Snow report North chain, 02/17/2019

Snow condition

Good snow conditions on the south side, unfortunately there was a lot of wind on the north side. That's why it looks very bad in places on the north side (e.g. Rumer Spitze Nordrinnen). The whole ridge to the west ridge of the Rumer Spitze is also completely blown away, and on the south side you can still get all the way down into the valley.

Snow quality

Powdery snow on the north side, but mostly very wind-affected and changeable. On the steeper slopes, there is an alternation of wind-covered and settled powder snow. In flatter areas, where the wind has not been so strong, you can still find settled powder snow and on the south side, with good timing, you can already catch firn. However, the snow softens very quickly in these temperatures. Our south-facing descent was still good at 12 noon, but a little earlier would certainly not have been a bad idea. The south-east side was already boggy at this time, while the south-west side was still hard.

Avalanche danger increases during the day. Spring conditions on the south side, where you should not ski too late. A few sliding snow cracks can be seen on the Nordkette. There is a large avalanche cone in the Arzler Reise, which was probably caused by a wet snow avalanche from sunny terrain.

Overall impression

There was a lot going on in the Karwendel in the morning on the way to the Mandlscharte. Afterwards, however, there was still a beautiful south-facing line away from the crowds. Despite the relatively late descent, with a bit of a feel for the right exposure, there was still firn down to Rumer Alm.