Hochfeiler north face on 01.06.2021 | chevchelios

Snow condition

You first have to carry your skis for a while along the reservoir, but you can strap them on in the Schlegeiskees basin at around 2100m. From there, however, there is plenty of snow for this time of year. In the basin you can easily reach the glacier. Normally at this time of year you are happy if you can still find a continuous snow channel there, but at the moment you can get to the Schlegeiskees on snow on many paths. The crevasse zones of the Schlegeiskees are well snowed in, but you should still avoid the areas around the glacier breaks. The bergschrund of the north face is already relatively open for the most part. In the middle you can still get over it with easy climbing, lookers left is definitely more comfortable. The snow conditions on the north face itself are also good. No bare ice and plenty of snow on the wall. In the lowest third there is a large snow slab crack above the rock ledge.

Snow quality

In view of the fact that the last snowfall was 7 days ago, the snow on the wall was much better than expected. Below the wall at 9 o'clock really fine firn almost all the way down (exposure east/northeast, 3100 - approx. 2300m). The last 150m are then already like summer snow and a bit more uneven, therefore slightly rough to descend.

In the meantime, stable avalanche conditions prevail with good timing. On a clear night, there is a stable cover in all exposures except steep north faces. In the north face, you had to watch out for sluff in the powdery conditions. In the funnel-shaped wall, the loose snow collects in the middle of the wall, which is why sluff management is easy with a little common sense. Around the middle/end of May, however, there must have been a big crash around the north face of the Hochfeiler. Huge avalanche deposits can be seen on the Schlegeiskees, in the north face itself there is a snow slab crack in the lowest third which is certainly 1m high. There is also a very large slab crack on the east flank north of the Hochfeiler. A very large cornice is still hanging over it, if it goes down you definitely don't want to be below it. My advice for all those who want to climb the north face of the Hochfeiler this winter is to start (and descend) very early so that you can get past the danger zones early on the way back.

Overall impression

I walked through the whole night without any sleep, often asking myself why I was actually doing all this, only to see the Hochfeiler north face in the first sunlight at sunrise and forget all my exertions. Even though it was my 6th descent of the Hochfeiler north face, it is incredibly beautiful every time and probably the most beautiful north face in Tyrol for steep face climbing. Word seems to have gotten around a bit, as there were already 5 routes on the north face from the previous days and 6 more people after us. As a result, there are now 15 tracks in the north face and a lot of snow has blown out. So it probably won't be worth it until the next snowfall.