Snow report Sulden, Ortler, 05/05/2014

Snow condition

The snow conditions are really good for the beginning of May. 5 stars in relation to the time of year, but you can't ski further down on south-facing slopes, so only 4. Nevertheless, you can often start quite far down, below around 1800m you occasionally have to take your skis off for a short time depending on the terrain/exposure. Further up there is quickly quite a lot of snow, at 2000m it will certainly last for quite a while, here even sunny slopes are still quite snowy. At the top of the glaciers there is a lot of snow, a 540cm probe is often not enough to probe the depth of the snow cover...

Snow quality

Moderate. Due to the fresh snow of the last week, there is currently mainly broken snow. Firn conditions only on lower, sunny slopes, but with good weather there will soon be a stable crust again. At high altitudes, almost all of the snow is windswept, heavily packed powder snow can be found mainly on steep north-facing slopes between 2000 and 2400 m.

Lots of drifting snow, but no avalanche activity was noticed. Otherwise, of course, you have to pay attention to the temperature.

Overall impression

Still plenty of snow for what could be a long season. However, despite the masses of snow at lower altitudes and on the sunny side, it is rapidly decreasing. Snow quality is so-so, but will probably improve soon.