Bregenzerwald Mountains

Main danger: weak old snowpack

Main danger: weak old snowpack

Avalanche danger above 1800m is moderate, below that altitude danger is low. One single winter sports enthusiast can trigger avalanches on very steep shady slopes above 1800m which fracture down to deeper layers of the snowpack, particularly where the melt-freeze crusts are not capable of bearing loads. Danger zones occur most often in relatively shallow-snow places and in transitions from shallow to deep snow. In addition, above 1600m isolated moist slab avalanches can be triggered by winter sports enthusiasts in the weak old snow. Avalanches can fracture down to deeper layers inside the snowpack and grow to medium size. During the daytime hours, small wet-snow and glide-snow avalanches can trigger naturally in steep sunny terrain. Avoid zones beneath glide cracks. In addition, below 2200m moist wet-snow avalanches can be triggered by winter sports enthusiasts.

Above 1800m on shady slopes, weak layers still occur in the lowermost part of the snowpack. During nights of clear to cloudy skies, the snowpack surface freezes only poorly. As a result of solar radiation and daytime warming, the snowpack rapidly softens during daytime hours.

Dry mountain weather, slight foehn-wind tendency, intermittent sunshine. Cloudbanks will pass through during daytime hours, cumulus clouds will generate in the mountains. Clear and bright nighttime skies with a full moon on Monday night. Temperature at 2000m: 0 degrees; at 3000m: -6 degrees. Light westerly-to-southwesterly winds at high altitudes.

As a result of daytime warming and solar radiation, danger of wet-snow avalanches increases somewhat during the course of the day. The persistent weak layer problem persists, causing a difficult-to-calculate situation in outlying terrain.