Snow report Stubai Valley, 03/08/2020

Snow condition

The general snow conditions in the gullies are good. Nevertheless, one or two sharks are still lurking. So you shouldn't ski too far up the side walls. At the moment, however, the snow conditions are certainly at their highest level this winter and the steeper gullies are also well filled. Above the Schlicker Alm, the snow conditions are good and you can get down well in the sparse north-facing forest as well as in the south-facing mountain pine terrain; exposed ridges are still rather blown off.

Snow quality

Fantastic, deep powder snow in the sun-protected gullies. Much more than expected and with less wind than anticipated (almost no wind influence, some people would even call it wild snow :D). The powdery snow has also held up in the east-facing terrain, but it looks much worse on the south and west sides. Despite the relatively low temperatures, the snow became wet relatively quickly. In the early afternoon, the snow was also very wet on the south side above 2500m.

During the course of the day, loose snow slides came down from rocky, sunny terrain. Otherwise, there was a blasted snow slab in the area, which must have come down in the drift snow near the crest. However, the thickness of the crack was rather low (see photos) and the snow cover under the fresh snow is generally stable, with around 30cm of powder snow on a layer of harsh snow in sunny terrain. The fresh snow has also made a good impression, as there is hardly any wind influence to be seen for the most part. Nevertheless, you should watch out for drift snow at higher altitudes and the cornices at the entrances to the gullies are now also very thick. Watch out for possible cornice breaks there.

Overall impression

Caught a dream day in the Schlick and skied 2 beautiful gullies in super powder snow. Due to the high rock faces, not so much sun gets in and the snow was still really good in the afternoon. The only drawback on the high side walls are the snow chutes that come into the gully from there. This briefly spoiled the fun in a few places. But apart from that, there's absolutely nothing to complain about today :)