Goldberg Group Central

High avalanche danger at high and high alpine altitudes

High avalanche danger at high and high alpine altitudes

Avalanche danger above 2200 m is HIGH, below that altitude danger is CONSIDERABLE. A slab can be triggered even by the weight of one person. Experience is essential in outlying terrain. Avoid steep and extremely steep terrain, in due consideration of the terrain further up. Most danger zones (near to and distant from ridgelines) occur on east-facing slopes, then on N/S facing slopes. Gullies and bowls in all aspects are filled to the brim with drifts. Most critical: transitions from shallow to deep snow. Avalanches mostly small-to-medium, but in isolated cases also large-sized. Naturally triggered avalanches can trigger in rocky terrain which have not yet discharged (in isolated cases large-sized ones). These can be loose-snow OR slab avalanches.

In the barrier cloud zones on the Main Alpine Ridge, more than a metre of fresh snow has been registered over the last few days amid strong wind impact. Plateaus, crests, ridges and west-facing slopes are often completely windblown, the snow can be found in gullies and bowls. Avalanches generally fracture at the border points to the old snow (where surface hoar or fluff can be embedded) or inside the masses of fresh snow and drifts from the last few days.

On Sunday in high altitude Tauern zones, still strong-to-stormy NW winds, good visibility, sunshine in the morning. In the afternoon, cloudbanks will move in. The NW winds will be palpable at summit level, elsewhere winds will be light. At 2000 m, -10 degrees, at 3000 m: -14 degrees.

Avalanche danger will slowly recede.