First 2015 Powder alarm andermatt. Snow report with massive dump coming
History
The winter 2014/2015 had an early start and since mid november Andermatt got most of the snow around in the central alps. West alps and east alps were suffering again like last winter with dumps coming from the south and usually beeing too warm for lower resorts.
Actual
This affected also Andermatt snowsituation as every dump turned into rain towards the end and it poured down up to heights of 2000m. As a rsult of this we got + 350cm snow on the top of gemsstock but only about a half a meter on lower offpiste tracks like exit out of the Felsental.
Strong winds from west and south have blown the ridges blank and created massive accumulations on the leeward side. As the wind shifted several times there is a crossloading on both sides of the ridgelines.a
Right now its dumping allready a about 40cm in the village and you can follow the accummulation rate in the village on this exellent website: www.andermatt-wetter.ch
Forecast for end of january
There is a very strong front coming from the northwest and will hit the alps at 28.-29. of january. The forecasts have been really pessimistic in the beginning but now they all are turning into red and magenta with snow in the 1-2 meter range to expect. Actually snow-forecast is predicting more than a meter within 48 hours.
Dangers
This massive snow will fall in many places on a windblown crust and loose snowslabs from previous storms. in generally the snowpack stabilitiy in Andermatt area is the best right now in switzerland. West and East of us its a lot worse. Check the profiles here on SLF .After this dump the situation will be dangerous and requires a carefull selection of routes. The winter is still young and just started. Check the www.slf.ch homepage for actual info and check with locals for local knowledge. Last week we had Avalanche danger 2 and there was a considerable instability with many self releases in the Giraffe bowl. Rather a day or two later in this life than years too early in the next one
Be safe
Lars