Snow report North chain, 09/27/2020

Snow condition

The nordstau of the last few days has once again brought some fresh snow to the Nordkette. At times the snow line was below 1000 m. At the Seegrube there is about 70 cm of snow, in the Karrinne itself there is probably more than a meter. Above the tree line, the wind has transported a lot of snow and you can ski down the 3-person run (meadowy surface) up to an altitude of approx. 1200m. There was still about 20cm of snow there and I didn't come into contact with any rocks on the entire descent. Even the upper part of the gully was skiable.

Snow quality

Departure at 9am from an altitude of around 2250m. At the very top of the chute there was really good, fluffy powder snow, in the wider run-out it was nice to ski, slightly more settled powder (exposure south/southwest).Further down from the tree line the snow even got a little better on the west side, as the part of the descent had not yet received any sun and below the tree line there was no wind influence in the snow cover.From below approx. 1500m the snow was then already much more settled and had a light cover, which was somewhat softened. Perfect for getting relatively far down, as you didn't sink in that deep.

There was no base at all before the snowfall. The current snow cover on the south side will probably melt away completely again soon. As there has been a lot of fresh snow on the Nordkette, the early snowfall on relatively warm ground on the north side could still be relevant for the further build-up of snow cover, if the snow cover remains there.

Overall impression

A great start to the 2020/2021 winter/touring season!
It's not every year that you can ski the Karrinne as early as September. And then with such good powder conditions. The early rise and the early descent were definitely worth it.

I wish all PG skiers a good and accident-free winter season!