Foehn Stroll
In early March it's spring green down in the Zillertal valley, but still winter white up in the mountains. Here the Ahornspitze (2976 m) towers more than 2300 vertical meters (7,500 vertical feet) above the valley.
A serrated ridge line in front of Zillerkopf (2995m).
Today we met up with Jürgen and his wife Hilia for a casual ski tour up to the Kristalhütte for an early lunch. The off-piste snow got baked in yesterday's sunshine so we just skied back down the Hochzillertal groomers after lunch.
Another snowstorm is raging on the south side of the Alps (the third big storm in a row down there!) and today the clouds were pushing up against the main Alpine ridge with a strong and warm foehn wind blowing down the Zillertal valley. The Alps are a big enough mountain range that most storms can't make it over the main Alpine ridge; they just get stuck on one side or the other, and when that happens the cold air that gets pushed over the mountains warms up and speeds up as it descends, resulting in strong foehn winds. One of the weather forecasts often calls it "hairdryer" wind!