Snow report Sölden, Ötztal, 05/02/2019

Snow condition

On the north side you can still get down to the parking lot in Vent (1895m). On the south side towards Wildspitze, you will probably have to carry a short time, although there is still snow on the piste relatively far down, and there is enough snow on the north face of the rear Spiegelkogel to ski down. The exception is the short upswing, where the wall is somewhat steeper. There is only about 20cm of bare ice (see photo).

Snow quality

Still good powder snow on the wall itself, which has already settled a little due to the sunlight. Pretty ideal for the descent. Further down, the route then went north/northwest down into the valley in beautiful firn. Departure from the summit (3424m) at 1pm, for the lower part you could have been there a little earlier. In the morning there was a good snow cover down to the starting point at about 1900m.

It was blowing on the wall on the descent, so you had to watch out for small loose snow slides. Some avalanche cones from wet snow slides can be seen from the south-facing steep terrain (e.g. in the valley to the Martin-Busch-Hütte). You should take this into account when planning your time.

Overall impression

Beautiful "north face" in very good downhill conditions. Approx. 270m long, 40-45 degrees steep, whereby the 45 degrees are probably only reached on a not very long passage. The lower part of the descent was also fun, in firn and through natural halfpipes down to Vent. The only disadvantage of the tour is the relatively long traverse after the Ramolalm, which is unpleasant to walk in the morning and could be nicer for boarders on the descent. Apart from that, there is absolutely nothing to criticize about today's tour.