Snow report Salzburger Land North, 03/22/2019

Snow condition

I give it three stars, but it is now extremely different. The lower altitudes are getting worse and worse, you can only ski sensibly in a few places below 1000m. (Rather only 1 *)Above approx. 1300-1400m, however, there is still a lot of snow: you often see windlips, snowbanks, snow caves around tree trunks, etc. that are easily 2-3m thick. (4 *)In summit regions, depending on the expo and wind, less again, but still often ok. (3*).

Snow quality

Unfortunately it was far too warm today, and we were only out and about in sunny expos, which wasn't always good: the snow that fell on Monday and lies above around 1300-1400m was damp and slow. On the shady side, it was still partly powdery on the ascent, but when we came down it was sticky and wet. In between, there were repeated avalanche bulges, a lot must have slid off yesterday. The old snowpack underneath is quite compact, and below that there was already some summer firn, which was ok, but at the bottom you ski more on branches, needles, etc.

The strong warming is causing the snow cover to soak through. A lot has already gone, but mainly the less thick layer from the beginning of the week and the old snow cover is still very compact for the most part, but still has a large mass.

Overall impression

Quite an adventure tour with bushwhacking, abseiling down mountain pines and, unfortunately, almost unbearable heat.
It was still very fresh this morning, but that changed dramatically over the course of the morning.
Unfortunately, there was no firn and the descent was exhausting.
But we were in great terrain, pillows in sparse beech forests, ditches, gullies, flanks, notches, u name it... ;)
And in the best company.
Plus the adventure factor gives the third *.