Snow report Chiemgau Alps, 12/17/2022

Snow condition

The second star is awarded because there is now a usable base above approx. 1200 m. There you no longer have to rely solely on piste tracks. Below that, however, it's become rather less since last weekend, although the crusted old snow doesn't extend in a thin layer all the way down to where it hasn't slid away. The fresh snow the day before was less than expected, a good 5 cm at the bottom, maybe a good 10 cm on average at the top, but heavily redeposited.

Snow quality

The fine fresh snow was too little to really make a difference. In the upper third, the rain cover is partly bare on top due to the influence of the wind. Only when you find gullies and hollows that have been blown in are there soft turns, but even then it's rather choppy. Otherwise rather scratchy. With a lot of hustle and bustle, everything is quickly pushed together, training conditions.

In the summit areas, there are now tribal snow accumulations that are big enough to think about. But the connection to the old snow seems to be quite good. Wind only strong at the very top, but must have blown in the middle layers beforehand. Sliding snow may soon become a bigger issue again.

Overall impression

Today was more of a training session. Due to the early start, we dusted off a few great turns right at the summit, the rest was rather labor-intensive with crust-powder changes, moguls and grass tuft slalom at the bottom. The highlight for me was the unexpected sunshine after many gray days.