Chiemgau Alps East

Avoid snowdrifts which are partly blanketed by fresh snow and difficult to detect!

Avoid snowdrifts which are partly blanketed by fresh snow and difficult to detect!

Avalanche danger above 1400 m is considerable; below that altitude it is moderate. The main problem: snowdrifts. Slab avalanches can be triggered by minimum additional loading such as a single skier. Avalanche prone locations are found in steep ridgeline terrain in N/E/S aspects, but also distant from ridgelines below protuberances, in gullies and bowls as well as in wind-loaded forest aisles and forest clearances in forest transition zones. Frequency and size increase with ascending altitude. On wind-loaded slopes avalanches can grow to large size. Isolated small to medium-sized loose snow avalanches will trigger naturally in steep rocky terrain.

In the last few days half a meter of snow has fallen wide-spread at higher altitudes, accompanied by storm-strength westerly wind. In leeward zones the new fallen snow accumulated as extensive snowdrifts. Although the new snow and wind transported snow has settled somewhat, it has predominantly bonded only poorly with the old snowpack surface. On the shady side the snowdrifts were deposited atop soft snow layers; on the sunny side the snowdrifts were in many places deposited atop a melt-freeze crust underneath which there are faceted crystals. Frequently, graupel is embedded close to the surface and also more deeply in the packed snowdrift masses. Avalanche incidents and snow profile analyses confirm the trigger-sensitivity of the snowpack. Below 1400 m humidity has penetrated into the snowpack. As a result, a melt-freeze crusts forms at night and stabilizes the snowpack to a certain extent.

The avalanche situation is gradually easing up.