Austrian snow reports - how to read them
It can be difficult to find a decent record of what is happening in your favourite Austrian ski resort. How many lifts are open? How deep is the snow? When was the last time it really snowed.
We try to keep up with the snow reports - and add our own local sceptical eye - here at Ski-Austria, but the best information is going to be found in German on the search engines.
So, if you aren't fluent in German, here's a quick guide on interpreting your own Austrian snow report.
finding snow reports in Austria
The best way to do this is to use your favourite internet search engine and put in the following query "your resort name" "schneebericht" (where your resort name is the actual name and the quotation marks are omitted).
You should then be able to find a German version of an up-to-date ski report. So what does it all mean?
understanding German snow reports
Here is a glossary of some commonly-used words in the reports, with their English translation:
pulverschnee - powder snow
griffig - packed powder, groomed snow
hart - hard
aper - thin, bare
nass - wet
Other phrases which may also be useful:
Berg - mountain
Tal - valley
Lifte offen - lifts open
Abfahrt bis ins Tal möglich - it is possible to ski to the valley
Letzter Schneefall - last time it snowed
Ski article added: 11.01.07