Snow report Pyrenees Orientales, 02/02/2020

Snow condition

In Puyvalador you can set off from the parking lot at 1700 m without any problems. From about 1500 m there is snow, at 1700 m about 20-30 cm. At 2000 m there is already 100-150 cm. At the summit (2400m) about 200 cm. I have seen more and less. Very solid 3 stars for the beginning of February. So no reason to complain, a very good base. As some of you may recognize, there is a lot of snow in the Canigou-Puigmal area and also in the Massif de Madres. This is very unusual, as normally the northern areas of the Pyrenees always get more. This time, however, the heavy snowfall of two weeks ago has completely reshuffled the cards. In any case, there is now an excellent base in the entire eastern Pyrenees!

Snow quality

Well, after it drizzled down to 2500 on Saturday, the snow was hard as concrete in the morning after a cold night. With sunny temperatures of around 10 degrees at 2000 m, it liquefied very quickly. Yesterday in Perpignan was the warmest February 1st since measurements began at 21 degrees... Although we left around 12 noon, we had 1a braking snow from top to bottom. Fun factor 0. Tomorrow we'll get up earlier!

LLB issues a 3. The danger comes from wet snow avalanches due to the thick and at least superficially wet snow cover. Today we were only warming up on very flat terrain and otherwise couldn't see any signs of danger.

Overall impression

Despite a thick blanket of snow and bright sunshine, I realistically have to give it 2 stars. Two weeks too late for powder and two hours too late for firn today. At least we worked on our fitness and complexion. Also ok. Tomorrow we're off to the Pic de la Pelade in the Madres massif, which I've never seen with as much snow and as far down as it is at the moment (despite the spring-like temperatures).