A Front

After about 7 weeks in Austria, I feel very detached from the weather in Utah.  I hear rumors and see evidence of an abysmally bad snowpack and have been sent photos from Little Cottonwood that look like late May rather than mid April.  A look at the SNOTEL data shows every site in the Wasatch, Oquirrh, and Stansbury Ranges at a record low water equivalent except the "plucky" Farmington Lower SNOTEL which is in 3rd simply because of what appears to be a spurious reading of 0.1".  Pretty sad.  

However, I also noticed that there is a cold front coming through northern Utah tomorrow (Thursday) and it should bring a pretty good drop in temperatures.  The 0000 UTC GFS (I'm 8 hours ahead of  you and writing this in the middle of the night Utah time) shows the cold front draped over northern Utah at 1800 UTC 16 April (1200 MDT Thursday).  Salt Lake City is likely to be post-frontal at that time and seeing colder air moving in.  

The front will bring a substantial drop in temperatures.  At 700-mb (roughly crest level), temperatures fall from around +2°C this (Wednesday) afternoon to -12°C by Thursday evening.  The temperature at the Salt Lake City International Airport has not dropped to or below freezing (32°F) since March 15.  We should be able to do drop to at least that by Friday Morning when the forecast low from the National Weather Service is 30°F with snow showers.  

As advertised by the more recent model runs, the precipitation prior to, during, and immediately following the frontal passage is not all that prolific.  For Alta-Collins through 12 AM (Midnight) MDT Friday the 06 UTC 15 April HRRR is producing 0.51" of water and 7.9" of snow.  Through the same time, the 00 UTC 15 April GFS is producing a more pathetic 0.3" and 5" of snow.  Five members of the 0000 UTC RRFS Ensemble have 0.5" of water and 7" or less of snow through 0000 MDT Friday (06 Z 17 Apr), but there is one member with a more enthusiastic total near 0.8" of water and 12" of snow.  

Perhaps such a dust-on-crust event will be enough to get your heart rate up.  If not, one has to hope for one or two things.  One is that the period around and including the frontal passage on Thursday is more productive and comes in higher than most of the models and maybe near or above the wettest RRFS member.  The other is that the cold, post-frontal northwesterly flow is productive Thursday night and maybe Friday morning, with either orographic or lake-effect snow.  It's a bit soon to have confidence in the post-frontal crapshoot, so monitor forecasts while I stare at the Alps. 

A Little Tyrolean Culture

It's hard to find the Greatest Snow on Earth in Tyrol, but it's easy to find great mountain culture.  Innsbruck is a college town, with around 28,000 students enrolled at the University of Innsbruck.  The ski and outdoor stoke here is high, similar to Salt Lake.  You see kids with skis everywhere, with bikes a popular mode of transport to the bus and train lines that can take you to the resorts or touring spots.  

Nobody blinks an eye when you carry your skis through the grocery store or stop at a bakery and leave them by the front door.  Busses and trams, the latter called "light rail" in the US, are everywhere and those going to resorts are often packed with skiers and snowboarders.  

Meanwhile, the lower and mid-elevation trails on the south aspects above town have melted out and there are many bikers and hikers going to mountain huts for food and libations.  The photo below is from Rumer Alm on Sunday, popular with everyone from young families to 80-somethings who either hike up or ride an E-bike.  

A bit lower than that is Arzler Alm, which was also packed on Sunday and even offers up a playground.  

Falling under the category of you won't see this in Utah, Rumer Alm has a self-serve beverage stand.  Open up the door and grab whatever you need, including alcoholic beverages, even when they are closed.  Just drop your payment in the box.  The only security is a camera.  

On an unfortunate note, we did see a mountain rescue by the Bergrettungdienst (Mountain Rescue Service) of Innsbruck.  This was in a hiking and biking area and we were not sure if there was an injury from a crash or slip or sudden illness.  We can all be thankful for the extremely capable professionals who perform these rescues.  We hope for a speedy recovery for whoever was affected.  

For those coming to the Alps, it's worth noting that almost any mountain rescue here requires payment.  Even a sled ride off the ski hill will probably cost you 50 euro and if medical care is needed on the hill probably 250 euro.  Other transport even more.  Membership in Alpenverein Österreich (Austrian Alpine Club) includes a number of benefits for rescue costs and is a good investment if you are recreating here (see http://alpenverein.sichermitknox.com/service) and don't have coverage through other channels.  

If anyone from Innsbruck is reading this, I will be giving a public talk on mountain weather, climate change, and finding deep powder at the University of Innsbruck at 1900 on Thursday 23 April.  There is a request for registration at https://www.uibk.ac.at/events/2026/04/23/secrets-of-the-greatest-snow-on-earth, but if you read this at the last minute, you won't be turned away at the door.  

Austrian Powder

This year has been a down year for powder for me and possibly you too due to the substandard season in Utah. 

Here in Innsbruck, however, we had an Austrian powder day today on the Stubai Glacier.  With only a few cm, it wasn't a deep day and I should call it dust on crust, but beggars can't be choosers in 2026.  Some decent turns were had in areas favored by the wind.  

Clear days in the Alps can't be beat.  The back side of Stubai has great views of western Tyrol.  The highest peak in the photo below is the Wildspitze, the second highest peak in Austria.  

Utahn's are familiar with morning powder in the mountains and afternoon summer in the valley, but the situation in Tyrol is even more extreme.  Stubai Glacier reaches 3210 meters (10,500 feet), comparable to the top of Alta and a bit below the top of Snowbird, but Innsbruck sits at 574 meters (1883 feet), much lower than Salt Lake City.  So we had morning powder with a summit temperature of -3.2 C (26F) at 8:50 AM and then an afternoon high in Innsbruck of 23 C (73 F).  It's 8:38 PM here now and we have the apartment windows open and are lounging in shorts and T-shirts.

Last Day "am Arlberg"

When we arrived in Innsbruck in late February, I purchased a "Freizeit Ticket", an IKON-like seasons pass good for many resorts in the Innsbruck area.  It's more than an IKON though because you can use it on many cable cars in the summer, for admission to some tourist spots, and for access to the local swimming pool.  When I purchased it, the cashier said to me "you realize that the coverage period is half over." I just smiled and said, "it won't be a problem."  

The Freizeit includes three days of skiing at the Arlberg.  Yesterday I burned my last, making it my last day "am Arlberg" (on the Arlberg).  The Arlberg is actually one of the easiest resorts to access from Innsbruck because it lies along the main train line to Bregenz and Zurich and thus there is quasi-hourly service on OBB "rail jet" trains that make limited stops.  The rail jet is not high speed, but on the track between Innsbruck and Imst-Pitztal it hits speeds of 150 to 160 km/hr (90-96 mph).  

After about an hour an ten minutes, you arrive in St. Anton where it is a five minute walk to several lifts. Snow was scant at valley level yesterday so the view leaving the station was not especially pretty!

Rather than do a "Run of Fame" day skiing from valley to valley, I decided to focus on a few areas that I wanted more time at and that get a little less skier traffic.  I started though with a run down the Arlberg Kandahar Rennen, basically the route used for World Cup DH and SG races.  It has a south and southeast aspect and given the spring conditions, was the first place to soften up for the day.  I caught an early train and had fresh corduroy.  

It's easy to carve big arcs down a run like that, but running it full gas would be terrifying.  The course oscillates between steeper sections and gliding sections and I tried to imagine transitioning into the latter at speeds of around 80 mph.  Some of those sections were even narrower than the one below.  

I then worked my way over to Stuben, a village and ski area that is typically skipped by the Run of Fame crowd. On this warm spring day, it has the advantage of being north facing, although given the early hour I skied over the back side and started on its one south facing lift, the Albonagrat double chair.  The terrain was a bit like a mini Mineral Basin at Snowbird.

The front (north-facing) side of Stuben drops about 3000 vertical feet to the village.

The terrain around Stuben is a bit unusual.  The upper mountain has some attractive freeride terrain.  

There are also some nice cruisers on the upper half (hard to see in the above), but the bottom half terrain is a bit convoluted and wavy.  There are serpentine pistes that wind their way to the base through this terrain, although I didn't take any photos.  

After lunch, I worked my way back to St. Anton.  Across the valley from St. Anton is a hidden ski area called Rendl.  There is a gondola that ascends from St. Anton to it, but you really can't see any of the terrain from town.  It's a hidden gem in many ways with a lot of open, freeride terrain and even a small terrain park if you're into that kind of thing.  

The southern portion of the resort has three fixed-grip doubles and a real old-school feel, which is very soothing given the industrial-scale lifts the cover most of the Arlberg.  Below are views looking up the Riffelbahn I and then down the Riffelbahn II which reaches just over 2600 meters.

It will be a shame when these lifts are replaced by the inevitable high-speed six pack.  

To conclude the day, I got a final thighburner back into town.  The descent into town is via a west and north facing route, but the south-facing terrain acros the valley above St. Anton is looking pretty baked.  

The Arlberg gets a lot of snow by Alpine standards, but has an abundance of south and west facing terrain and it pays the price, especially in a low snow year with warmth and abundant sunshine.  

Early Spring Alpine Hiking

One of the great things about Innsbruck is easy access in all directions but especially to the south where one can take a train over the Brenner Pass to South Tyrol for the day or a long weekend.  

South Tyrol is an autonomous province of Italy.  It was historically part of the Austrian–Hungarian Empire, but was transferred to Italy following World War I, with efforts to "Italianize" the region undertaken by Facist Italy.  Some cultural challenges remain, but today it has a wonderful blend of Tyrolean and Italian culture, beautiful mountains, and a relatively mild climate.  

We spent the past three days in Meran/Merano (German and Italian place names are used in South Tyrol), which lies in a deep valley.  They aren't native, but you can find palm trees in Milan giving it a touch of a subtropical feel.  The big one pictured below is in the gardens surrounding Trauttmansdorff Castle.  It's actually from Chile and is apparently quite cold resistant. 

Snow on the south aspects around Meran is almost non-existent up to over 2000 meters currently.  We took the opportunity to hike the Meraner Höhenweg (Merano High Trail) from Unterstell to Giggelberg, taking advantage of the cable cars on both ends of the route.  Both are smaller 25-passenger cable cars.

They also operate quasi-autonomously.  When we arrived at the Unterstell cable car there was nobody there to collect money.  It said to pay at the top where the person who is both the operator and the money collector runs the show.  They just watch on the camera, open the doors when the time comes, and you are off.  

The hike from Unsterstell to Giggleberg is about 10 km, but with a good deal of up and down as you traverse a few very steep canyons.  Our net ascent was about 800 meters (2625 feet) despite the trail giving the impresson on a map that it is just contouring along.  There are a couple of suspension bridges that span the deeper canyons.  

The route traverses both forest and pasture.  It's unbelievable where they have cleared forest for farms in this part of the world.  These all had road access (with many switchbacks), but some had small cable cars (i.e.,"materialseillbahnen") to transport goods.  

At elevations between 1500 and 1800 meters, this is a "midmountain" trail well below the highest peaks, but it had great views of the Vinschgau Valley and the high terrain to it's south and west.

As well as great views of Meran and, in the far distance, the Dolomites.  

And at the end of the hike in Giggelberg, one can replenish the calories burned with strudel, vanilla eis, and johannesbeere gespritz.  

On our last day we did some castle visits with more civilized walking.  We even saw a Lamborghini. 

Actually, as I understand it, Lamborghini started as a tractor manufacturer and only got into automobiles after a row with Enzo Ferrari. 

Our little castle hike did involve riding one lift, a single chair from Meran to Dorf Tirol.  This is as touristy as it gets. 

Our destination was Schloss Tirol (Castel Tirol), the higher of the two castles pictured below.  The lower one is Brunnenburg Castle.  

It's well worth a walk to visit Schloss Tirol if you find yourself in the Meran area.  Far more interesting than the castles of Deer Valley and the Wasatch Back. 

Pesky Mid-Slope Clouds

Mid-slope clouds are often observed on valley sidewalls in mountainous regions, especially under moist conditions.  These clouds can be produced by thermally forced flows that move upslope with daytime heating or by dynamical forcing if there is a cross-valley component to the flow that leads to upslope on one sidewall.  

Today I spent the morning skiing through a pesky mid-slope cloud at Patscherkofel, a ski area just to the south of Innsbruck.  

Patscherkofel is in many ways a cursed ski area.  It is surrounded by higher mountains, and thus is in a snow hole.  It is also at the mouth of the Wipp Valley, which descends from Brenner Pass, the lowest pass in the eastern Alps.  As a result, the Patscherkofel often experiences strong or even severe downslope winds, referred to as Foehn in the Alps.  

Foehn flow.  Source: Secrets of the Greatest Snow on Earth

That said, Patscherkofel has a number of things going for it when there isn't Foehn.  First, it is easy to access from Innsbruck.  Get on the J-bus with a pair of skis or a snowboard and you have a free ride right to the base of the Patscherkofel.  During the week, these busses run every 10 minutes.  No need to check the timetable. 

Second, the Patscherkofel has substantial vertical by American standards with a drop of 956 meters or 3136 feet, more than the Snowbird Tram.  And it's one ride to the top in a modern 10-passenger gondola.  

Third, it was the site of the 1976 Olympic Downhill, so you can retrace the route that Franz Klammer followed on his way to his famous gold medal. 

Finally, compared to many Alpine ski areas, there are actually some trees.  Mind you, it is still not the easiest place to ski in cloud, but it is better than most Alpine resorts, which is why I was there today as the options for bluebird skiing were low in Tirol (although if I was up for it I could have taken the train to Italy where it was sunny).  Plus they got some snow this week so it wasn't boilerplate from top to bottom.  

The mid-morning view from the top of the gondola tells the story. The top of the gondola was trapped in the cloud sandwich between altostratus clouds (mid-level layered clouds) and the pesky mid-slope clouds.  The photo below is taken looking toward the northwest and the mid-slope clouds were moving from right to left, wrapping around the Patscherkofel mid slope as they moved from the Inn Valley toward the lower Wipp Valley.  

The light wasn't too bad when you were above these clouds, but at times it was lights out when you descended into them. Look carefully for the skier at center right.

The Department of Atmospheric and Cryospheric Sciences here has a wind lidar, which is an instrument that uses pulses of laser light reflected off of tiny particles in the atmosphere to measure the wind speed and direction.  Using this instrument, they produce time-height sections of the flow over Innsbruck.  Below is the time-height section for a roughly 25-hour period that includes my ski this morning (between the blue lines).  I've highlighted the Patcherkofel base and the top of the gondola.  During my ski, there was flow from the ENE (I've highlightd this with a red arrow) at mid-mountain level.  This is close to an up-valley flow in the Inn Valley.  Under quiescent conditions, the flow in the Inn Valley in the morning is usually westernly (down valley), so this was a dynamically driven flow.  However, the small northerly component was probably enough to produce a little cross-valley upslope flow and cloud given the moist conditions.  

Source: University of Innsbruck

After bussing back to Innsbruck, I got a good view of the mid-slope cloud from by our apartment.  In the photo below, the top of the Patscherkofel gondola is circled and a bit below the true mountain summit.  The base is blocked by the lower ridge but I've drawn a blue arrow to indicate it's approximate location (you can see some of the trails to the right of this arrow).  The mid-slope cloud is apparent between summit and base and I've highlighted the flow with red arrows. 

I was hoping for a sunny day as this is my only possible ski day this week, but turns were had, few people were out, and interesting meteorology was observed.