend).

I would estimate between 1 and 2 for the region. There were local snow pockets, but they were easily recognizable. Sunny slopes were well wet today, but nothing slid as the snow was already well settled.in my opinion, the main danger came more from falls in exposed terrain.a few avalanches including torn guard rails below Sotres testify to a recent period of avalanche activity.

Overall impression

On Saturday, the landscape and sea views were already super impressive, but the overall enjoyment was severely impaired by winds of over 100 km/h
. The evening at the hut was still great though ;-)
On Sunday there was hardly any wind, blue skies and about 5 centimeters of fresh snow. We had a descent of almost 600 m
in perfect snow and magnificent scenery, we could hardly stop cheering.
It was absolutely worth bringing the skis down here :-)