Chiemgau Alps East

AVOID snowdrift accumulations and zones near glide-cracks

AVOID snowdrift accumulations and zones near glide-cracks

Avalanche danger above the treeline is considerable, below that altitude danger is moderate. Main danger: wide-ranging snowdrift accumulations. Avalanche prone locations are found mostly in steep ridgeline terrain in NW/E/SE aspects, in wind-loaded gullies and bowls and distant from ridges behind protruberances. Slab avalanches can in some places be triggered by one sole person. If deeper weak layers are triggered, which is particularly possible above the treeline in transitions from shallow to deep snow, avalanches can grow large. At intermediate altitudes, naturally triggered medium-sized glide-snow avalanches are possible on steep grassy slopes or in steep forest zones.

A few cm of fresh snow will fall atop a strikingly wind-impacted snowpack surface. Crests and ridges are windblown, gullies and bowls filled metre-high with drifts. Layers of loose crystals and graupel lie embedded inside the snowpack, in places there are faceted crystals near a thin melt-freeze crust which formed before the last period of precipitation. That makes fresh and older snowdrifts prone to triggering. Mild temperatures have helped the snowpack to settle and consolidate at lower altitudes. At ground level the snowpack is often wet.

The avalanche situation is expected to calm further, before more precipitation arrives at the beginning of next week.