Snow report North chain, 12/30/2023

Snow condition

Very good snow conditions above approx. 1500m, better than last winter. The mountain pines are well covered and there is also a good layer of snow on the steeper slopes. Unfortunately, the last storm blew a lot of the snow out of these areas too, but before that it looked even better. At lower altitudes, unfortunately, things quickly deteriorate. In ditches/gullies and on forest paths, the snow is still continuous up to approx. 1200m (south-facing), below that it's a patchwork of snow and sometimes no snow at all. For descents down into the valley, that means carrying skis, of course, at the end of December :(

Snow quality

At the moment you can find pretty much all types of snow, except for good powder snow. Often icy hard (but stable) on the north side, with a brittle cover in places. In some places, however, the crust is no longer there and there is some loose snow, but right next to it is another icy cover. So finding good snow is not really easy at the moment. We therefore opted for a somewhat steeper, south-facing descent and were not disappointed. At the top at 1pm (approx. 2300 - 2000m), the snow was wet (there had probably never really been a thicker layer of harsch there before), further down the snow became more and more firn-like and surprisingly good to ski. In the forest further down it was still frozen hard. For soft snow, we recommend a cloudless day with not too much wind and a steep south-facing slope (not too high).

Danger of falling in icy steep terrain and sliding snow avalanches are currently the main dangers. Some of the snow cover is really very icy and uneven, so you should be prepared for this.

Overall impression

Made the most of the glorious weather for a beautiful tour on the Nordkette. We were even rewarded with soft, good snow on the south side. I was even happy to put up with the 45-minute walk at the end.