Snow report Zillertal Alps South, 05/25/2016

Snow condition

Snow only really continuous from about 2200m/2300m. Unfortunately, this means carrying skis on your back for a relatively long time. Further up, however, there is still enough snow!

Snow quality

Very changeable. Early in the morning still frozen as hard as a rock (load-bearing cover from the bivouac at 2500m), in the north face itself still powder snow up to the middle, further up hard snow and at the very top partly bare ice. In the course of the morning, the snow was already wet and slow from the saddle to the Rötkees and the conditions were quite good for a ski descent, although of course you had to be very careful in the uppermost part. The north face was skied by about 5 people that day.

A lot of avalanches had already come down on the warm, sunny day before. After the clear and relatively cold night, it was relaxed in the morning and the danger of falling was more to be considered. As the day progressed, the risk of wet loose snow avalanches increased, although most of it was already down.

Overall impression

I've been dreaming of snowboarding the north face of the Hochfeiler for years. After having to turn back last week due to the conditions at the Griesscharte, this time everything was just about right - thanks to the snowfall a few days earlier and the sunny day before, coupled with a clear and cool night, the north face was in good conditions for both ascent and descent. The bergschrund was easy to traverse. The only downer was that it quickly became cloudy and the north face and the summit were covered in clouds. there wasn't much going on in the bivouac, we were the only 3 people there. Other people also did the north face as a day tour, which was out of the question for me in terms of fitness Very nice tour at the end of the season, now I can put the board in the corner with satisfaction