Werdenfels Alps

Maintain distances. Caution urged at entries into gullies and bowls.

Maintain distances. Caution urged at entries into gullies and bowls.

Avalanche danger above 2000 m is considerable, below that altitude danger is moderate. Main problem: in the old snowpack layers. Slab avalanches can trigger in transitions from shallow to deep snow, e.g. at entries into steep gullies and bowls or behind abrupt discontinuities in the terrain by the weight of one sole skier. Elsewhere, older snowdrifts can be triggered mostly by large additional loading. Frequency and spread of danger zones increase with ascending altitude. Avalanche can become large-sized at high altitudes. Due to solar radiation, small loose-snow avalanches can trigger in steep rocky terrain. In isolated cases, small glide-snow avalanches can trigger naturally on steep grass-covered slopes.

A few cm of fresh snow blankets wide-ranging snowdrift accumulations which formed last week. The drifts have settled and are quite compact. At high altitudes there are weak layers inside the drifts and in transitions to the old snowpack. At intermediate altitudes there is a widespread layer of faceted crystals beneath a thin melt-freeze crust. Particularly where the snow is shallow, it can be triggered with ease. Results of numerous snowpack analysis tests show a gradual stabilization of the snowpack. Below 1400 m the wet snow is superficially frozen and a melt-freeze crust has formed.

Avalanche danger is expected to diminish over the next few days.