Snow report Zillertal, 01/05/2020

Snow condition

The snow conditions are somewhat below average and you can already reach the valley on the forest descent, but in some places the ground is already starting to show. That's why you still need to watch out for rock contact. For unadulterated freeriding fun, there is still some snow missing.

Snow quality

The fresh snow (approx. 15cm at 2600m) was very powdery due to the cold temperatures. However, the snow also lies on a hard layer in north-facing exposures, which means that the fun on the slopes is quite dampened. In some of the hollows there is considerably more fresh snow (sometimes 30-40cm), so there were even a few turns without getting through to the hard layer. In general, however, the snow is very blown and wind-pressed, hard ground and powdery alternate quickly, but nice sprays can still be made with the fresh snow. So if you've seen a few #bestdayever pictures on Insta today, it will have been more illusion than reality.

Watch out for drift snow. During the course of today, large snow plumes could be seen on peaks and ridges, which have transported a lot of snow. The amount of new snow was rather small, but the drifts can add up to a lot more in blown-in areas. Areas that have been blown in and steeper terrain should be avoided.

Overall impression

With the intention of doing a bit of freeriding and then going ice climbing, we headed to the Hintertux Glacier today. As the fresh snow was enough for a few nice pictures, but otherwise the fun wasn't that great today, we moved on relatively quickly to the Spannagel Gully for some ice climbing. At least it's in a good position and has some nice ice to offer. And the steep face season is slowly approaching :)
It won't be so easy to find good conditions for touring and freeriding in the near future.