Snow report Zugspitz Arena, 02/23/2019

Snow condition

There's still plenty of snow, but the ridges and the Alpspitz summit (north face/errata) are pretty blown off. And another warm week like this, then it will soon be scarce...

Snow quality

Frozen old snow with approx. 2 cm of fresh snow, many places blown off bare.

Avalanche situation up to 2000m 2, above 1 according to LLBTalnah the snowpack should be wet through and through. Above about 1200m it snowed and was frozen hard under the fresh snow today. The few centimeters were transported by persistently strong winds. However, the accumulations of drifting snow were very small, mostly a few square meters and a few cm thick. This morning I thought there was very little danger between 1200 and 2000m in the Alpspitze ski lift area. Further up it could have snowed and moved more. There was a small crack in the north face of the Alpspitze, seen from below on the left. But I can't say when it was made.

Overall impression

After a week in bed with the flu, a ski tour was out of the question. So we decided to do a few off-piste runs with lift assistance. However, there was no closed blanket of fresh snow to be found. The weather forecast had predicted 10 cm. Less fell, and that was just as well.
The approach was a disaster. It took me 1.5 hours to drive 25 km from the north of Garmisch-Partenkirchen and the waiting time at the lifts was between 20 and 30 minutes. At the Längenfelderbahn, the queue stretched almost as far as the Kreuzeckhaus. It was good to see the sun and snow again after a week in bed, but in terms of skiing it was less worthwhile.
The Alpspitze was highly frequented, both via ferrata and via Schongänge. Older downhill tracks could also be seen on the north face, but it's certainly worth waiting for better snow conditions, at least if you've done it before ;-).