Snow report Stubai Valley, 04/29/2017

Snow condition

Well, I haven't been on the Stubai Main Ridge very often this season, but for the few times I have, I think it has the best snow conditions this season. Good is something else, of course. Even if the glaciers here aren't huge, there are crevasses and the last snow has made it dangerously easy to snow up some of the big holes that would normally be completely closed in a normal winter. At low altitudes it was already completely bare, but even here there is enough snow to get to the road somehow. A few more days and then it will be gone again. Yesterday we were on the Kitzsteinhorn, Schmiedinger Scharte into the valley still works quite well at the bottom. We had to carry the last few meters for 10 minutes. The rest is with my colleague Winterkind.

Snow quality

I deliberately picked something high today to find some good snow. That worked really well and the snow was still first class for skiing. More wind influence than yesterday on the Kitzsteinhorn. But the massive impact only started at around 4pm today. Watch out for the drifting snow tomorrow! It blew a lot and is probably still blowing and the drift snow packs were enormous in a short time.

Many spontaneous avalanches in the area described by the LLB. Yesterday, for example, we only had loose snow avalanches and not a single spontaneous one on the Kitzsteinhorn. But I couldn't observe any surface ripening. Warming was limited today.

Overall impression

The last two days were great! Unfortunately there was a bit of a rush yesterday, but that was probably the case everywhere. The next few days will bring snow again. Let's see what else is coming... Tomorrow a tour in the foehn-protected area and quite high. I haven't found anything suitable yet, don't worry! Total 3-4 (more like 4)