Nordkette on 08.01.2022 | ChevChelios

Snow condition

Unfortunately, the snow conditions still leave a lot to be desired. Skiing down into the valley at lower altitudes is out of the question and the mountain pine fields are also still lacking snow. In comparison, the gullies are still the best filled at the moment, while there is little snow on ridges and exposed slopes. Due to the wind, there tends to be more snow on east-facing than west-facing slopes. Before the snowfall, it was unfortunately snowed out on the south side right up to the top (approx. 1600m, in places also significantly higher). Unfortunately, the fresh snow is nowhere near enough. On the north side, the snow situation looks better, but even there you have to watch out for stone contact and below an altitude of at least 1600m, it is highly recommended to have forest roads as a descent.

Snow quality

Rarely have we found such good snow in the Karwendel. During the last snowfall, we had the most precipitation in all of Tyrol, and in the very finest form at cold temperatures. Of course, the wind has had some influence in the meantime, but for the most part it is still unbound, fluffy powder snow. On the south side, however, you can still feel the crust even with 30cm of fresh snow, but on the north side and especially in the somewhat narrower gullies, there is still a lot of snow on top of the snow, so that there is unadulterated skiing fun and endless face shots.

Drift snow is certainly the main danger at the moment. Otherwise, the fresh snow lies on a compact layer of old snow. We haven't seen any avalanches and drifting snow has also remained limited. But it certainly got a bit worse during the course of the day today, with much stronger winds than yesterday and therefore logically a bit more wind influence in the snowpack.

Overall impression

Schöne Rinnen im Karwendel bei traumhaften Schneebedingungen! Leider war die Sicht sehr wechselhaft und mit Wind war es doch eher etwas ungemütlich, dafür waren das heute sicher mit die besten Turns des bisher doch sehr akzeptablen Winters.