Snow report Verbier, 01/03/2016

Snow condition

Above about 2000-2200 meters above sea level, there was about 20-80 cm of snow in the W, N and E exposures before today's visit, below that practically nothing and only very little snow on the south side up to about 3000 meters above sea level. On Mt Fort, there are also wide open crevasses! Today's snowfall is a nice improvement on the previous markedly poor snow conditions. However, the new snow that has fallen (especially at high altitudes with quite cold temperatures) will probably only bond very poorly or slowly with the layer of snow below. Before today's inspection, the layer of snow underneath consisted of ice, depending on the altitude and exposure! and even layers of floating snow had already been deposited !

Snow quality

The snow fell permanently below 0°C up to around 1700 meters above sea level, which led to very fun, powdery conditions on and in the otherwise heavily tracked area next to the piste early in the morning. Outside the piste, I would only ski in clear, flatter terrain. Unfortunately, stones can still be overlooked everywhere, as they can also lie hidden due to the strong wind at altitude! In addition, the snow had hardly settled in the afternoon and was therefore still super fluffy up to around 1700 meters above sea level, which of course increases the risk of shark contact!

Due to the previously described weak snow layers in the old snow, or the quasi non-existence of snow until recently, extreme caution should be taken in any case for all off-piste activities!!!

Overall impression

It was nice to ride a few smaller powder turns again, but you should still be extremely careful with all off-piste activities!!! Snowfall is forecast for the whole week, especially a lot more on Thursday!!! So a little patience is certainly still advisable...