Snow report Zillertal Alps South, 05/21/2018

Snow condition

Almost no snow until the bivouac.

Snow quality

No snow below, summer snow, wet snow... Overnight, despite the rain and clouds, it picked up and snowed from around 3000m.

Despite the clouds above the bivouac, it had picked up. When we were in the NW, many avalanches came down from the eastern slopes, which prevented all the tourers who came later from climbing the Hochfeiler. On the way back we naturally had a bit of a queasy feeling, but there were no more avalanches...

Overall impression

An exhausting tour, but finally a long-cherished project has succeeded.
I've had the Hochfeiler NW in my head for 5 years. Two years ago, I had already made an attempt in similar conditions. Partly heavy rain showers during the bivouac ascent. In contrast to my first attempt, when I had the bivouac to myself, this time it was very crowded. There were three of us. Later, two more joined us and when I had just managed to fall asleep despite the cold, another five came at 11 p.m. That made 10 people for 9 sleeping places. Then there was a party and by the time I was finally able to fall asleep, it was 1am. Our alarm clock rang at 3 a.m. .... The ascent and descent of the Grießscharte went without a hitch. The north face then presented itself in perfect powder. A dream. The ascent was strenuous, but I'll put up with a lot for a descent like this ;-)