Every cloud has a silver lining.

This winter has been one of the worst in 60 years for snow here in Switzerland. Many areas have had only 35% or less of the average snow-cover for the time of year. Usually in January/February I am out on the snow 2-3 times a week. This year I have skied twice in total! It’s not all bad though. The lack of snowfall has left us with some very stable weather which meant most weekends had sunshine and conditions on piste remained very good in most resorts. Many ski areas are reporting that they had more visitors this year in January/February than they had last year! The stable weather that made conditions poor for any off-piste activities led to a surprisingly good run of biking weather here in Switzerland. We’ve already had quite a few days of riding trails at altitudes up to 1100m. Conditions have been unbelievable good for the time of year and despite the lack of snow kept the grins firmly on a few of our faces. Definitely a silver lining in my book.

Downloaded from www.slf.ch on 21/02/2011

Now it looks like winter is back with a vengeance. Checking the snow reports today is showing some resorts with up to 25cm of fresh snow having fallen in the last 24 hours and we can expect another substantial dump on Thursday above about 1200m. I’ve seen some forecasts predicting as much as 50cm in some places to fall on Thursday. This has the potential to lead to some epic conditions in the Swiss Alps next weekend. This fresh snowfall is falling on top of a pretty substantial refreeze crust, and that combined with any wind deposits will lead to some potentially dangerous conditions for anyone leaving the marked runs. It is times like this when people who have been starved of powder for the last six weeks or so may end up taking unnecessary risks in the effort to find ideal conditions. Remember to check the National AND Regional avalanche bulletins before you go riding, take as many precautions as possible and enjoy next weekends powder days as safely as you can.

Sorry about the lack of events we’ve managed to get up and running during the winter. This has been largely due to issues beyond our control, but plans are underway to make up for this in Spring when the bikes make a permanent return to play.