Snow report Tannheimer Valley, 01/24/2018

Snow condition

Similar to 3 weeks ago. At the bottom it's just enough to get up the slope. Descending would still be possible if necessary, but it's already thin. The top is great, there's nothing to complain about. However, the flat section between Alpspitze and Edelsberg is a bit blown away.

Snow quality

Surprisingly, we still found some nice snow on the northern slope of the Edelsberg. There was about 5 cm of medium-weight powder on an even, hard and stable base. It was really nice and fast and there was a nice dusting. We then skied the south-facing slope next to the Kappeler Alp, where it was so wet that it was easy to ski the 20-25 degree slope without getting too fast. There were rain grooves in the terrain. The piste was also pretty wet by 3pm.

You could see unusual drifts in the forest, evidence of the strong winds of the past few days. At lower altitudes, one or two steep meadow slopes certainly slid today. However, we didn't see any acute signs of danger on our route; the summit slope of the Edelberg in particular made a very stable impression. I think that was exactly the exposure and altitude where wet snow was not a problem and drifting snow was not yet an issue.

Overall impression

Not exceptional, but surprisingly good. I chose the tour because I was afraid that there would be no snow at all in the open terrain today. Riding the summit slope of the Edelsberg twice in really nice snow was a great surprise :-)