Snow report Pyrenees Orientales, 02/13/2018

Snow condition

It has snowed a lot, but to speak of a heterogeneous snow cover would be an understatement. The measuring station at 2100 m reports 350 cm, but as soon as the wind gets anywhere near it, there's nothing left or it's extremely icy. In the forest, however, there is easily 1-2 m of snow, and you have to set off from the lower parking lot because of all the snow.

Snow quality

There wasn't much to get today. Extremely icy at the top, I missed my crampons. A little further down, wind-pressed powder snow. This was followed by approx. 100 protected vertical meters in the forest with nice set powder snow, there were 2-3 nice turns. Directly below, very unattractive cover (yesterday sunny & warm, tonight at the parking lot -16 degrees, at the summit according to meteofrance -22 degrees), very bad knuckle-breaker snow. It's been snowing again in Les Angles since 5pm (10 cm as of 9pm)

Most of it was so frozen today that not much happened. But as soon as it gets warmer, some bigger avalanches are possible on steep slopes. Yesterday there seems to have been quite a large slab of snow on the opposite slope at higher temperatures. Steep chambers should also be avoided due to all the drifting snow.

Overall impression

Despite the very uneven distribution of snow and the miserable snow quality (compared to last week), a visit to the disused Puigmal ski resort and the mountain of the same name next door is always worthwhile due to the uniquely wild and beautiful nature. Where else can you ski for several kilometers with one ski in Spain and the other ski in France (or is it all actually Catalonia?), with a simultaneous view of the Mediterranean, Montserrat and the snow-covered almost 3000-metre peaks of Cerdagne and Capcir? Due to the beauty of this corner, I round up the 2.5 stars to 3;)