 Poster: A snowHead
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I made a foray over the border into St Anton yesterday & it was foggy & warm. Endured more of the same in Nova (Montafon) today. Sadly the forecast cold snap for next weekend seems unlikely to bring much new snow either in West Tirol or Vorarlberg.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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I’m off to Lech tomorrow (taking advantage of my free time before I do my usual 5 week instructor stint, beginning at the end of Jan). I will report briefly on conditions tomorrow, but expect them to be so-so.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Foggy & warm is better than the reported rain in the western alps!
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Fwiw Allgäu in SW Bayern is also expected to be dry & cold this weekend - I certainly hope so as I’m planning a mountain hike there on Sunday with some friends & don’t want to endure Scottish conditions.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Thread drift alert. But my intended point was, it looks set to be cold, dry & sunny this weekend at least in Vorarlberg & neighbouring areas…
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@Bergsteiger278, yep dry & cold coming up, hopefully the snow will still be OK
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Arrived late yesterday - the initial heavy rain quickly turned to snow in town and it’s still snowing lightly now. Probably 10cm down here so imagine more up top
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I see the women's downhill training was called off because of too much new snow.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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As promised, a brief report on Lech today. Pistes - OK sometimes icy: Ski routes - straightforward conditions with broken up old powder, tho’ snow is wearing thin in places. Temperature stayed ca minus 6 at the Hasensprung Bergstation, about minus 3 at Oberlech. Pretty quiet.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Bytw I didn’t do anything harder than some steep Ski Routes today l, so can’t really comment on the off piste. However, some of the old snow on the steep slopes looked breakable and this was reflected in a Stufe 3 (“erheblich” = “substantial”) Avalanche warning.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Austria Schneechaos = training run for a ski race cancelled due to heavy snow
UK Snow chaos = Manchester and Liverpool airports shut due to reports of a snowflake being spotted 20 miles away 
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Can’t comment on St Anton, but there was no discernible new snow 10 Km away in Lech today..
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You know it makes sense.
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@Bergsteiger278, can’t have been looking too hard! 20-30cm powder across the area. Madloch was beautiful
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Can’t comment on St Anton, but there was no discernible new snow 10 Km away in Lech today..
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Poster: A snowHead
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No new powder tho’ imho..
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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The powder I encountered on the several routes I did was well broken up & compressed…I skied in the Steinmähd & Hasensprung area for about 4 hours until 13.00 ..
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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As I explained earlier, I didn’t ski off piste today so can’t comment on conditions “in Gelände”..
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..the nearest I came to off piste today was the steep Route 221 to the bottom of the Steinmähder & it consisted of bumps/moguls covered by compressed powder. Straightforward (steep) skiing but no new snow discernible. This would have been about 11.30 fwiw..
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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I skiied for ca 4.30 hours in Lech/Zurs mostly round Rüfikopf & Trittkopf. Weather was excellent & the snow conditions were good. But the long route 215 into the valley was a bit over prepared - no difference to a long black really. Much the same goes for the 173 from Madloch Berg Station into Lech - with the added disadvantage that it was wearing thin & stony in places. More snow needed: sadly none forecast. Very quiet.
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I skiied for ca 4.30 hours in Lech/Zurs mostly round Rüfikopf & Trittkopf. Weather was excellent & the snow conditions were good. But the long route 215 into the valley was a bit over prepared - no difference to a long black really. Much the same goes for the 173 from Madloch Berg Station into Lech - with the added disadvantage that it was wearing thin & stony in places. More snow needed: sadly none forecast. Very quiet.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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@Bergsteiger278, always find it a bit odd Langerzug is classified as a ski route but they promote it as the steepest prepared slope in Austria (not sure it is though), perhaps would be better to simply call it a black piste.
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@munich_irish, if they would call it a piste, people would start complaining why it is closed so often.....  also see Zugertobel.... and Madloch: if they would call Madloch a piste, people would currently 'want their money back', because of the stones...or similar moaning.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Bytw The steepest pitch on a pisted slope in Austria lies not on the Lange Zug (Route 215) nor even on the infamous Harakari but on the relatively unknown Black Ibex in Kauerntal which has a brief section at 88% gradient. I’ve skied it a few times since it opened ca 2020 and while the beginning is certainly steep, it is short and quite wide with a forgiving run out.
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I’ve nothing further to report on Arlberg conditions today as I was skiing in my home ground of Montafon this morning (incidentally enjoying some very good off piste & route skiing due to the continuing cold weather). However, I’ll be back in St Anton tomorrow and will report briefly on conditions.
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You know it makes sense.
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Bytw in answer to Langerzug (sic) - I’ve skied the Tanegg 216 quite a few times, tho’ not yesterday.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Is there not a black in Warth that’s almost vertical?
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Poster: A snowHead
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@Bergsteiger278, so you skied Tannegg, but are still complaining about a groomed Langerzug.
To put this in perspective: Which other resort in the world has a Tannegg next to a Langerzug? Talking about "Lech being bland".....
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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The concept of ski routes in the Arlberg has been unclear for years. The theory is that it should be a route that has had minimal preparation but has been checked for avalanche safety. The route is delineated by a single line of poles and is only secured in the area of these poles (quite how that is defined is unknown). There are two grades red & black - black being defined as "extreme". In practice it is somewhat different. Some of the routes are groomed daily (I can think of Madloch, Langerzug, Steinmännle and Schindlerkar but there are more) and are in reality "pistes". Some of these have poles in the middle but others have poles to one side of a bashed piste. Many others clearly conform to the theoretical description eg the routes in the Mattun bowl, Zuppert, Furkawang, Osthang (two of same name!). This is a recipe for chaos and could lead the unwary into bad situations. The most obvious example is Langerzug / Tannegg. Langerzug is to all intents and purposes a piste even if steep and so requiring decent technique, Tannegg is a completely different beast really for experts only (way beyond me) yet both have exactly the same definition on the piste map ie black ski routes and start and finish at the same place. The Lech tourist office even "promote" their guided trips down Langerzug as within the compass of red run skiers. This might be true but someone who has managed that might then decide to launch themselves down Tannegg or Furkawang on the basis that they are the same standard, which is plainly not true and end up with folk needing rescuing. Perhaps worth pointing out that openskimap show the groomed ski routes as "pistes"
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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@munich_irish, doesn't Langerzug (route 215) merge into Tannegg (route 216) on the map? I've only seen 215 open once in many many April trips and did manage to ski it, it does seem to open later than other routes and shut earlier.
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@kitenski, The piste map is not at all clear in many places this is much clearer https://openskimap.org/?obj=22e05bbfe0337edc7301dfe29d0d067b163fd52a#13.79/47.20403/10.16188 Nominally Tannegg runs from the junction with the Steinmännle "route" all the way to Lech with the drag lift in the middle. Langerzug runs from the top of the drag and joins up with the lower forest track which is the end of Tannegg. In reality the route marked shown as 216 and closed leading down to the open drag lift is open and is pisted! and Tannegg proper (which is currently closed) starts from the top of the drag and is a steep mogul run through the trees and bushes. It is very confusing unless you are familiar with it all. Langerzug does need decent snow to be open but as it is north facing and shady generally keeps the snow in decent condition longer than many other runs. Another example of poor piste map layout is the rarely open Wiesele ski route at Zürs which appears to go to Lech but in fact ends up at a bus stop about halfway between Zürs and Lech
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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@munich_irish, can you please stop the moaning, it's terrible. Langerzug will never become an official skipiste, whilst many people at the same time love the fact that it is groomed. And communication actually is fine and very precise. To say people would start thinking Tannegg is similar to Langerzug is nonsense that simply is not happening. Never ever heard anybody claiming that.
Similar: Madloch, similar Zugertobel: It's a skiroute because it cannot be an official skipiste because of geology and Arlberg microclimate. But it needs to be groomed as it is such an essential connection. It is like this for ages, at least as long as my first year am Arlberg, 1992. Stop the moaning. It will only change when they remodel Madloch. And then you start moaning about that too by the way.
Just accept that not every slope can be precisely categorized by the current system. Not at Arlberg.
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@Langerzug, Yes I would moan about the changes to Madloch, it is fine as it is, it is the sort of run that makes the Arlberg unique. Would prefer not to see the new lift either but as far as I know it is going to happen. As to moaning about the ski route mess I am not alone in that, the folk who used to write the main ski area guides in the UK (sadly no longer) complained for years about this. As to precise communication I dont think I need to say anything the screenshot above says it all, an open lift with no way to get to it!
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Just to briefly enter the fray on the Tannegg/Langerzug debate, I have skied it a handful of times, into Langerzug, and there was always an open sign for the Tannegg drag on the red piste 181
As for Arlberg's ski routes, I don't have any complaints. Just wish that they would find an answer to Steissbachtal's issues.
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Back on topic. I skied around the Schindlerkar today with an Austrian mate (also an instructor). We did pretty well every variation this morning and lapped the lift 6 times in total before finishing off with a full descent of the Mattun from the second Schindlerkar station. Snow was pretty good, but chopped up and relatively heavy going on harder variations. (87 & 88 down to the Mattun junction fwiw). The core 86 route itself, tho’, was effectively a pisted black. The Mattun was tricky with some rocks to avoid shortly after the halfway hut. Nice temperature for skiing, more snow needed, but none forecast. (Again).
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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@Langerzug to answer your question - which other resort in the world etc? Montafon for one. The seriously committing but marked route R4 threads its way ca 800m downwards thro’ the gaps between the (raw metal) avalanche barriers under the Wörmser Hütte down to Hochjoch. Yet nearby are Routes 2/3 which are also steep but relatively benign. The same goes for the other Montafon area - Nova - again normal ski routes are situated next to very committing ones.
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@Bergsteiger278, Sounds reasonable for the weekend, certainly better than the rain I have had on some recent visits! Doesnt seem like much possibility of any significant snow for the rest of the month at least it is cold & dry.
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