Snow report Ammer Mountains, 01/12/2017

Snow condition

Last week's snowfall ensured that by Wednesday afternoon there was a thick blanket of mostly powdery snow down to the valleys. The short and stormy warm spell yesterday (Thursday) resulted in rain up to around 1200m above sea level and a thawing of the snow cover. At the same time, the snow was affected by the gale-force wind and was blown away. Below yesterday's rain line, the wind and today's falling temperatures created a stable icy surface that was very unpleasant to ski on. Today's snowfall will ease the situation somewhat. The snow is still down in the valley and we skied down today without any stone contact. Above the rain line, the snow was very blown, but quite powdery in places in windless areas.

Snow quality

As already mentioned, the snow quality was heavily dependent on the altitude and wind exposure. Below 1200m above sea level, we encountered an icy, hard snow cover that was difficult to ski on. Above this altitude, the snow was sometimes extremely good and even powdery.

of the previous night. There were small-scale drift snow packs, blown-off areas and blown-in regions. The problem areas were easy to spot on our tour and were only visible in the uppermost part of the tour. Overall, however, you have to pay close attention to drift snow. However, no problems with sliding snow could be observed on the tour today.

Overall impression

I was surprised that some of the snow above the rain line was so good and nice to ride on. The fact that the stable base provides a good foundation for the new snowfall is also a positive thing below it.