Snow report Tannheimer Valley, 05/05/2019

Snow condition

It only really makes sense at the bottom where there was a piste underneath. We took the one from Zöblen, where there is no base for the last 100 meters or so. In the Pontenkar there is absolutely enough snow.

Snow quality

A good 10 cm of fresh snow at the bottom and a good 20 cm at the top. We didn't get up until 2 p.m. and turned around at 4:15 p.m. at around 1700 meters. The snow was pretty fluffy for the first 250 meters and actually really good to ski. Unfortunately, it didn't help much in a whiteout with a maximum visibility of 5 meters... At about 1500 meters the visibility was there, but the snow was already too wet for really easy turns.

We turned at 1700 meters, at the steep step to the Ponten the snow looked very wind-affected. It could certainly have been possible, but in combination with the unpleasantly strong wind, it wasn't worth the residual risk. The fresh snow, wind and soon sun/warming will make for rather unfavorable conditions for the time being.

Overall impression

On an intermediate descent I had some really cool turns, especially for May :-) Otherwise a moderately rewarding tour today. It might have made more sense to start earlier, then we would at least have had powder AND visibility at the bottom.

I'm only expecting really good conditions again when firn is forecast, then you can see whether there's a base or not...