Snow report Pitztal Glacier, 03/05/2023

Snow condition

The snow conditions are acceptable due to the high altitude and mostly shady exposures. You can easily get down to the valley via the emergency route. Something has changed on the glaciers since the fall and some crevasse zones are now covered (although it is questionable how much coverage there is). More exposed glacier upswings are still bare and many crevasse zones are still open, which were otherwise never visible in recent years. A little caution is therefore still required on glaciers. Some snow has now accumulated in gullies, which makes one or two nice lines possible.

Snow quality

At high altitudes, you can still find nice powdery snow on the north side. However, there is a light wind cover in places, which alternates with good areas on a very small scale. In expositions where the sun shines in for longer, there is more broken snow (west side). On the south side, it may already be stable, but we weren't out and about. Quite deep, gritty powder snow in shady gullies.

After a long wait, finally stable snow conditions for steeper lines. The main danger at the moment comes from crevasses and the potential risk of falling. In addition, treacherous sharks are still lurking under the snow cover. In steep terrain, watch out for sluffing in the powdery snow.

Overall impression

Nice round in the Pitztal and took a fine gully in powdery snow. Hopefully it will be a good (steep face) late winter :-)