Snow report Zauchensee, 01/02/2018

Snow condition

We were able to start at 1100 m and ski down again without any problems. There is currently more snow than last winter at the end of January. At around 1700 m there is more than 1 meter. As soon as the forest thins out a little, the snow conditions become inhomogeneous. Exposed areas are quite blown off and you can find large amounts of drift snow where the snow is deposited. The accumulations of drift snow were clearly visible today.

Snow quality

Nice powder in more sheltered areas, not super light but still very comfortable (around 20 cm). Hardly any penetration of the rain layer.

We saw a lot of drift snow accumulations today. These could be avoided quite easily. As soon as the layer on top of the rain layer is only a few centimeters thick, it slides off immediately. Be careful on steeper slopes. In addition, many slopes are covered in snow and ice that probably came off during the last warm spell. Strong westerly winds at the summit.

Overall impression

Started off without any expectations but arrived back at the car quite satisfied. Didn't expect there to be so much snow on the rain crust that you could hardly get through to it. The snowfall got heavier from midday onwards.