Snow report Ticino, 01/23/2015

Snow condition

Poor below 1600m, especially in the forest. Above that and with increasing altitude, sufficient to very good. As everywhere, snow depth increases rapidly from 2000m and reaches the long-term average values in southern Goms.

Snow quality

Wohooo! Still largely fluffy on Saturday, "garnished" with an unmistakable surface frost. Nice to look at and nice to ski, but not too good conditions for fresh snowfall. Towards evening, increasing NW winds with a corresponding tendency towards brittle, bound drift snow.

On Saturday, drifts were observed all day, especially in the summit region. Hardly any wind until late afternoon and therefore not yet a very pronounced drifting snow problem. With the increasing wind in the middle elevations, drifting, deposited on surface frost in wind-protected locations. Undoubtedly very unfavorable. In addition, there are still weak layers in the old snow that could be relevant for skiers.

Overall impression

Sufficient to very good snow conditions combined with loose powder would be enough for 4 stars. However, as the weather only cooperated at times and the tour wasn't really inspiring, I give it 3 stars. The light Goms larch forest was definitely the highlight of the day, but unfortunately, as always, far too short...