Glockner Group Pasterze

Evaluate fresh snowdrifts and weak layers with caution

Evaluate fresh snowdrifts and weak layers with caution

Ridgeline zones, gullies and bowls above 2400m: due to fresh snow and often strong winds from varying directions, snowdrifts accumulated on Friday. These can be triggered by one sole skier on NW/N/E facing slopes above 2400m. Avalanches can fracture down to more deeply embedded layers of the snowpack and, along the Salzburg border grow to medium size. Size and frequency of danger zones tend to increase with ascending altitude.

The snowdrift accumulations, particularly on NW/N/E facing slopes above 2400m, lie deposited atop an unfavorable old snowpack surface. The old snowpack is expansively metamorphosed and faceted. The snowpack is highly diverse even over small areas. At high altitudes there is too little snow on the ground for this juncture of the season.

On Monday, stormy SW winds will often disperse the clouds. In exposed terrain, windspeeds will reach 70-90 km/hr. At 1000m: +7 degrees; at 2000m: -1 degree; at 3000m: -4 degrees.

Significant increase in avalanche danger levels expected