Snow report Livigno, 01/24/2019

Snow condition

Above the treeline, the snow surface is wind effected, in windward sides and close to the ridges, the snow is very hard/icy; elsewhere wind effected and loose snow, mainly in wind sheltered areas, alternates each others. Along and below the treeline, the snow surface is loose. Mainly above the treeline, persistent weak layers are recorded within the snowpack. The snow cover base is well settled at all elevations. At lower elevations, on southern slopes a melt freeze crust formed.

Snow quality

The snow quality was nice for all the week (January th 18th - 24th). Above the treeline, except for windwards slopes and close to the ridges, where the hard old snow was still on the surface and the skiing was not easy; elsewhere the ski quality was very good; around 20 cm of loose snow on the surface of the snowpack allowed wonderful freeride descents. Below the treeline there was even a bit more quantity of loose snow, except for Southern slopes, where a thin melt-freeze crust formed.

At the beginning of the week (from January the 18th to the 20th) the main problems was due to persistent weak layers, with still some trigger avalanches by one skier. The main problem remain the same for the rest week, gradually decreasing the probability of release avalanche on those layers. The dangerous spots are isolated but not easy to detect. The avalanche danger level was 3, until Sunday the 20th and went down to 2 the following days.

Overall impression

Finally after some time we had a week with good weather, no wind and nice snow conditions. Not a big amount of fresh snow to ski, but really nice skiing!