Snow report Pyrenees Orientales, 03/03/2019

Snow condition

Better than feared due to the long dry phase (and far better than in the Black Forest), but still below average compared to the last few years. It must have snowed a lot about 4 weeks ago, considering that there was really nothing up to the top before. Unfortunately, the snow cover is very heterogeneous (due to sun, exposure and wind). On the south side, a lot of the snow has been piled up to well over 2000 m, while on the north side the snow cover extends to below 1500 m and easily exceeds that meter at 2000 m. What it looks like above that will be explored tomorrow. There is nothing (anymore) on exposed ridges and ridges.

Snow quality

In the morning it's as hard as a rock, although it only just reaches 0 degrees at 1700. Then, with the sun, it firns up very quickly and from midday in the sun it's actually just "neige molle" (meaning lazy snow), as the snow-loving French like to say.

There is still a great danger of wet snow avalanches, unless everything is already down. The very heterogeneous snow cover is also making skiing a little less fun. It will be exciting from the middle of the week with the predicted fresh snow/rain.

Overall impression

There is snow (unlike 2 months ago) and beautiful weather in this fantastic region. With a bit of fresh snow, it could be a lot of fun. So now it's all about timing for the perfect firn.