Snow report North chain, 02/28/2019

Snow condition

Start from Grammatboden at 860m with skis. The forest paths are relatively easy to get up and down. The ridge and ridges in the upper area are still well covered in snow.

Snow quality

Rock-hard from 03:00 to about 8:00, then getting softer and softer. We left at 9:30 from 2250m and even found "powder remains" in the top section to the (south)east. Between 2000m and the valley, the snow became softer and softer and was still nice to ski on in the south-east. The last few hundred meters then became very slushy and difficult to ski.

We opted for what is probably the only gully on the entire Nordkette where there was no old avalanche cone. Overnight (at least that's what we assume) a massive sliding snow slide occurred (see photo). The early start was definitely worth its weight in gold! It was still hard in the morning/night and subjectively quite safe. There were also hardly any sliding snow cracks to be seen on our ascent and descent route.

Overall impression

Expectations were definitely exceeded today: despite the inhuman getting-up time (02:20), it's always a great sight to see the first rays of sunshine on the Nordkette. Passable ascent and quite good descent conditions rounded off the tour perfectly.
Nonetheless, fresh snow is urgently needed ;-)