Snow report Andermatt / Gotthard, 04/21/2019

Snow condition

Winterhorn possible without any problems. At the end of Realp, the Furka Pass road slowly petered out, currently about 50 meters of wear. Above, the whole tour was problem-free, including the return trip via the road from the Hotel Belvedere. At the Oberalp Pass there was still a lot of snow, an estimated 4 meters next to the road. On the western slopes of the Rossbodenstock, the last 200 meters above Andermatt are free of snow.

Snow quality

Lots of it, rarely bad or really good. The summit slope of the Winterhorn still had nice, damp powder on 19.4. But I suspect that's no longer the case. It often didn't freeze well enough for firn. Not at all on 19.4. On the 20th and 21st it was mostly not deep enough. Here, we always had an almost immediate transition between hard, load-bearing harsch cover and swamp. The summit gully of the Galenstock was also "skied" by a group, looked very hard and stony in places.

On the way back from the Galenstock via the Furkapassstrasse and on the opposite slope to the Rossbodenstock west slope, a few days-old snow slabs torn through to the ground. There is/was probably a weak layer here, otherwise a classic spring situation. On the last steep slope of the Winterhorn, we sent wet snow down with almost every turn. This doesn't tend to bury you, but can pull your feet away at the wrong moment.

Overall impression

Cool tours and good conditions for more alpine stuff :-) Galenstock traverse with 2300m and super cool landscape was one of my highlights of the season!

The summit ridge on the Galenstock has good footing snow. Be careful though: a two-man rope team fell on the glacier at the cornice at the top and had to be rescued by helicopter.

Unfortunately, you have to make up your own mind about the order of the pictures...