Snow report Arlberg, 11/14/2019

Snow condition

without a snow-covered piste, nothing is possible. the snow line was probably around 1000m at the time of the previous snowfall, at least on the north side. from there it's white. above that, it's slowly getting more. at our starting altitude today, around 1300m on the north side, there's around 10cm. from around 2000m, however, you can only think about skiing with the current snow depth. 2000m you can even think about skiing with the current snow depth. there's about 35cm of powder there, without a base. we were at about 2600m today and in wind-protected areas you can find 50cm and more. that's where it's fun.

Snow quality

quite often good powder. but already quite wind-influenced and rarely capped.

some, for me surprisingly large, loose snow slides have already fallen, especially on the north and west sides. in principle, however, there is still far too little snow to cause an avalanche problem. but that may well change tonight with the forecast storm. there would be plenty to transport from about 2000m.

Overall impression

to start with: you can do it, but you don't have to !!! the beautiful weather forecast and a surprisingly spontaneous request yesterday evening made me decide to open the season today.
we climbed up from alpe rauz to the schindlerspitze.
with what felt like about 20 active snow cannons up to the ulmer hütte, corresponding noise and the associated "humidity", continuous skidoo rides and snow groomer use, as well as cable cars in test operation (with corresponding loudspeaker announcements) and a lot of snow. loudspeaker announcements) and constant helicopter noise, you just have to put up with it. there was also quite a lot going on. we met at least 30 other ski tourers on the ascent and descent. there's definitely no more untracked pow now. there was also a pretty strong wind blowing from the south towards silvretta and snow flags could be seen on all the ridges. it's also quite rough to ski on the snow-covered but not groomed piste at the bottom.