International (Europe/Japan/Southern Hemisphere) Alps Ski touring destination for late March?

[Slim]

My wife and I have a trip planned to the Alps for skitouring in late March. We had contacted a guide in Italy, North East of Milan, where we are flying to.
Last week he contacted us and said he is cancelling all his skitouring trips, due to extreme lack of snow, even at high elevations.
So, we are long for recommendations for a skI touring destination during the last week of March. Ideally, not to crazy long train travel from Milan, so that rules out Norway and the Pyrenees

Somewhere with a good base now, and enough elevation to make it a sure bet for 3 more weeks.
Glaciers would be great, but not required.

Any tips?

@Primoz ?
@Cheizz ?
@DanishRider ?
@anders_nor ?
@Zirbl ?

 

[chris_the_wrench]

Ive got no answers, just questions. Are you thinking day trips? Hut to hut? Point to point? Private or group?

 

[Slim]

Ive got no answers, just questions. Are you thinking day trips? Hut to hut? Point to point? Private or group?

Haha.
Any and all. Private group (4 of us). Hire a guide, Day trips and hut to hut both. But all that is secondary to terrain and conditions.
Once we get there, and look at the conditions and weather forecast, we will decide where to go and what to do.
Much better that way, playing to the conditions than trying to force a pre determined plan.

So, my request is simply for suggestions for regions that have a good natural snow base right now (just to avoid people recoding areas based on the condtions of the groomed pistes), as well as the altitude to hold on through the end of March.

 

[Cheizz]

About the snow...

Things are getting better as we speak but in very select regions. Piemonte is the best region to be in Italy right now. Also the northern side of the Alpine Main Crest is good. Roughly between Lichtenstein in the West and Salzburg in the East. Places like St. Anton, Ischgl, Zillertal, Gasteinertal, Hochkönig (!). I'm not really into alpine touring myself, so I'm not the best source on specific spots for that. But when it comes to snow cover, Piemonte (IT), Arlberg (AT) and Tyrol (AT) zre regions that have the goods. Stay above 1800m on mostly north-facing slopes and you'll be fine.

I believe there is a known route from St. Anton to Kappl, or from Ischgl to Serfaus I think.

 

[charlier]

@Slim - I have a friend that is a IFMGA guide from northern Italy. She is a wonderful person and guide and she speaks many languages. She attended school at Sierra College and was NCAA GS #1 for two years. PM, If you are interested, I can send you her contact info.

 

[Cheizz]

'Northern Italy' is quite big though... Anyway - any guide will be better suited to answer your question than I am. At least your question about good places to go touring. I can only speak to the snow cover (from 1000 km away, that is haha).

 

[charlier]

'Northern Italy' is quite big though... Anyway - any guide will be better suited to answer your question than I am. At least your question about good places to go touring. I can only speak to the snow cover (from 1000 km away, that is haha).

Many of us are well aware that northern Italy covers a large area with different snowpacks and varying terrain. My friends guide throughout the region, depending on the snow conditions, the skill level of her clients, and their goals. Plus, she is true gem.

 

[Slim]

Yes, I am not asking for suggestions for specific tours, only for areas that have good snow cover.

 

[Primoz]

@Slim it's quite busy for me these days, so I kinda lost track of places, that are not close enough to allow me quick drive to there and back. So I have no idea how it's currently in west Italy, Switzerland, Tirol and Arlberg (basically all that you really want to know, as those are places "not too far from Milano ). But as far as it's about Dolomites in Italy, eastern Tirol and Karnten in Austria and Slovenia, it's true. there's not much of snow. In fact, it's actually very little of snow. I have been in Toblach (Pustertal area from Bolzano (ITaly) to Lienz (Austria)) just some 10 days ago and there's like 20-30cm snow in valley (1300-1500m high), and most of touring options from valley is basically trying to survive between bushes and rocks, so definitely not worth doing it. Austrian side is even worse with even less snow.
In Slovenia we have sort of ok conditions, but still way too little snow, even way above 2000m, so most of steep couloirs have too little coverega for good skiing. We got some 20cm new snow in last 3 days, and there's maybe few more cm coming, so it will improve things a bit. It's quite a bit better (still anything but perfect) on northern side of Tauern (Salzburg area around Flachau, Hochkonig...), so personally if I would go into "my area", I would concentrate on that. But as I wrote, no idea at the moment how it's in Tirol, Arlberg, Switzerland and western Italy, and with this nordic World Champs here, no chance for me to do more search at least till end of week, as it's just way too busy.

 

[DanishRider]

My wife and I have a trip planned to the Alps for skitouring in late March. We had contacted a guide in Italy, North East of Milan, where we are flying to.
Last week he contacted us and said he is cancelling all his skitouring trips, due to extreme lack of snow, even at high elevations.
So, we are long for recommendations for a skI touring destination during the last week of March. Ideally, not to crazy long train travel from Milan, so that rules out Norway and the Pyrenees

Somewhere with a good base now, and enough elevation to make it a sure bet for 3 more weeks.
Glaciers would be great, but not required.

Any tips?

@Primoz ?
@Cheizz ?
@DanishRider ?
@anders_nor ?
@Zirbl ?

Hi Slim - Piedmont have just been massively snow bombed, so I am convinced that there is base for touring to be found. Prali and Prato Nevoso will absolutely have what you need, but are but a little off the beaten track. Limone and Pila would offer slightly more piste skiing, and maybe a little less snow, but certainly enough for touring. Obviously nobody can predict the weather a couple of weeks out, but I would look towards west of Milan, and not north/east.

wepowder.com is a good place to keep you informed.

I am going to Austria on Saturday, but don’t expect too much out of bounds.

I have attached a picture from Tirol Austria from last weekend - Piedmont should ski much better than this!

 

[Slim]

Hi Primoz,
Thanks for the info, that is what I thought, but figured it was always worth an ask, in case you had heard from people traveling from other areas.

 

[Slim]

@DanishRider , thanks, yes, I have posted on Wepowder too. It’s not very busy there though, so only a few responses.

Absolutely no piste skiing intended in this trip. Mostly human powered touring, just sometimes a lift here and there to get up into altitude.
So piste mileage and quality do not matter at all.

I know Piemonte is getting the goods, but I didn’t know what base they had. Even 90 of powder is worth much if it is on almost no base, and has 3 weeks of wind and March sun hitting it.

 

[DanishRider]

@DanishRider , thanks, yes, I have posted on Wepowder too. It’s not very busy there though, so only a few responses.

Absolutely no piste skiing intended in this trip. Mostly human powered touring, just sometimes a lift here and there to get up into altitude.
So piste mileage and quality do not matter at all.

I know Piemonte is getting the goods, but I didn’t know what base they had. Even 90 of powder is worth much if it is on almost no base, and has 3 weeks of wind and March sun hitting it.

Anything on the Italian side but close to the French border would probably be my choice - The base is not huge, but there ahoukd be enough.
Outlook for Tirol and Arlberg looks better over the next weeks, so Arlberg and Paznautal (Ischgl/Kappl/See) already have a good base, so with a little luck from the snow gods, that might be your best bet. It is a some distance from Milan, so a car would probably be needed - Head north over the Brenner pass, and you are basically in Innsbruck, and from there you have about an hour to Paznautal.

if needed I would be happy to reach out to a friend in Innsbruck that do a lot of touring, and ask for recommendations?

 

[DanishRider]

@DanishRider , thanks, yes, I have posted on Wepowder too. It’s not very busy there though, so only a few responses.

Absolutely no piste skiing intended in this trip. Mostly human powered touring, just sometimes a lift here and there to get up into altitude.
So piste mileage and quality do not matter at all.

I know Piemonte is getting the goods, but I didn’t know what base they had. Even 90 of powder is worth much if it is on almost no base, and has 3 weeks of wind and March sun hitting it.

Just looked up the base for Pila - Maybe stay away from that area

 

[Swiss Toni]

Northern Italy is currently in the 2nd year of a severe drought https://edo.jrc.ec.europa.eu/edov2/php/index.php?id=1111 there is very little natural snow. The snow depths in Piedmont are currently around 50% of the long-term average. You can view the actual snow depths as measured by the automatic snow depth measuring stations here: https://www.meteo3r.it/app/public/ click on ”Misure” and “Neve al suolo” These measuring stations are located where snow is known to accumulate and the data from them is used to assess the avalanche risk. The recent snow fall probably won’t do much to improve the situation.

This should give you some idea of the current situation at Alagna



The situation here in Switzerland is much the same, the SLF’s Ava Blog paints a grim picture https://www-slf-ch.translate.goog/d...23.html?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=de

 

[Slim]

Thanks @Swiss Toni . I was just going to ask if anyone had any websites with snowfall data, not part of a ski resort (marketing + snowmaking, means not very good backcountry data)

 

[DanishRider]

https://skiweather.eu/snow/ might work for you.

 

[charlier]

@Slim Looking for snow - friends ski touring near Marmolada and Rosengarten.

 

[DanishRider]

It also looks like the situation will improve massively from mid March- Fingers crossed @Slim !

 

[Swiss Toni]

Your welcome @Slim you can also access the data from the Swiss measuring stations https://whiterisk.ch/en/snow/station?showMeasurements=true&measurementType=SNOW_HEIGHT You might also find the snow maps produced from these data useful https://www.slf.ch/en/avalanche-bulletin-and-snow-situation/snow-maps.html

The snow depths for Tyrol (north and south) are also accessible https://avalanche.report/weather/map/snow-height