Snow report Salzburger Land North, 03/03/2021

Snow condition

Very little snow for the beginning of March. Only on the northern side of the Watzmann east face does it look like winter. From the Wimmbachbrücke bridge, skis on the backpack. From the Stubenalm more or less continuous snow cover. Skis stayed on the backpack for the whole ascent. You can save yourself crampons and skins and the south-facing descent is no longer possible throughout. Only after climbing down a few hundred meters from the south summit can you strap on your skis. Even after that, there are always obstacles to overcome and climb down or jump off, and the mysterious path from the Wimbachtal valley could still be skied halfway down, which was a pleasant surprise.

Snow quality

On the ascent, snowy snow, later old snow with old blown tracks. The descent was a firn dream. The descent around 2 pm was ideal. Not yet boggy and well softened down to the valley floor.

Old hard drift snow near the ridge but very thin snow cover between the rocks and not dangerous. Surprisingly, there was no wet snow in the afternoon. We had feared being late at 2pm on the south summit but the firn was perfect. No rockfall and no avalanche heard or seen

Overall impression

Great, long, lonely and exhausting tour, especially with skis and ski boots on the ridge. We started at 4.30 a.m. and without breaks it was just about right.
The descent is superb but rewarding when viewed as a whole. We won't do it that quickly again, but it's always an impressive tour.