Huge amounts of snow have already fallen in Austria (Carinthia and Ost-Tirol excluded) and the eastern part of Switzerland . As a result, many roads have been closed and villages can not be reached. We are dealing with a unique situation in terms of avalanche danger. You can see this on the maps below:
All resorts in Austria in or and north of the main alpine ridge have to deal with an avalanche danger that’s HIGH (4 on a scale of 5). This is truly unique and is very rare. With the snow that now is coming in from the north, the avalanche danger in the East of Switzerland has also increased to HIGH.
There are crazy amounts of snow in large parts of Austria (especially for the beginning of January) and it doesn’t look that it’s going to end soon. The differences in the Alps couldn’t be greater, becasue only the east of Switzerland has more snow than normal, but the snow cover is thinner than normal in the other regions in the Alps (west of Switzerland, French Alps and Italy).
The reason that Austria has so much snow at the moment is all due to high pressure area Angela. It has been situated above the Alps since Christmas and forces storms to find a detour to the Alps. Because Angela is constantly sitting above the French Alps, the supply of storms from the west and south is blocked.
At the same time, the storms succeed in reaching the Alps with a north to northwestern current. The result is a succession of storms that continuously ensure new supply of snow. Angela will position itself a bit further to the west the coming week. As a result the snowfall will not only be concentrated on Austria and the east of Switzerland, but you can also expect snowfall in the west of Switzerland and the French northern Alps. The entire northern Alps, including the French northern Alps, will get fresh snow next week. The French southern Alps and Italy, like the southern regions of Austria and Switzerland, remain dry and sunny in the coming week. Pity, because they could use some snow over there.
As you can see: powder is a choice. Now that the Christmas holiday is over, the peace returns to the Alps. It’s no longer necessary to book early. It is not crowded in the Alps until the beginning of February and with these tips you certainly score untracked powder in the coming weeks. Patience is a good thing, but whoever follows this 10 step-by-step plan certainly finds the way to the white gold.
PA#7 is still in effect
PA #7 is in effect until Tuesday. It’s still snowing heavily on Sunday, but the intensity of the snowfall decreases on Monday and the sun can actually get through. It is nice and cold and the snow is of good quality.
HIGH avalanche danger!
The avalanche danger is HIGH, some roads are closed and a number of villages are not reachable by road. Nevertheless, you can ride powder. But avoid the ski areas with mainly terrain above the tree line. Don’t ride above the tree line, it’s simply too dangerous! Ride powder between the trees and avoid large open and steep sections. Even steep sections above a forest are dangerous because avalanches can reach far into the trees. Search and find your destination in one of the following regions:
- Styria
- The Salzburgerland
- Oberosterreich
- Niederosterreich
- Tyrol
- Vorarlberg
- The north of Graubünden
- Ostschweiz
PA#8 from Tuesday/Wednesday
A new storm is coming in on Tuesday. Because the high-pressure area is now somewhat more to the west, the snow will also reach the northwest of the Alps. This will improve conditions here, but it won’t be epic in an instant. The new snow falls on an old layer (pay attention to the rising avalanche danger) and there is little snow between the trees.
What I would personally do? I’d go to the same resorts where it was already on during PA #7. It is deep, you can ride great lines between the trees and the crowds are gone. The list for PA # 8 is therefore almost identical to that of PA #7. Pick a small resort in:
- Styria
- The Salzburgerland
- Oberosterreich
- Niederosterreich
- Tyrol
- Vorarlberg
- The north of Graubünden
- Ostschweiz
- The Zentralschweiz
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Stay stoked,
Morris
Replies
Wow! It keeps coming down. Hope its not to much… we will be hitting the Zell am see area Friday. Looks like We are going to hit the jackpot if the lifts and roads are open. Fingers crossed!
Stay safe
Thanks for the image of Zell! We’ll arrive tonight in Kitzbühel and consider heading for Zell tomorrow. How far down was the snow quality sufficient? We are a bit concerned about hitting wet mud instead of fluffy pow.
Any advice is highly appreciated! :)
I’m kind of “disappointed” because of the “bad” snow situation in Austria near the Innsbruck area. There has been many days when it has been just too much snow to ski (tour) up with splitboard, but today was the first day during that 28 or 29 years I’ve been snowboarding that I just couldn’t get it up. I mean the board - it was just so incredibly deep that board was not willing to flow. I had literally shovel my self away from the forest and go to have some beer and try again tomorrow. If the new storm hit with that same force this is kind of unique situation. There has been naturally more snow earlier e.g. during past 10 years at least once, but that amount of (good) snow with this short period, snow level as low like now and it is only some days when the year has changed. The mountain on “my backyard” usually never gets lot of snow during storms because of the really strong Foehn wind, but today there was approximately 1,5m fresh snow in some places in the forest. Still, even it is quite unique now - safety first. Winter has just begun, no point to end life because of that.
Flachau on the 4. January.
Thanks for the image of Zell! We’ll arrive tonight in Kitzbühel and consider heading for Zell tomorrow. How far down was the snow quality sufficient? We are a bit concerned about hitting wet mud instead of fluffy pow.
Any advice is highly appreciated! :)Quelle op 6 Jan 2019 17:48
The snow was good all the way to the valley today
Thanks for the image of Zell! We’ll arrive tonight in Kitzbühel and consider heading for Zell tomorrow. How far down was the snow quality sufficient? We are a bit concerned about hitting wet mud instead of fluffy pow.\
Any advice is highly appreciated! :)
Quelle op 6 Jan 2019 17:48
The snow was good all the way to the valley today
stauchaser op 6 Jan 2019 19:57
Thanks!
Little crowd in Lenzerheide this sunday, all swiss back to work. 50cm of fresh snow at least and plenty of endless tree runs and moguls! Wind and visibility good below 2300m. Almost perfect, snow was slightly heavy though but so deep…for sure next week is a hit
What do you recommend in Tyrol in terms of tree areas not so elevated for vis?
Had a couple pretty epic days in St. Anton. Galzig was firing all day! Saturday was incredible, probably 40 to 50cm, and refreshed every run due to heavy snow and wind filling all the tracks. Sunday was atleast 1.5m in places, and was low density snow!!! tracks didn’t refresh, but amazing none the less :) :) hard to go back to work after that
Hey Morris, been following wepowder for quite some time now and I have to say that there’s nothing like it. Your forecasts are always spot-on! i’ve had many epic trips thanks to you sharing your knowledge. Keep up the amazing work.
One question: Could you tell me the sources of the first two maps in this post?
Cheers
The snow in Tauplitz is much more powdery than it was in Wurzeralm. Crossing the Kalkalpen ridge, weather changed visibly. These conditions are over my head though, so I content with riding 40 cm powder on top of groomed slopes as the area has almost no skiers :)
Thanks for the image of Zell! We’ll arrive tonight in Kitzbühel and consider heading for Zell tomorrow. How far down was the snow quality sufficient? We are a bit concerned about hitting wet mud instead of fluffy pow.\
Any advice is highly appreciated! :)
Quelle op 6 Jan 2019 17:48
The snow was good all the way to the valley today
stauchaser op 6 Jan 2019 19:57
Thanks!
Quelle op 6 Jan 2019 21:10
Snow poor below about 1000 meters today. Snow above soft but not very light. Haven’t been able to find much side piste. Still fun.
@@akimäkitaipale
Still, even it is quite unique now - safety first. Winter has just begun, no point to end life because of that.
akimäkitaipale op 6 Jan 2019 18:41
Wise words, thanks for sharing them!
@@nlm@lodberg.org thank you for your video report
@@stauchaser thank you for your report
@gdkp, nice pic. What board are you riding?
@@NicZH thanks for your report
@@Powstria, almost all resorts with trees are good at the moment. Even the resorts that are not well known for their tree runs.
@@MorningBrewer thanks for your report
@@ary, thank you. First map is from http://www.lawinen.at and second map is from https://www.zamg.ac.at/incaanalyse/ (click on ‘gesamtschnee’)
@@opisska, thanks for sharing
@@8611 more to come. Not every day can be the best day in your life ;) Thanks for sharing your report.
Still fun! Guide tomorrow, I think if he knows to find safe untracked will be great.
hey there- any intel on any resorts in central swiss with decent trees for the upcoming weekend. anything west/northwest will have terrible coverage down low so i need to get to central swiss but have no clue on what mountains have good trees up reasonably high? I believe andermatt and engelberg are both mostly barren of trees, right? any details…please? thanks
ecsjones you re right about Andermatt and Engelberg. A nice resort in central swiss with tree lines… honestly short of ideas…perhaps Sörenberg…
Speaking of trees and Austria, it should be noted that riding in forest is not allowed in some resorts that cross natural reserves and is at least discouraged in some parts of others under the the “respektierre diene grenzen” initiative. Tauplitz surprised me in that this is not marked in terrain (unlike, say, Flachau) but only on the resort map (both paper and online). So not every resort under the tree line is suitable.
ecsjones you re right about Andermatt and Engelberg. A nice resort in central swiss with tree lines… honestly short of ideas…perhaps Sörenberg…
NicZH op 7 Jan 2019 19:55
thanks. thinking of this upcoming weekend coming from paris…road trip and want to get somewhere with the snow forecasted sat night/sunday where we can get some visibility. any other ideas of where there is enough base in the trees now or after this midweek snow and then get some more pow this weekend? Cant really drive too far east for 2 days of riding and get back to paris by monday am…any insights would be GREATLY appreciated!!
@@ecsjones Tschiertschen https://wepowder.com/en/tschiertschen
Ecsjones, yes tschiertschen and Lenzerheide one day each, 20km between 2 resorts. 1.30h driving from Zurich.
lenzerheide pedra grossa and scalottas lift (resort is big). Parking fadail
thanks guys. this area is on the list for a longer trip as its 8 hr drive from paris. looking to stay at 7 hours or less for a 2 day road trip…weekend warrior style!!!
Adelboden maybe, bernese oberland area
gracias!
would you recommend Haldigrat Morris if the lift is open?