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Bavarian ski areas have to close for the high season: the weather forecast for winter sports enthusiasts is devastating

2023-01-06T04:05:51.427Z


Bavarian ski areas have to close for the high season: the weather forecast for winter sports enthusiasts is devastating Created: 2023-01-06 04:56 By: Klaus-Maria Mehr Two-digit plus degrees, plus a foehn storm, sun and constant rain. The weather conditions for the Bavarian ski areas are catastrophic at the start in the middle of the high season. And it doesn't get any better. Munich – Everythi


Bavarian ski areas have to close for the high season: the weather forecast for winter sports enthusiasts is devastating

Created: 2023-01-06 04:56

By: Klaus-Maria Mehr

Two-digit plus degrees, plus a foehn storm, sun and constant rain.

The weather conditions for the Bavarian ski areas are catastrophic at the start in the middle of the high season.

And it doesn't get any better.

Munich – Everything had looked so good.

Lowest, two-digit minus degrees in December, all of Bavaria covered with a solid layer of snow and ice.

But then shortly before Christmas the warmest year in Bavaria since weather records began struck again: within a few days the thermometer shot up by around 30 degrees.

From sometimes minus 15 to minus 19 degrees to plus 15 degrees.

A white track on a green meadow: The photo from Ruhpolding in Upper Bavaria illustrates the current situation in the ski areas in Bavaria.

© Rolf Poss/Imago

In addition, the foehn, the warm, strong wind that shoots from the south over the Alps - and then continuous rain.

This weather-poison mix for every snowpack has been going on for two weeks now.

The result: a historical lack of snow in Bavaria and in general in the entire Alpine region.

Climate change has reached skiing in Bavaria.

This is what “restricted skiing” currently looks like on the Steckenberg in Unterammergau.

The recording is from January 2nd.

© Wolfgang Maria Weber/Imago

Ski areas in the Bavarian Forest cannot open at all

First it hit the ski areas and winter sports regions in the low mountain ranges.

Shortly after Christmas, the Arber mountain railway on Bavaria's highest low mountain range (Großer Arber: 1455 meters in altitude) announced a slight backward shift.

They want to start skiing by December 27th at the latest.

At that time it was not yet certain whether polar air from the north-east would prevail against the mild jet stream from the south-west.

But that wasn't the case.

Now the Arber webcam shows dreary pictures with green slopes, offset with some residual snow fields, probably left over from the snowmaking.

The website says the start of the ski season has to be postponed "indefinitely".

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And so it is with all ski areas that are well below 1500 meters, from the Allgäu to the Fichtelgebirge.

Most of the smaller ski areas have already closed or have not even opened.

Winkelmoosalm is waiting for snow

But the great classics also hit the edge of the Alps.

The Winkelmoosalm ski area, where the late Rosi Mittermaier learned to ski, has been closed since Christmas.

Only a few slopes are still open in the neighboring Steinplatte partner ski area.

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Total failure in one of the most popular ski areas in Munich: the Brauneck is standing still

The Lenggries ski area in Brauneck, in the Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen district, which is particularly popular with Munich residents, was just as badly hit.

Here, too, everything is closed except for a short slope in the valley because there is no snow.

According to their own statements, the hosts in Lenggries take it easy.

There are hardly any cancellations, they say, people would also like to hike.

With its south-facing slopes, the Brauneck is not very snow-sure.

Last year, the area had to be almost completely closed at this time of year during the Christmas holidays.

But then a long cold spell followed, during which the operators were able to produce snow again.

Only: there is no sign of that - and even if: shooting artificial snow from snow cannons costs a lot of electricity.

And as is well known, it is not cheap this winter.

Even before the start of the season, the operators announced that they would only produce snow when the temperature was well below zero, because that's when the systems work most efficiently.

Spitzingsee-Tegernsee also has to shut down operations radically

But not only at the Brauneck, also in the other Alpenplus areas it looks dangerous.

The Spitzingsee-Tegernsee area, which is actually very snow-sure, also has to close almost everything again.

The Suttenbahn from the Tegernsee valley no longer runs at all.

The valley run is closed.

Only the descent to Spitzingsee and the associated Stümpfling 4-seater chair are still running.

(By the way: Our Bayern newsletter informs you about all the important stories from Bavaria. Register here.)

Dreary pictures from the Sudelfeld

The pictures of one of the largest contiguous ski areas in Bavaria, the Sudelfeld in Bayrischzell, are also sad.

Some slopes are still open there, but these meander past green meadows and scree into the valley.

Also in the webcam image: the reservoir, almost empty.

Oberstdorf im Allgäu: Dirty white bands on a brown background

Even in Oberstdorf in the Allgäu, where several ski areas extend up to 2000 meters, many things have closed.

The slopes that are still open run on white-brown ribbons through the brown-green meadows.

White-brown band on a green-brown background: This is what skiing currently looks like in Oberstdorf im Allgäu.

© NEWS5 / Deyerler

The only thing left is the Zugspitze if you wanted to have a reasonably normal skiing experience in Bavaria during the winter holidays.

Most of the lifts and slopes are still open there.

As mentioned above, the situation for some ski areas, especially at Brauneck, was similarly dramatic last year.

What makes the situation historically disastrous is the weather forecast.

Because in January 2022, shortly after the Christmas holidays, it got really cold again.

The opposite is currently the case.

It remains mild, the temperatures, especially at the edge of the Alps, remain in the double-digit plus range.

The year 2023 starts in Bavaria as 2022 ended: as a temperature record year.

Depending on how long this historic warm phase lasts in the middle of January, the Bavarian ski resorts will have to make hard calculations as to whether it is still worth opening again for the rest of the season.

Because when it's cold again, snow has to be made again, which is expensive.

Nobody can guarantee whether it will stay cold long enough in these times.

You can always read all the news from all over Bavaria with us.

News and stories from Bavaria can now also be found on our brand new Facebook page Merkur Bayern.

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2023-01-06

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