Snow report Montafon, 01/30/2015

Snow condition

The snow conditions here are still below average. Stone contact is obligatory and below 1,300 m it is very poor. On the south side, the situation is very poor right up to the high mountains. Bushes, terrain traps and stones are still far too often exposed. Ridges only have snow from the last snowfall without wind. The line still has to be well chosen.

Snow quality

Not fish and not meat! Protected from the wind, it is an approx. 25 cm soft layer. The first 15 cm are very fluffy and hardly bound. Below that, the snow cover has already settled. Some of the wind slush is unpleasant and there will be a cap on the south side tomorrow, which will probably still be rideable.

Very tense! Drift snow and old snow are still the spoilsport. In the variant terrain, of course, much more relaxed, but even here >35° the top layer (approx. 5-10cm) immediately started to move. Furthermore, layers further below were also able to slide. The open, rarely used terrain was avoided by almost everyone today. Nevertheless, there were some daring ascents and crossings. A few loose snow slides were spotted, but older avalanches are clearly visible, as well as larger avalanches covered in snow from extremely steep terrain.

Overall impression

We certainly had the best runs of the season today, but objectively it's not a day to remember. In the short term, we were certainly hovering in the 4-star range ;-) It tends to stay cold and there's always supposed to be snow. If the wind doesn't blow and the crowds arrive, the old snow problem might be less and there will finally be more variants and tours.