Snow report Bregenzerwald, 02/02/2019

Snow condition

This winter is really something. There is generally enough snow in all exposures. Especially from the tree line down to the valley floor in the Bregenzerwald it is above average. Above the tree line, the wind has unfortunately transported a lot of snow. Today's snowfall of approx. 15-20 cm fell almost without wind. But even in the high mountains many variations are possible, you just have to choose your lines carefully despite the high amount of snow.

Snow quality

From around 1000 m, the rain turned to snow today. It snowed heavily until around 11:30. The fresh snow was generally wet. From about 1800 m it was rather dry. At around 11:30, the cloud cover broke up and the sun came out. The snow immediately became heavy on the sunny side. On the shady side it was still powdery in the afternoon up to about 1400m. On the south side it was just cardboard.

In general, there are a lot of sliding snow cracks. I think there are more in the south-east sector. With fresh snow, above the tree line it's certainly a 3. Below that, depending on the steepness, the sluff can be an issue, as the sinking depth on the shaded side is still almost knee-deep with the skis. As the weather warmed up, the snow on the sunny side bonded immediately and the risk of slipping rapidly increased.

Overall impression

Nice day with a few variations in a very busy ski area. The unexpected often happens. The fresh snow surprised me today. I was expecting a lot less but the sun came out and made a few nice runs possible. With the sun, there was more going on off-piste than on-piste.