Dear authors,
please provide a suitably revised manuscript, taking on board the instructive comments of both reviewers. Please provide a point-by-point response letter, detailing how you have changed the manuscript in response to the comments made.
Best wishes,
Sönke Zaehle

Dear authors,

my sincere apologies for the delay in evaluating your manuscript revisions. I have been trying over months to get a response from one of the original reviewers, but failed. I provide my own assessment on top of the other original reviewers assessment, and would like to ask you to provide a revised version with a point-by-point reply as to how you have dealt with the comments.

Best wishes,
Sönke Zaehle

Major comments:
As a non-expert, I find it non-trivial that increases vegetation height (rather than associated changes in stem area index, leaf area index, snow masking or whatever) reduces albedo. Please provide a brief explanation as to why this is in both abstract and introduction.

Page 2 15ff to then end of this page, possibly beyond. I think this introduction is too long here, providing too much detail on the specifics of particular studies. Please shorten here to the essential ideas and findings and mention these specifics where appropriate in the discussion section.

Paragraph page 5 L20 could be moved to Section 2.2, but should at least point to Section 2.2, not 2.3? The sentence starting in L23 would be easier to follow in Section 2.2.

Figure 2 does not help to understand the paragraph in page 6 L33ff. I also find this text hard to follow. Please try to clarify, and potentially revise/remove Figure 2.

P8 L18ff. In my view, this paragraph is not necessary. If you feel the need to give an overview on the results obtained, writing an introductory paragraph to the discussion may be more helpful. I leave this to you to decide.

Minor comments:

Page 5 L 11. I think the sentence starting with "The two years..." would be best placed after "in the study region." in L7. This may require some additional editing of the rest of the paragraph.

Integrate the content of Table 1 into the text, this table is not necessary.

Figure 1 can be SI material.

P6 L 22: Is it "scattered mountain birch" or "last mountain birch"?

P7 L4 "confused by each alpine shrub type." I understand that you've used an alpine vegetation characterisation, but you are still trying to simulate boreal vegetation types? Maybe it's helpful to list "each" type here.

P7 L 32: How large is the small domain?

P12 L 2: Is this so, or does it only seem to be so? Please use precise language.

P 16 L 19: are after exception

Please carefully check punctuation, and importantly the use of commata.