Snow report North chain, 03/18/2021

Snow condition

The Seegrube was once again one of the hotspots in Tyrol during the north jam of the last few days and even left the Arlberg behind. 1.5m of fresh snow has fallen at 1900m in the last few days. At the Hungerburg there is about 40-50cm of snow, which makes it possible to ski down into the valley on the forest paths without any problems. However, this will also melt away quickly if the sun shines in more. Further up, even in the somewhat denser forest, it is really good again, this applies to altitudes above approx. 1400-1500m. However, there are a lot of fallen trees lying around (see photo), which is why you should be a little careful. Above the tree line, the snow conditions are very good, mountain pine fields are well snowed in and steeper, rockier slopes also have a relatively large amount of snow.

Snow quality

The finest, ultra-deep powder snow. It doesn't get much better than this. The 1.5 m of fresh snow of the last few days is noticeable with incredible sinking depths and endless face shots. You could have done with a snorkel today. However, the description above only applies as long as there is no sun. The sun came out a little more in the late morning. As a result, the snow on the slopes where the sun was shining became heavier. Fortunately, this was only the case a little further down (<1500m) and only a little later. On our last descent into the valley, however, the snow further down was already much heavier and a little wetter. So if you want to find good snow tomorrow, you should avoid slopes that have already been hit by the sun today.

Due to the huge amounts of fresh snow, you should of course exercise a little caution. However, the fresh snow made a good impression today, as there was no wind influence to be seen or felt at all. It was a completely different story the day before yesterday on the Arlberg. I can only judge the situation on the south side up to 1900m altitude. The Hafelekar remained closed today. So it's possible that the wind had more influence further up near the ridge. Despite blasting, there were no avalanche cones to be seen in either the cable car or the cirque. You should watch out for possible sliding snow avalanches. And when the sun is shining, you should also watch out for loose snow avalanches. These can probably reach a considerable size due to the large amounts of fresh snow.

Overall impression

A huge powder day on the Nordkette! Probably the deepest day of the entire winter. There were relatively few people out and about by Nordkette standards, and because there were so many opportunities to ski down into the valley, the snow was spread out. After the slopes to the 3er pillar were tracked, there were also plenty of first lines to be had in the various forests and trenches. If you can agree to give 5 stars for a powder day in the area, today would definitely have been one of those days.