The snow cover in Austria has increased with 200 cm since December 29th. A number of villages in the Alps had to process sometimes up to 300 cm of fresh snow at the valley level and often more at higher altitude. This makes ‘Snowmageddon’ a special weather event. Such a thing occurs only once in 30 years and with the snow coming up it can become even more unique.
The snow cover has grown considerably in the east of Switzerland as well and it’s up to 2 times thicker than normal for the time of the year.
The avalanche danger in parts of Styria, the Salzburgerland and Lower Austria is EXTREME (5 on a scale of 5) since Wednesday. These areas have thus become a NO GO for your storm chase. It’s better to chase powder elsewhere. More and more areas have closed parts of the ski area or are completely closed. Snowmageddon certainly has a dark side. But those who are well informed and who make the right choices can experience very deep days. Mind you: without the right knowledge going off-piste is always, but certainly now an absolute NO GO. But who wants to go powder chasing: Styria, the north of the Salzburgerland and Lower Austria can already be removed from your list, but powder can certainly be scored in other parts of Austria and Switzerland.
PA#8 where to go on Friday and Saturday
The sun comes out today (Friday). It is cold and the snow is light. There is some fresh snow in the forecast in the night to Saturday, but there is also room for the sun in the course of Saturday. A lot of air in the snow makes the white carpet so light that you can score faceshot after faceshot. Although Saturday is a little warmer, it is mainly a silence before the storm. Friday and Saturday are powder days in:
- Tyrol
- Vorarlberg
- The north of Graubünden
- Ostschweiz
- The Zentralschweiz
HIGH avalanche danger in Austria
The avalanche danger is HIGH (and locally even EXTREME) in large parts of Austria (source). Knowledge is the key to powder these days. Keep thinking! Do not let powder panic take over, read avalanche forecasts, talk to experts and ride conservatively. Oh yes … and have fun. It does not always have to be really steep. Common sense and the right knowledge can also ensure the most beautiful and unforgettable powder days in this period. Avoid the ski areas with mainly terrain above the tree line. Again: 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. Do not choose the deepest destinations and do not forget to have fun. But keep thinking! Knowledge is the key, but powder panic is not. When you have no idea what all of the above is about, please stay on the slopes now and invest in your knowledge. Mountain Academy is the ideal start of your search for the right knowledge. You can start right away here.
Pre-warning for Sunday
Mild air will reach the northern Alps on Saturday evening. This can temporarily cause rain and wet snow. The snowline will probably rise to 500-1000 meters and wet snow will come down up to 1500 meters. Even above that altitude the snow will be heavier with more moisture than the snow that came down the last couple of days. The result is that warmer and heavier snow will fall on a cold snow cover. A far from perfect situation that will temporarily will further unstable the snow cover. The result is a huge avalanche activity. The snow that will start sliding will be heavier as well. Please pay attention to that!
The Sunday will be a different day than today and Saturday and you will have to assess the faces again. Always use the latest avalanche forecast.
Monday PA#9
A cold front follows in the night to Monday. The mild air disappears and the storm is capped with cold smoke blower pow. Unfortunately, the wind will be strong. This will lead to a lot of transport of snow above the tree line (so don’t expect the avalanche conditions to improve there). You can probably ride good powder lower on the mountain. Monday and Tuesday will be powder days in:
- Tyrol
- Vorarlberg
- The north of Graubünden
- Ostschweiz
- The Zentralschweiz
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Stay stoked
Morris
Replies
…??..today is avalanche danger 5 in Vorarlberg. Yesterday 3 skiers are died by an avalanche in Lech (Vorarlberg).
@ Morris:
Hold on your horses and recall the powder alert due to avalanche danger 5…
…??..today is avalanche danger 5 in Vorarlberg. Yesterday 3 skiers are died by an avalanche in Lech (Vorarlberg).
@ Morris:
Hold on your horses and recall the powder alert due to avalanche danger 5…Daniel Burger op 14 Jan 2019 09:41
In my opinion Morris news and infos are so important, especially in these tricky days.
So please keep on reporting. Everybody has to make the decision on his one, morris infos are helpful and one piece of the puzzle to choose the right decision.
The three guys in lech choosed a close skiroute, one of the steepest in the alps,… with avalanche level 4/5 this is even not worth thinking of to give it a try.
@Daneil Burger @@Fluc,
Thank you for your honest comments and replies. I have been on the road the last few days with very limited access to internet. To get a proper knowledge of what is happening I need to be on the road from time to time and sometimes I do end up in situations in which there is limited access. Even in this decade. My goal is to update my reports as much and as frequent as possible but life isn’t always a quiet river.
Please feel free to warn people about your local conditions when you think it might help them. With the we in wePowder we intended to emphasize that is good to have friends on a powder day. To share the fun, the adventure, the good and the bad times. Off line, but online as well.
I’ve lost friends in the past and I’d rather don’t get a call again with bad news. My goal is to help people minimize the risks as much as possible. On the other hand I don’t want to forbid free riding. People could and should make decisions on their own.
We have a collaboration with Salomon and Atomic. With the Mountain Academy (https://wepowder.com/en/academy) we have built a comprehensive online course to develop essential snow and mountain safety skills, so every one can make smarter decisions every time they go out. With my reports I try to warn people about the current risks. I try to inform them what is happening and where (in my humble opinion) you can find the best and safest powder. I do think that we were one of the first to do so in Europe and nowadays more and more media is doing so, which is a good thing. The better you and I are informed the better we are able to make decisions.
I have been chasing powder for more than 25 years know. When I started chasing powder there was very limited internet, information scarse or hard to get. Nowadays there are several ways to inform you and more than enough knowledge is on- and offline available to make it possible that you can make decisions on your own.
But people should also make decisions on their own and reflect on their decisions. During the last few days I’ve seen so many people riding powder above or around tree line. I’ve seen so many people riding powder in open spaces? Why? Were they aware about the risks? And if so, were they riding there on purpose?
There is fine line between informing and forbidding. We don’t want to forbid, we want to inform. When conditions are rough we will advice not to go out. Between Saturday morning and Monday evening I didn’t had proper access to internet. The forecasted snowfalls for Sunday/monday were (way) bigger than expected. Even the avalanche services were surprised and most of them did rise the flag not earlier than Sunday afternoon (SLF and Tirol) or Monday morning (Vorarlberg). When I would have known this and would have had access to internet I would have informed you here.
On the other hand, what could I’ve done better in my forecast? I did warn for the current and future avalanche conditions. And keep in mind: my goal is to update my reports as much and as frequent as possible but life isn’t always a quiet river.
“A cold front follows in the night to Monday. The mild air disappears and the storm is capped with cold smoke blower pow. Unfortunately, the wind will be strong. This will lead to a lot of transport of snow above the tree line (so don’t expect the avalanche conditions to improve there). You can probably ride good powder lower on the mountain.”
Looking forward to your feedback. We are always looking for ways to improve our reports. Any kind of feedback is welcome.
@@morris!
Thanks for your explaination. I totally agree with you.
In my Opinion you could not do anything better! Your forecast is always a very serious balance of pushing us guys tu go out riding and on the other side warning of the risks, that are waiting out there. In the last 5 years i’ve learned a lot with the help of your detailed forecasts about climate an weathe.
Like i wrote before, for me this is kind of check for me if my other researches match with your reports.
For me the puzzle always looks like:\
- Getting some inputs and ideas with your report\
- Checking the SLF info about local avalanche risks\
- having a look on the weather, wind, snow forecast in all possible resorts i am focused on, continuously and for the past\
- Watching Webcams of the resorts\
- Matching the terrain (steepness, forest, open space) i want to ride with the recent conditions\
- having a local on my side
and finally checking the real conditions when you arrive at your choosen spot.
So all these steps are helping me to make the right decision i think. You never can’t be 100% sure if it is the right one.
And it is pretty amazing to see, how detailed and correct your meteo news are, even days before :D
So pleazzze, go on with that and keep us informed, as you did in the last years!\
Strong support to Morris, and to the website in general. From my point of view, the comment from Daniel is inappropriate given the huge efforts made here to first of all educate riders and improve their awareness of mountain risks and second (and it really comes as second if you read carefully all messages from Morris) provide information on current and foreseen snow conditions.
As repeated many times and almost in every post, the information you find online can’t replace the local information you get from patrols and your own risk assessment.
Keep going, Morris.