Hochschwab Mountains

Moderate avalanche danger - circumvent fresh snowdrifts at high altitudes

Moderate avalanche danger - circumvent fresh snowdrifts at high altitudes

Avalanche danger above the timberline is moderate, at lower altitudes danger is low. Main danger stems from freshly generated snowdrifts which are insufficiently bonded with the fundament and where low additional loading by one sole person can trigger a slab avalanche in steep entry zones into gullies and bowls in all aspects., triggerable mostly by large additional loading, sometimes be minimum loading. Most releases remain small.

At high altitudes, depending on aspect and landscape, older snowdrift mases or loose snow atop a melt-freeze encrusted snowpack fundament, lie deposited. In between them in many places are weak layers of faceted crystals (“cold on warm”). The snowpack fundament has already been fully moistened up to 2200 m, is currently stable. Only at high altitudes on shady slopes are there still more deeply embedded weak layers.

On Thursday, cloudless skies initially, convective cloud build-up later on. Winds brisk from the northwest. Slightly warmer. At 2000 m: -7 degrees. On Friday sunshine to start with, rapid cloud build-up, light snowfall will set in during the evening above 1200.

No significant change is expected.