Pongau Grass Mountains

Pay attention to wind slabs adjacent to the ridgeline, crest or summit

Pay attention to wind slabs adjacent to the ridgeline, crest or summit

The avalanche risk is moderate above the tree line and low below. In some places, wind slab adjacent to the ridgeline can be triggered as a small slab avalanche by even a small additional load. Most avalanche prone locations are in the north and east sector behind terrain edges, in gullies and bowls. The risk of falling outweighs the risk of burial away from terrain traps. Also beware of stones that are only slightly covered by snow.

By Friday evening, 10 to 20 cm of new fallen snow had fallen, with a further 5 to 10 cm falling by Saturday evening. Fresh wind slab snow is lying on top of soft new fallen snow at high altitudes, which is a weak layer. Below 1400 metres, rainfall on Friday has partially moistened the snow cover, snowpack there has formed a melt-freeze crust. The old snowpack consists of layers of faceted crystals, deep rime and melt-freeze crusts and has little tendency to break up. Overall, there is little snow.

The night to Saturday will be cloudy with light snowfall in places (maximum 5 cm of fresh snow). On Saturday, visibility will often be limited by dense clouds. In addition, light to moderate snowfall will become more frequent during the daytime changes - 5 to 10 cm will fall during the day. In Lungau, it will be mostly precipitation-free during the day, with occasional sunny spells. Brisk to strong winds from westerly directions, peaking at around 70 km/h at exposed high altitudes. Temperatures at 2000 metres around -9 degrees.

The wind slab remains prone to triggering. As the snowfall continues, the snowdrift accumulations will increase slightly.