Snow report North chain, 02/13/2020

Snow condition

The valley descent is possible with a little comitment and caution. You can reach the arzler/umbrüggler Alm through the snow tracks. From there, continue on forest trails which, thanks to the icy surface and some fresh snow, go well. However, there are stones sticking out in places. In the Seegrube area, the mountain pines are now quite well snow-covered, which significantly increases the choice of route. This degree of cover then decreases rapidly below approx. 1500m. Above the Seegrube, surprisingly good snow conditions after the storm. Even places that are always sharky can be skied well without stone contact. You still have to be careful with more unusual lines on spines etc.

Snow quality

First thing in the morning, dream powder in all exposures. It stayed that way on the east side. From midday onwards, there was a slight deterioration on the south and west sides due to the influence of the sun and wind, but the skiing was still very good. In these exposures, it quickly got wetter and wetter on the descent into the valley at lower altitudes.

We could not observe any explosions in the catchment area of the Nordketten avalanche commission. Apart from small wet slides in the afternoon, no other avalanches. However, there were clear signs of wind, especially on the north side of the Karwendel. The foehn wind that came up during the morning also brought some more drift snow to these slopes.

Overall impression

After yesterday's downday in the forest and mountain pines, the cirque opened today and provided a great day in the upper 4-star area. Including the morning rush at the gondola, of course. Maybe I'm a romantic, but somehow something would be missing...