Snow report Trentino, 05/31/2019

Snow condition

There is still a lot of snow in the Presanella group. This is good for the crevasse cover and the bergschrund, but not really an advantage for the ascent to the Rifugio Stavel Denza. You have to start from Stavel (1300m), as the higher starting point is not yet accessible by car. The snow starts at around 1900m, but not continuously. This means that you have to switch between walking and skiing, and you can even ski down to around 1500m in the old avalanche cone to the west of the summer trail. However, it is better to go down the summer trail on foot.

Snow quality

Depending on the altitude, exposure and time of day, all types of snow were present. Then, a little further up on the north-west side, broken harsh snow, then powder snow from 100 m below the bergschrund, and beautiful powder snow in the lowest third of the wall itself. The middle third was variable, partly wind-affected and capped. The top third was powdery again, and at 10:30 there was already nice firn below the wall as far as the hut. By midday it was already very boggy down into the valley.

It froze well during the night. With an early start, you can be relatively safe on the way. Watch out for sluff on the north face. Otherwise, watch out for wet snow avalanches during the day. A lot has already come down.

Overall impression

The Cima Presanella has a beautiful north face to offer, which can also be descended on skis in good snow conditions. The middle third may well be 50 degrees steep and the upper third is also around 45 degrees steep. The lower part of the wall then flattens out by a few degrees. With a wall height of 500m, you are therefore in a no-fall zone for a long time. Some books describe the wall as having a gradient of 55-60 degrees, which is no longer the case, at least not at present. The rocky narrow section in the wall is narrow, but still well covered in snow and therefore easy to pass both on the ascent and the descent. Given the current snow conditions, the tour should still be possible for some time. The Bergschrund and the glacier are still very well covered in snow.
The only drawback of the tour is the ascent to the Rifugio Stavel Denza, which would probably be easier to do with less snow.

Otherwise a great tour with good steep face conditions!