Chiemgau Alps East

Avoid fresh snowdrifts.

Avoid fresh snowdrifts.

Avalanche danger above the treeline is moderate, below that altitude danger is low. Fresh snowdrifts are the main problem. Snowdrifts can be triggered as medium-sized slab avalanches even by minimum additional loading. Avalanche prone locations are found in steep ridgeline terrain in N/E/S aspects and in wind-loaded gullies and bowls. At high altitudes, avalanches can fracture down to weak layers embedded in the old snow. Small glide snow avalanches still possible on steep smooth grass-covered slopes.

Stormy northwesterly winds will transport 10 cm to 20 cm of new fallen snow; in orographic barrier zones in Allgäu up to 30 cm of new fallen snow. When precipitations cease the wind will abate. Therefore, the snowdrifts are partly loosely blanketed and difficult to detect. At intermediate altitudes these are deposited on bare ground, in particular in south aspects, or on a moist old snow surface with which they will bond well. Weak layers are here mainly found embedded in the snowdrifts. Whereas in particular at high altitudes, these are often deposited atop a thin melt-freeze crust, under which a layer consisting of faceted crystals has formed which is prone to triggering. More deeply embedded in the snowpack there are also weak, expansively metamorphosed layers close to crusts. At intermediate altitudes the snowpack is wet down to the ground.