backcountry journal
Lermoos area, Austria
Jan 2007
During last week the second decent storm of the season hit the Alps. It started on the last day of our Engelberg trip over new years (that trip was a back country flop due to the snow conditions and weather, so nothing interesting to report).
This storm lasted for the first few days of the year and was accompanied by strong NW winds. It deposited about 40cm of wet and heavy snow. Above 3000m there were reports of ok powder, but I still maintain that if you can make a snowball of any description then it isn't powder, its just fresh snow. Predictably, the UK ski club snow reports gushed about Austria being blanketed in a layer of powder. I have no idea why a well known snow forecasting website bothers to publish their snow reports.
Anyway, we went expecting 40cm of wind effected fresh heavy snow on a rain crust on top of some faceted snow and that's what we found. Although the faceting and started to round and bond and was not as dry and loose as the problematic facetted base in the French Alps at the moment. The French Alps have been reporting multiple avalanches and already 4 deaths. Snow pack stability is slightly better in Austria than in both Switzerland and France, although it is difficult and quite useless to make such wide generalisations.
This storm lasted for the first few days of the year and was accompanied by strong NW winds. It deposited about 40cm of wet and heavy snow. Above 3000m there were reports of ok powder, but I still maintain that if you can make a snowball of any description then it isn't powder, its just fresh snow. Predictably, the UK ski club snow reports gushed about Austria being blanketed in a layer of powder. I have no idea why a well known snow forecasting website bothers to publish their snow reports.
Anyway, we went expecting 40cm of wind effected fresh heavy snow on a rain crust on top of some faceted snow and that's what we found. Although the faceting and started to round and bond and was not as dry and loose as the problematic facetted base in the French Alps at the moment. The French Alps have been reporting multiple avalanches and already 4 deaths. Snow pack stability is slightly better in Austria than in both Switzerland and France, although it is difficult and quite useless to make such wide generalisations.
I had been researching the area around Lermoos in north Tyrol. It turned out to have great touring terrain and is one of the closest locations to my current home (600km). Like a lot of Austria, the Lermoos area is unglaciated and low altitude making touring a lot easier and for a change, offering plenty of tree riding. Having become accustomed to terrain in Chamonix and Switzerland, the altitude and limited terrain above the tree line around Lermoos reminded me of the Japanese 'Alps'. Although the peaks and summits in this part of Austria are clearly steeper and have far more high cliff faces than you find in Japan. In short, if I end up doing weekend driving trips this season then Lermoos will be my target rather than Engelberg in Switzerland (depending on the snow). The amount of weekend driving trips I do depends on where Mio ends up working and living next month.
With the very strong NW winds and new snowfall we decided to rule out any tours that required travel on southerly aspects above 2000m. This decision was perhaps conservative, however it was our first time in the area and our first poke around the back country terrain didn't need to risk a slide. I was unable to get hold of a 1:25,000 map for the entire area around Lermoos (as usual, it is split between two maps) and so had to use a 1:50,000 map. The 25k map we had didn't show the safer (less wind loaded) NW to NE slopes that we were interested in and so our plans were formed using the 50k map which obviously contains half the topographical detail of the 25k. This caused some planning problems as I am not accustomed to 50k maps and so underestimated certain terrain features, like flat ground we had to cross and also the depth of gullies. Once on location, we spent far more time than expected negotiating this undesirable terrain. I never use 50k maps, so this was a valuable lesson.
Our objective was to take a first taste of the area and so we planned an easy tour, rather than an epic. Taking the lift to the top of a resort we then took the summer roadway (winter via alpine) up and down a few gullies to the base of a NE aspect face of about 500m vertical.
With the very strong NW winds and new snowfall we decided to rule out any tours that required travel on southerly aspects above 2000m. This decision was perhaps conservative, however it was our first time in the area and our first poke around the back country terrain didn't need to risk a slide. I was unable to get hold of a 1:25,000 map for the entire area around Lermoos (as usual, it is split between two maps) and so had to use a 1:50,000 map. The 25k map we had didn't show the safer (less wind loaded) NW to NE slopes that we were interested in and so our plans were formed using the 50k map which obviously contains half the topographical detail of the 25k. This caused some planning problems as I am not accustomed to 50k maps and so underestimated certain terrain features, like flat ground we had to cross and also the depth of gullies. Once on location, we spent far more time than expected negotiating this undesirable terrain. I never use 50k maps, so this was a valuable lesson.
Our objective was to take a first taste of the area and so we planned an easy tour, rather than an epic. Taking the lift to the top of a resort we then took the summer roadway (winter via alpine) up and down a few gullies to the base of a NE aspect face of about 500m vertical.
Some easy and enjoyable looking touring terrain in the area
Mio walking, and walking..... and walking. It took us a few hours. At the end of the clip you can see the slope that we rode.
Avoiding the obvious avalanche run outs we broke trail in 40-50cm of heavy fresh snow for a few hours, sticking mainly to ridge tops and trees. At the top of our chosen ridge we had a quick lunch (Mio had made onigiri - a pretty decent Japanese snack made of a rice and salmon ball wrapped in a seaweed, like a giant California roll that people incorrectly label sushi).
Snow pack infoAfter lunch we dug a snow pit and performed a compression test. It indicated a stable snow pack at 30 degree slope on a NE aspect, but I wouldn't have risked the weak layer on a steeper skope. The profile was as follows, from the grass up:
- 30cm base of old facets, starting to round and bond.
- Sun or rain crust
- 5cm of dry and loose facets, very crumbly
- Another rain crust formed at the start of the new year storm
- 40cm of damp heavy snow that fell in the storm.
The layer of facets sandwiched between the two crusts was like sugar grains between two coffee table books, topped with 40cm of heavy snow. The NE face was not showing much wind slab and I wanted to go over the ridge to the SW slope and test a steeper wind loaded slope. I bet it would have given quite decent slab avalanche. Unfortunately we had already gone past our "start the descent by 1pm" deadline and so didn't have time for a second pit on a slope we were not going to ride anyway.
We didn't like the look of the general conditions and as was our plan, we made our descent along ridges and on slopes of less than 30 degrees. If the sun came out and quickly warmed the pack above us then I would have been worried. In fact, in a normal winter with a normal snow pack I would avoid this area all together.
Snow pack infoAfter lunch we dug a snow pit and performed a compression test. It indicated a stable snow pack at 30 degree slope on a NE aspect, but I wouldn't have risked the weak layer on a steeper skope. The profile was as follows, from the grass up:
- 30cm base of old facets, starting to round and bond.
- Sun or rain crust
- 5cm of dry and loose facets, very crumbly
- Another rain crust formed at the start of the new year storm
- 40cm of damp heavy snow that fell in the storm.
The layer of facets sandwiched between the two crusts was like sugar grains between two coffee table books, topped with 40cm of heavy snow. The NE face was not showing much wind slab and I wanted to go over the ridge to the SW slope and test a steeper wind loaded slope. I bet it would have given quite decent slab avalanche. Unfortunately we had already gone past our "start the descent by 1pm" deadline and so didn't have time for a second pit on a slope we were not going to ride anyway.
We didn't like the look of the general conditions and as was our plan, we made our descent along ridges and on slopes of less than 30 degrees. If the sun came out and quickly warmed the pack above us then I would have been worried. In fact, in a normal winter with a normal snow pack I would avoid this area all together.
Some summits in the area that we will attempt when the snow is a little more stable. The top picture has a good line down from the col. The bottom picture reminds me of Japan.
Although we stuck to low angle terrain on the ride down, we were able to have some fun further down as we reached terrain that had been clearly protected from the wind and the possible cross loading we suspected in the higher gullies. At various stages we were able to attack a few short but moderately steep cliff bands that held the wet snow quite well. At one stage we rode into an area with a small frozen waterfall that allowed a good traverse below steep rocks into a good line. This made an otherwise bland descent a little more fun.
Mio handled the short areas of exposure quite well with confident traverses along narrow snow bands above and below small cliff drops.
By the time we reached the trees the snow had warmed and turned to sticky slush, not a good end to the day but not surprising given the warming temperatures in the lower valley.
The highlight of the day was spending time breaking trail for Mio in this totally quiet and untouched bit of terrain after some fresh snowfall. This was a first for the season and it felt like winter. The second highlight was the great meal we had at a cheap local place before driving home. It was Mio's first time in Austria and to her food is the primary purpose for living. As usual for Austria and the Bavarian region, the food was basic and excellent. A concept lost to many Anglo Saxons these days, eating and remembering good food in the Alps is part of the time you spend there. Just like in Italy, Spain, Japan etc, food is a reflection of where you are and the people who have lived and farmed there for centuries.
We are getting ready for next weekend already. When I came home tonight my new board had arrived and Mio had cleared the kitchen table and had repaired her boards rock damaged base with a p-tex candle and had started waxing the board.
Mio handled the short areas of exposure quite well with confident traverses along narrow snow bands above and below small cliff drops.
By the time we reached the trees the snow had warmed and turned to sticky slush, not a good end to the day but not surprising given the warming temperatures in the lower valley.
The highlight of the day was spending time breaking trail for Mio in this totally quiet and untouched bit of terrain after some fresh snowfall. This was a first for the season and it felt like winter. The second highlight was the great meal we had at a cheap local place before driving home. It was Mio's first time in Austria and to her food is the primary purpose for living. As usual for Austria and the Bavarian region, the food was basic and excellent. A concept lost to many Anglo Saxons these days, eating and remembering good food in the Alps is part of the time you spend there. Just like in Italy, Spain, Japan etc, food is a reflection of where you are and the people who have lived and farmed there for centuries.
We are getting ready for next weekend already. When I came home tonight my new board had arrived and Mio had cleared the kitchen table and had repaired her boards rock damaged base with a p-tex candle and had started waxing the board.
Helmet Cam footage. My riding was very bad, the snow was heavy and slow and I cant be bothered editing or adding music.
We forgot our cameras and so couldn't take any still pictures of the tour. But we did get some video footage, including poor quality helmet cam riding.
For this quick trip Mio and I rented an Audi A4 station wagon rather than the smaller cars we usually take. This time we planned to sleep in the car and not only does the A4 wagon go very fast (easy 220kph), it is also a good tent.
For this quick trip Mio and I rented an Audi A4 station wagon rather than the smaller cars we usually take. This time we planned to sleep in the car and not only does the A4 wagon go very fast (easy 220kph), it is also a good tent.