It is just crazy how the weather in the mountains at the end of the season still has some surprises in place for you sometimes. With first some days of sun which you could already feel that the March/April sun was getting stronger and stronger. It was literally burning the snow away every day just a bit more.
But during one of the days you could already see that in the late afternoon the overcast was starting. Overcast leading to thicker cloud, leading to clouds which were starting to drizzle a bit.
Leading to waking up in the morning finding a nice layer of fresh snow even into the valley.
And when ascending the mountain finding that the snow was even a decent layer. Because it was still cloudy, not a lot of people decided to head out early to explore the mountains. Honestly, I was a bit hesitant myself for this as well.
No unprepared slopes for me
First of all, I don't like going outside the prepared slopes for a couple of reason. The main reason is that it is dangerous with the snowpack that could start to travel. Slopes are checked and prepared for this, so avalanches are somethng that (in general) don't occur.
The next reason why I don't like doing this is because I really don't have the skills for this. The technique of offpiste skiing is totally different and next to this you also near different gear for this. That is not only just broader skis for more floatation on the snow, but also avalanche gear to keep it all safe.
But as you can see, even being on the slopes there was a small layer of fresh snow to fool around with. Now when it it is cloudy, I like to stay lower in the mountains so the trees provide more contrast to the scenery. But no one else decide to do that
Sure you end up in the valley again where the snow is also less good of quality, but the beginning of the slopes totally rocks!
The result of deciding to go down versus further up: empty slopes, and the endless cracking sound of snow thickning in under the skis while passing. Awesome!
Further down
As you can see here lower in the valley the rest of the scenery just had a little layer of snow on it. But that was totally enough to get a proper winter feeling again, and also to get the slopes all good for the remaining part of the season.
The circumstances at the end of the season for a weekend getaway? Heck, I would sign up for this any random day!
