Snow report Stubai Valley, 02/21/2024

Snow condition

The snow conditions around the Franz-Senn-Hütte are characterized by wind events. Ridges are heavily blown off and only slightly covered, especially after fresh snowfall. This means that snow-covered stones pose a certain danger, which is why a good choice of route is advisable. However, there is sufficient snow on open slopes and in hollows. At an altitude of 2650m on a north-facing slope, a snowpack survey measured 215cm.

Snow quality

Good snow quality throughout on north-facing slopes from Tuesday. Very fine, cold powder. Mostly without feeling the old snow surface. At lower altitudes, this is then noticeable or you can break through it in places.

Some sliding snow avalanches have occurred on the south side. Small loose snow avalanches from very steep, rocky terrain. Apart from the drift snow packs, no other signs of avalanche activity were observed. An ECT at 2660m on a north-facing slope did not break. It took a lot of effort to lift a block out of the old snow approx. 50cm below the snow surface - a smooth break.

Overall impression

Two beautiful days around the Franz-Senn-Hütte. On the day of our approach (19.02.) we set off towards the Innere Sommerwand and turned back at around 2700m due to the advanced time. The quality of the snow was poor throughout, as there was only a little fresh snow on a hard base and also a partly unstable base. Snow began to fall in the evening, which gave us two beautiful days. On Tuesday we climbed the Östliche Seespitze. The glacier on the very steep northern slope at an altitude of around 3200m is bare in places, which is why ski depots were set up from here and the rest of the ascent was done with crampons and ice axes. The upper part would have been good skiing conditions in places, but we didn't take our skis with us. However, the snow cover on the ice is variable, which is why a descent would probably have to be quite defensive and involve a certain amount of risk. The summit ridge is partly overgrown, which is why you have to make sure you make the right tracks! The slopes below the ski depot up to an altitude of 2550m had consistently good conditions with a powder layer of approx. 25cm on a settled layer of old snow. However, you had to stay away from the backs as far as possible, as the stones were only lightly snow-covered here. From 2550m there was increasingly less snow and more stones, which is why a defensive skiing style was advisable here and one or two stone contacts happened. On Wednesday we set off in the direction of Kreuzspitze. However, the last gully to the summit had little snow, which is why we decided against it and opted for a descent. On the north-facing slopes, we found good downhill conditions with around 30 cm of powder in places. There was no danger of rocks here, which meant we could ski down to an altitude of approx. 2400m without hesitation. We then climbed up to the Oberissscharte (secured by ropes in the upper part) and skied down from there towards Seduck. From the saddle, there was mostly a layer of powder of approx. 10cm on a non-load-bearing old snow cover. With an active skiing style, it was easy to ski. Further down, we then crossed to the east to the old downhill tracks from Rinnennieder to find a good track for the descent through the sparse forest and mountain pines. The descent down to the valley floor was easy. Then back to the parking lot on the continuously snow-covered forest road.