Snow report Pyrenees Orientales, 03/11/2018

Snow condition

Even though some of the snow has melted away over the last few days, the snow conditions are still very good for mid-March. It starts on the north side at 1500 m, then easily 2 m of snow from 2000 m, and even more above that.

Snow quality

Strong wind, hard but not icy snow in the couloir. Almost piste conditions...

Pretty safe in the north-facing couloirs, where all loose snow blows out immediately and the base is completely frozen and compressed by the wind. With the warming and the rain, however, care must be taken here.

Overall impression

At the end of our Pyrenean adventure, we fulfilled a dream and rode the Grand Couloir on the Cambre d'Aze. Once again great landscapes, steep gullies, safe conditions and gale-force winds at the summit in bright sunshine. The 5 weeks were initially characterized by lots of fresh snow, then by cold temperatures and finally by lots of wind. Only at the very end did it get well above 0 degrees at 1500 m. To top it all off, at the weekend we went to the bassins d'eau chaude (natural thermal water pools with 40 to 50 °C, very sulphurous) in the Têt valley. Once again, the Pyrenees were a winner. Au revoir!