As a consequence of fresh fallen snow and strong-velocity westerly to northwesterly winds, snowdrift accumulations will be
generated anew. Both fresh snow and fresh snowdrifts on wind-protected west-facing, north-facing and east-facing slopes will
be deposited on top of an unfavourable, expansively metamorphosed (faceted) layer of snow crystals. The old snowpack surfaces
in ridgeline terrain, on south-facing slopes and in frequently skied terrain are more favourable.
More deeply embedded inside the snowpack in the Jura region, on the northern flank of the Alps and in the western part of
the Lower Valais, thick rain crusts which formed during the last week of the old year are evident up to high altitudes. These
thick crusts tend to stabilise the lower layers of the snowpack in these regions. From the central Valais over the northern
Ticino as far as Grisons, on the other hand, the entire snowpack is often expansively metamorphosed and riddled with thin
melt-freeze crusts. To an increasing degree, you sink down to the ground on your skis. With regard to the approaching snowfall,
the structuring of the old snowpack is particularly unfavourable in these regions.