Snow report Dolomites, 12/09/2020

Snow condition

As I'm sure everyone has noticed, it has been snowing almost continuously in the south for almost a week. Only occasionally did the precipitation come in the form of rain (I guess up to 2000m). Many times I have shoveled 40cm of fresh snow off the car.

Snow quality

The last few days have seen very loose fresh snow with low temperatures. Above the tree line it was windy at times and the snow was a bit heavier, but there hasn't been any wind since Monday evening. In the forest and below the tree line, the snow couldn't be better. I haven't been above the tree line. But I had seen two days ago that it was windy at the top and also heavy. The meadow hump, which is exposed to the wind, was therefore out of the question today.

The avalanche situation is still critical, but much more relaxed than on the weekend. During the rain, there were large self-triggering avalanches almost every minute. I didn't see them because it was foggy all the time, but you could hear them. The transition from rain to snowfall has been very gradual, so you can't see a clear boundary between the layers and it all seems well connected. Now it's been cold again for a few days and so the risk of sliding snow avalanches has reduced. In a brief window of cloud, however, I was able to make out fresh snow slabs from steep rocks.

Overall impression

The day only gets 3 stars because of the strenuous track work and poor visibility ;-) But I don't want to complain, nowadays it's a great privilege to be out in the snow at all.
I fought my way to the top on a disused ski slope. I had been waiting for acceptable avalanche conditions for days. The snow is great for skiing down, even on relatively flat terrain. The steepest part was almost 30°, otherwise it was more in the 20-25° range.
Let's hope that the north gets some soon and everyone can get out into nature. Please also keep your distance on the mountain. The risk of contracting coronavirus is significantly lower than in closed rooms, but it cannot be ruled out.

PS: sorry, uploading photos is not working at the moment. I'll try again later.