Snow report Salzburger Land North, 01/13/2017

Snow condition

The 3rd star has to be given now. 15cm were added in the lower layers today, >20cm towards the top. This means that it's about half a meter in the lower layers and about 70cm-80cm at the top, depending on the wind exposure (drifts not included). (Due to the settling and the soaked/ice-crusted base, you can now ski down into the valley almost anywhere, even in the denser forest and start tours directly from the village.

Snow quality

In the middle layers in the forest, especially in the areas with less wind, great, sometimes a bit settled or wind-treated. Here you can hardly get through, from time to time you can still feel dead wood/tree stumps, etc. From about 1000m the icy crust suddenly appears at the bottom, but it is still easy to ride because it is stable, only in the lowest areas in the valley does the lid sometimes break, but with the 15cm above it is still quite ok.

Still unpleasant squalls today (mainly from the N-W), massive drifts even in the forest terrain. The drift snow didn't seem as brittle as yesterday, with small cracks and clods forming in places. Caution is definitely called for, I'll only be playing in the forest for the next few days.

Overall impression

Only two short descents for me today, but they were the best of the season so far. Especially because you can finally ride a bit more aggressively in the forest and do nice things from the village without the annoying traffic chaos.