Snow report Sulden, Ortler, 06/02/2019

Snow condition

Never been to the region before, but would say very good for the time of year. On the descent to the parking lot at Gasthof Schönblick today, we unbuckled twice and skied sideways several times. There was much more snow here on the approach on Wednesday evening. From Zufallhütte onwards, the snow conditions are absolutely adequate and the road to Schaubachhütte is already clear. I'm not sure if you are allowed to drive up there, but some people came to the Königsspitze from the side. From there, you could get to the area even longer without carrying.

Snow quality

Thursday still strongly influenced by wind, Friday up on Cevedale too. Saturday and Sunday, with the right timing, firn in all exposures at the top. Of course, with the temperatures it firned very early. We left the Königsspitze at half past nine on Saturday, which worked out well. Then at one o'clock from the Rifugio Casati to the Marteller Hütte, perfect firn in places, but a bit too wet overall. Today we left the Madritschspitze at nine o'clock on the south-east side, which also went well at the top. Below about 2600 meters it wasn't really frozen through today.

Thursday & Friday we were still quite defensive due to the fresh snow & wind. However, we didn't observe any avalanche activity, not even late in the afternoon. With the strong sunshine and night-time radiation from Saturday onwards, conditions were safe with the right timing.

Overall impression

Very beautiful mountains and very good firn in places :-) And even the water ski season was duly opened! A little less dolce vita than hoped for, the first few days were quite chilly in the winter rooms without a stove...

If it freezes through at night over the next few days, the conditions will still be great in the morning.