Snow report Upper Bavaria, 03/18/2019

Snow condition

Valleys are slowly turning green. However, the carrying distance is still limited. On the shady side, the old snow tongues are still coming down to 700-800 m. The fresh snow could only hold on to snow. 5 cm at the bottom, 20 cm on average at the top. The pure white layer should give the old snow a few extra days to settle.

Snow quality

I would have liked to give it four stars, the fresh snow was very fine to ski on, it played around your shins and knees. However, there are often more or less hidden, frozen avalanche bumps or snails lying around, which are hard to rumble over. If you found even old snow, then it was world class today.

The situation report today was somehow not as informative as usual, for my taste. For example, I would have hoped for more information on the area of distribution etc. for the ice slab mentioned. But it wasn't crucial because most of the steeper sections weren't inviting anyway due to avalanche debris. Gusts of wind have shifted a lot. In the forest boundary area, drift snow, which is not as badly connected as feared (subjectively!). No direct observations today, except that since last week another large sliding snow avalanche has come from the southern slopes above the Wuhrsteinalm, which has once again torn down some large, avalanche-strategically valuable spruces.

Overall impression

All alone in the Geigelstein area with super snow. Very similar to today in Salzburger Land (see CR from colleague), except that we didn't have to carry far and the snow was fast and fun all the way down. Super afternoon, 3.49 stars.