Snow report North chain, 01/25/2019

Snow condition

Still very good snow conditions on the Nordkette. There is plenty of snow even down to Hungerburg. Some ridges in the upper altitude range have been blown away. Otherwise, everything you could wish for is skiable.

Snow quality

The top layer of snow consists of wild snow. Depending on the exposure and terrain, up to 20 cm. In sunny terrain, the fresh snow lies on a layer of harsh snow. It's still easy to ski and sluffs along in steep terrain. I have not been on the north side.

The wild snow looks as if it has fallen completely without wind. There is a stable layer of old snow underneath. This could become problematic if fresh snow falls on this snow surface in combination with wind. Otherwise, there are a lot of sliding snow mouths to watch out for.

Overall impression

Very nice tour for a Friday afternoon, which can of course be shortened considerably with the help of the gondola. It's always amazing how quickly you can get from the city to high alpine terrain. With all the spines west of the Seegrube, it reminds you a bit of Alaska :)

There's a lot of snow on the via ferrata, so you'd have to dig through it at the moment and the rope is under the snow in some places as far as I could see. The ascent was therefore south-facing due to time constraints.