Queyras north on 06.02.2025 | skimale7892

Snow condition

No more snow up to the middle altitudes. On the south side you can start from about 1700, on the north side about 300 m lower. Descending into the valley was no problem for us due to the very high altitude of the valley and groomed cross-country ski trails, but touring starts from Briancon or similar are out of the question this year. From the altitude mentioned above, however, there was immediately enough snow. The fresh snow from last weekend was obviously good for the area, especially the middle altitudes (forest!), even if it came with quite a lot of wind. Ridge areas, but also open slopes at higher altitudes (from around 2600) are extremely wind-affected and often blown off and therefore sharky. If there were mountain pines in the Western Alps, they would be mostly covered.

Snow quality

Above approx. 2600m: compact powder in sheltered places, but often wind pressure to wind cover. Becoming heavier on the sunny side during the day, but always 'dried out' overnight due to the extremely dry air throughout the week. 2600m to c.a. 2200: Often compact powder on a soft old snow foundation, fantastic to ski in places. On the sunny side, quickly heavy and damp during the day, but not slowing down. below 2200m: 10-30 cm of powder on the shady side and in the flat on hard old snow (rain crust, not always load-bearing) and therefore not so nice to ski and walk on (smears). On the sunny side slow transition to spring conditions - cover, firn, slush

The bulletin has been talking about a pronounced old snow problem all week. In view of the increasingly well-settled powder snow on all the shady slopes, which literally scream "40° couloirs shooting", it was sometimes difficult to remain passive - until a massive crack comes into view around the corner and reminds us of the persistent weak layer. Most of the avalanches had probably already occurred spontaneously during the storm last weekend. With continuous high pressure, there were only small new snow loads from different, expo-dependent directions throughout the week. On the sunny side, there were repeated loose snow slides, one of which also tore through to the deep weak layer.

Overall impression

Super nice touring week with high-pressure weather as ordered and powder snow. Excellent conditions but only to be found very locally, preferably around the tree line and not too far above it. In the Queyras region, people are probably used to much more snow at this time of year, but for me as a north-easterner, it's pretty good here! The avalanche problem, which is difficult to assess, tarnishes the experience somewhat, but the whole trip was very instructive for tour planning and risk assessment. Objectively perhaps only three ***