Snow report Alpenostrand, 02/19/2021

Snow condition

Quite sufficient and increasing significantly with increasing altitude. From 1500m, no problem even in sparse forest. Further down in steep narrow sections there are already problem areas (stones, wood, ice slabs). Still possible on flat meadows down to the starting point at approx. 1060m.

Snow quality

Surprisingly good. Still nice, soft snow, especially on the upper slopes (north side). Although somewhat inhomogeneous (sometimes old, frozen, snow-covered tracks could be felt). Nevertheless, much better than expected. Below approx. 1700m, the soft snow became much wetter. In the flat middle section it was almost piste-like (like a ski slope at Easter in the late morning). In the shady trench, the conditions were hard but grippy even in the afternoon on the groomed trails. However, due to the lack of real powder, only two stars are possible.

A 1 and a 2 were issued from the tree line (snow lenses). That should fit well. The drift snow is easy to recognize. Some notable wet snow avalanches from clear avalanche paths were visible.

Overall impression

We had actually prepared ourselves for poor snow conditions with usable weather. However, our efforts on the ascent were rewarded with surprisingly good, soft snow and increasingly better weather as the day progressed (initially still very cloudy, it became increasingly sunny during the ascent). Due to the low crowds during the week (the Styrian semester break is already over), there was still plenty of space between a few existing tracks.