Snow report St. Moritz / Engadine, 02/20/2020

Snow condition

Quite remarkable snow conditions for this winter. Well snowed in and not as many blown-off areas as elsewhere. Also very appealing to the eye.

Snow quality

It snowed quite heavily for a short time yesterday (Thursday, 19.02). Around 5 cm in total, which was then transformed by the wind into drift snow packs up to a maximum thickness of 15 cm. The snow conditions were therefore very variable (hard crust, soft drift snow, a few centimeters on hard crust, etc.). In general, the loose drift snow was easy to ski. In extremely sunny locations, the fresh snow in the early afternoon was "slushy" and also nice to ski on.

The fresh snow was too small to be dangerous. Even the larger drift snow packs were not really a danger or were already well connected to the old crust, and a small loose snow slide from extremely steep, rocky and sunny terrain could be observed.

Overall impression

Very nice touring day on the Julier Pass. We deliberately opted for a classic (Piz Surgonda) as we didn't expect much from the little fresh snow and therefore wanted at least one summit with good visibility. Shortly before we reached the summit, the clouds cleared and we were able to fully enjoy the summit panorama. The descent was also much better than expected in places. All in all, a very nice day of touring.