Snow report Sölden, Ötztal, 10/25/2020

Snow condition

The snow conditions are probably better this year than last year, but when I think back to my youth, there was snow all the way down in October and I learned to powder on the glacier in Sölden in October. Ok. I admit, my youth was a few years ago ;-)Overnight there was about 10 cm of fresh snow, which lies on hard crust (or rocks) in the terrain.

Snow quality

The slopes were surprisingly hard to icy and the snow was often so lumpy that it looked like a ball bearing. So the piste was ok and there was a few centimetres of loose powder next to the piste. When it was slippery underneath, it was really nice to ski.

The fresh snow lay on top of the old snow without any connection and would certainly have slid off the old crust on steep terrain. I only skied on flat terrain next to the pistes and at least managed to make a few nice turns.

Overall impression

A good start to the lift season. However, one thing is very close to my heart. We all hope for an uninterrupted long winter. Unfortunately, the coronavirus rules have been completely disregarded. Wearing a mask is not super comfortable, I understand that, but I'd rather have a winter with a mask in the gondola than no winter at all... In the hospital/surgery, the staff wear masks for 8, 10, 12 or more hours, no matter who. Most of them quickly pull up a buff to get in, which is then immediately pulled down again as soon as the gondola leaves the station. Please follow the rules so that the lifts don't have to close again. A Buff cloth is better than nothing. Even better would be a multi-layer self-sewn mask or a surgical mask, which you can get easily and cheaply or even for free everywhere, at least in Austria. Their effectiveness clearly exceeds that of a buff. And yes, a gondola ride is enough to get infected. You don't need après ski for that. And regardless of how harmless or not a Covid-19 illness is, everyone should follow the rules so that we can enjoy a great winter together.