Snow report Axamer Lizum, 01/19/2020

Snow condition

In the terrain above the Schlicker Alm, the snow conditions look acceptable. Things are going well in the sparse forest, even the gullies to the Kalkkögeln have enough snow. Things look worse in the dense mountain pine fields and in the thicker forest. The lines in the forest further down than the Schlicker Alm are fine, but it's borderline, especially further down.

Snow quality

The fresh snow is super powdery due to the very cold temperatures. However, as there is about 25 cm of hard crust in many places, this reduces the fun of skiing, especially in the busy off-piste terrain, and we then took a more sheltered gully, where there was almost too much fresh snow. There was no snow cover in the gully and therefore great powder snow on the descent without getting through to a hard layer. On the ascent, however, it was quite a mess.

The fresh snow made a very unbound impression in the sparse forest. As a result, there was a lot of sluff in the somewhat steeper terrain and quite a lot of fresh snow collected in the gully due to loose snow slides from the steep, rocky side walls (more than waist-deep in places). We turned back halfway up because the exit is much steeper and was probably blown in, so you should definitely watch out for drift snow. Above all, because then there is significantly more than just 25 cm of fresh snow in areas that have been blown in.

Overall impression

Waited a long time for fresh snow, then went into the Schlick today without great expectations because the amounts were rather limited. Took a few nice treeruns at the start. But as there was already a lot of snow, we unpacked the skins and were able to ski at least half of one gully. But the half was definitely worth it! Fantastically deep powder snow and endless face shots. I haven't skied such powdery snow for a long time, so you have to give it 4 stars for the overall impression :)