Snow report Ammer Mountains, 02/28/2017

Snow condition

The amount of snow is low and the precipitation on Friday and from yesterday to today has not changed this. Around 2 cm of fresh snow fell in the valley on Tuesday night (Graswang Valley). The warm spells of the last week have had an effect, slopes exposed to the sun are now covered in snow and only a few tours can be started from the valleys. Stone contact is very likely when skiing downhill. Due to the strong wind, there was still 10-20cm of powder snow on a hard base today in wind-calm and blown-in areas at around 1700m above sea level. Ridges and crests were blown out over large areas.

Snow quality

The snow quality was okay. The fresh snow was heavily wind-pressed and not so easy to ski. In addition, on Sunday and Monday, large areas of wet and loose snow avalanches came down from the rock faces and the old avalanche cones served as a less skiable base for the fresh snow. As it thawed all the way down to the valley today, there will be a snow cover tomorrow at lower altitudes and in places exposed to the sun.

Due to the avalanche situation, we changed our route choice today and didn't climb up to near the ridge. The snow was heavily packed and the influence of the wind on the snow cover was noticeable. The relatively low amount of fresh snowfall and the stable melted snow cover as a base had a positive effect.

Overall impression

Due to the lack of snow, I can honestly no longer recommend ski touring in the Ammergau mountains. The snow conditions in the Tannheimer Tal, the Mieminger and the Außerfern are comparatively better.