Snow report Oberstdorf, 05/17/2020

Snow condition

now that ski tours are no longer discouraged in bavaria and activities in the mountains are even recommended again by the dav, today we did the gr. wilden, over the gamswanne, from hinterstein, as a bike & ski tour. above about 1500m there is still enough snow on the north side for sensible ski tours. today you had to take off your skis 3 times and walk about 200m to have snow contact again. in the tub itself no stone contact, below you can ski around it.

Snow quality

below the chamois basin, well-set summer snow. very good to ski. in the basin, the fresh snow from the beginning of the week is very easy to release and slides off. underneath, there is also well-set, coarse-grained snow.

the surface layer is not very thick. there are quite considerable slides, but they slide off very slowly and eventually run out. it hadn't frozen through overnight, but the conditions were still quite good for this tour.

Overall impression

for this time of year, after the extreme april and after the "corona break", it was great that something sensible was still possible. but, beware: the tour through the gamswanne, up the gr. wilden, is an extremely demanding ski tour, with long sections in drop-off terrain. the conditions are currently quite good, but you have to cycle approx. you have to cycle up the mountain for approx. 20km, covering 500m. then you have to carry your skis up the mountain for approx. 300m and still have to ski down a total of 900m. if you've done the math, you're looking at approx. 1700m. that's the effort. crampons are certainly not a bad idea. i was happy to use them today!