Werdenfels Alps

Take care when entering gullies and bowls!

Take care when entering gullies and bowls!

The avalanche risk is moderate above 2000 metres and low below. The main problem is wind slab. Slab avalanches can be triggered sporadically with little additional load. Avalanche prone locations are adjacent to ridgelines and distant from ridgelines in steep terrain with aspects from northwest to north to east as well as at the entrance to gullies and bowls. They increase in number and size with altitude. Avalanches can become medium-sized - when they tear through deeper weak layers in the persistent weak layer.

With mild temperatures, the snowpack is increasingly settling. Older and fresh wind slabs lie on soft layers and surface hoar in places. The old snowpack often consists of faceted crystals and is partly interspersed with melt-freeze crusts. There is only a little snow on the sunny slopes At higher elevations, there are a few centimetres of moist new fallen snow on an old snowpack that has often crusted can form. Smaller drift snow packs are now compact and largely stable. The snowpack base often consists of angular, gritty snow. Fracture propagation over larger areas is not to be expected with the overall low-stress and low-thickness snowpack.

With foehn storms, prone to triggering snowdrift accumulations continue to grow, especially at high altitudes.