Snow report North chain, 03/03/2019

Snow condition

Compared to the south-facing Nordkette, the snow conditions at the back of the Karwendel are still very good. However, the ridges are still blown away and with the foehn setting in today, this is likely to get even worse.

Snow quality

Approx. 15 cm of fresh snow from Friday lies on a hard, partly icy surface. The quality varies. Partly nicely set powder in somewhat flatter terrain. Exposed areas and gullies are affected by the wind. Nevertheless, on the whole everything is very nice to ski.

For the most part, the fresh snow is well bonded to the base. A little sluffy in places. You still shouldn't be out too late on the south side. In any case, our south-facing descent at around 2 pm was too late and there were one or two wet chutes (fresh snow on an icy base). These reached sizes that should not be underestimated (see last picture).

Overall impression

Super day in the best company! As the Karwendel crossing is now a very popular tour, we chose a modified route and were actually alone the whole day. Unfortunately, the last south-facing descent could not be avoided, but should have been done much earlier.