Nock Mountains

Danger of taking a fall outweighs that of being buried in snow

Older small snowdrift masses have been deposited on shady slopes atop an explansively metamorphosed surface. In wind-protected shady terrain, the surface is often rewarding for skiers, faceted, expansively metamorphosed powder, in places surface hoar is evident. In wind-exposed terrain the surface is highly varied, foehn conditions gradually being generated on steep sunny slopes. Due to mild temperatures the snowpack softens up during the daytime hours.

On Saturday, frequent sunshine amidst high-altitude cloudbanks, light conditions can become diffuse but the summits will remain in the clear. Light to moderate southerly wind, intensifying towards evening. At 2000m: between 2 and 7 degrees; at 3000m: between -2 and +1 degree. On Saturday night the southerly foehn wind will reach windspeeeds of 50 km/hr in the Northern Alps.

A few centimetres of fresh snow will generate small snowdrift accumulations

Danger of taking a fall outweighs that of being buried in snow

Avalanche danger is low, the major danger stems from snowdrifts. Particularly on very steep shady slopes above 2200m, slab avalanches can be triggered in isolated cases by minimum additional loading. Releases are mostly small-sized. Apart from th danger of being buried in snow masses, the risks of being swept along and forced to take a fall need to be taken into consideration.