Werdenfels Alps

Powdery, non-bonded snow dominates

Powdery, non-bonded snow dominates

Avalanche danger above 1800 m is moderate, danger below that altitude is low. Main problem: fresh snowdrift accumulations. Slab avalanches can be triggered by one sole person on steep ridgeline slopes in N/W/S aspects, in gullies and bowls and behind abrupt discontinuities in the terrain. Apart from that, medium-sized slab avalanches can be triggered by large additional loading in transitions from deep to shallow snow at high altitudes, particularly on steep shady slopes.

Above the invesion layer (about 1500 m) the shift from nocturnal outgoing radiation and solar radiation has led to intensive settling of the snowpack. The snowpack as high altitudes shows pronounced effects from wind, shifts alternatingly between bonded wind-pressed layers and powdery low-tension layers. Only in steep ridgeline terrain are small snowdrift accumulations deposited atop bonded and soft layers of expansively metamorphosed crystals - these are prone to triggering. On sunny slopes at intermediate altitudes, a thin melt-freeze crust has formed after a night of intense outgoing radiation. Particularly on shady slopes at high altitudes, weak layers in the snowpack have persisted.

Avalanche danger levels are not expected to change significantly in the coming days.