The front arrived from the north during the night of Tuesday to Wednesday. As expected, the Salzburgerland and Steiermark received the most snow. Tirol had about 5-10 centimeter of freshies, but the Salzburgerland and Steiermark got around 20-30 centimeter. And that’s the difference between ankle-deep and knee-deep powder! Resorts such as Hochkar, Hinterstoder, Tauplitz, Loser, Krippenstein and Lofer are the places to be today! You can find the best snow between the trees. The terrain above the treeline is affected by the wind and that wind caused a lot of snowdrift. Please mind that the snow that came down at the end of the night (when the wind wasn’t that strong) covered the drift snow (triebschnee), so it’s quite hard to recognize it! Keep this in mind when you’re riding out there!
Snow in the northstau regions
The image below shows that the snow fell in the northstau regions of the first mountains in the northern Alps. The further you go south, the less freshies (around 2-10 centimeters).
The front is moving south and is going to bring some freshies to Italy. There’s already good riding today in the north of the Salzburgerland, Steiermark and the south of Niederösterreich. Have you ever been to Hinterstoder?
Snow for the south
This Friday you’ll find nice snow in Sestrière or Macugnaga. Or you can go to the small resorts of San Domenico, Crissolo or Prali. Or head to Paganella or St. Martino di Castrozza in the Dolomites. You can expect around 30-50 centimeter of freshies in those resorts. That will be the places to visit this weekend. Until then…the northern parts of the Salzburgerland and Steiermark, because they’ll have some snowfall from Tuesday afternoon till Wednesday afternoon.
Everything is pretty much tracked in the French Alps and you’ll have to go touring to ride some powder. Same story for the western part of Switzerland.
Powder advice
Wednesday and Thursday: First chair in the northstau regions of the Salzburgerland, Steiermark and Niederösterreich. Resorts such as Hochkar, Hinterstoder, Tauplitz, Loser, Krippenstein, Lofer and Fieberbrunn can expect around 15-35 centimeters of freshies. The other regions of the northern Alps can expect 5-15 centimeters. The avalanche danger will probably be three out of five (check your local avalanche bulletin!).
The high pressure areas are north of the Alps and therefore there won’t be a southern föhn. The wind in the southern Alps is turning east to southeast and you want to be in the resorts with an southeastern exposure. Anyway, tiny changes in this low pressure area may have a big impact on the snowfall, so we’ll keep you updated!
Powder advice for the weekend
You’ll ride freshies on Friday, Saturday and Sunday in the southeaststau resorts of the Piemonte (Sestrière, Crissolo and Prali), near the Gran Paradiso, Monte Rosa or the southeaststau resorts of the Dolomites. You can expect around 30-50 centimeter of freshies. Keep in mind that the snowcover is not as thick as in the northern Alps. If you really want to go exotic this weekend, you should go to Slovenia, Croatia or Bosnia. We’ve never been there, so if you want to share your experiences, you’re more than welcome!
If you don’t want to go to the southern Alps, there is some powder to be found in the northern Alps. You’ll have to search for powder in the big resorts, but you’ll definitely find powder between the trees in smaller resorts.
Long term
The high pressure area will dominate the weather north of the Alps. A low pressure area might bring snow to the eastern Alps next week. But it’s time for the powder of PA#21!
Stay stoked
Morris