Snow report Bregenzerwald, 12/01/2019

Snow condition

Above 1600m you can already think about "careful" touring in Damüls. Unfortunately, the snow cover only gets better from 1800m to 1900m. There it is a very variable 30cm. In general, there is unfortunately still rock contact at almost all altitudes. The wind has blown a lot tonight, so that the ridges have been swept very empty. Above 2000m you can have a bit more fun and actually enjoy skiing without constantly thinking about the stones. Unfortunately, you can only ski reasonably well on the north-facing slopes, all other exposures are already very poor in snow. We had a chat with two boarders who were on the Ragszer Planken and they actually had to unbuckle and walk a few times as there was far too little snow.

Snow quality

In the morning, as expected (due to the temperatures above 0°), we still found reasonably acceptable snow (not as brilliant as yesterday, of course). Unfortunately, as the day progressed and the temperatures rose, the snow turned bad. At the top it was blowing quite strongly and so you could still enjoy the snow up to about 1900m at midday, but this changed very quickly as the altitude dropped. The snow became heavy, then really soggy and in the end we decided to ski on the piste we had saved as it just wasn't any fun any more. If it gets cold tonight, we can expect a nice top tomorrow as the wind is still strong.

Personally, I would declare a level 2 LLB. Although we didn't hear any subsidence or observe any slopes, some of the steeper northern gullies have already blown in quite a bit. On the other exposures, older, smaller slopes could be seen, but with hardly any snow.

Overall impression

It was a nice tour for the coming season and especially for my fitness. But yesterday was a whole lot better. And if you look at the prospects in the near future, it could get even worse. On the other hand, the group was brilliant as always and the atmosphere with sun, dark clouds and wind was a dream.