Snow report Pyrenees Orientales, 04/05/2014

Snow condition

Even though it's starting to look very poor below 2000m (also on the slopes in the south), the snow conditions above that are still very good with often 2m or more. Especially in the northern Capcir there was a lot of fresh snow above 2000m on Thursday and Friday. This would open up many possibilities if it weren't for the tense avalanche situation...

Snow quality

Icy in the morning. Then, depending on the exposure, more or less fast firn formation. With strong sunlight and high temperatures (23 degrees at 1500m), extremely slushy from 12 o'clock until almost the top and sometimes slowing down. Note: Sahara sand snow is better than Catalan powder snow.

Generally tricky. Most of the southern expos have already left. Nevertheless, it's amazing that you see so few descents. The snow is now so soaked and heavy that even on less steep slopes a lot could still come down. On the north side, there is a risk of fresh drift snow, especially at the highest altitudes, which has not really been able to consolidate. In the meantime, the day-thawing, night-freezing rhythm is almost non-existent, so that the snow cover cannot really stabilize. Avoid steep and medium-steep slopes at all costs. But I'm not the only one who thinks the 4 from Meteofrance is exaggerated

Overall impression

In the meantime, summer is fast approaching at the bottom, but above 2000m there is still enough snow for many serious activities. Unfortunately we weren't the only ones to notice this, I've never seen so many people ski touring in the Pyrenees. Nevertheless, it was a wonderful day of ski touring with very varied snow conditions and early summer temperatures. Just short of 3 stars!