After finding some surprisingly good snow in the area on Sunday, and as Monday was a public holiday here, my buddy Menno and I decided to go for a lap on an old favourite - the couloir on the north Face of Serles, which is probably the most majestic mountain around Innsbruck and visible from basically everywhere in the city.
This is an old photo from years ago, but shows what you see of it from Nordkette (and the city) - the very obvious line on the right of the photo:
The ascent starts off with an easy cruise along a forest track, then up through the trees towards the base of the couloir. Here just above the treeline:
A *lot* of kick turns later:
Then as the couloir narrows and steepens it's time to bootpack to the ridge. It pays to be cautious on this last section - there's a lot of loose rock overhead, which gets a lot of sun later in the season. Unsure if we'd find a nice spot to transition above, we took skins off (and helmets on) before bootpacking up.
Pretty happy that Menno was happy to set the track haha!
Though it was still pretty deep for me following:
Me about to top out with a view towards Italy and the sunny side
But first, let me take a selfie
Menno spotting future lines (there's a large cliff not far below):
We clicked into skis about a metre below the ridge. The view down:
As he lead the bootpack, Menno went first. Snow was a mix of very nice wind-buffed powder and rather firm crust, without much warning between the two. Gradient is around 40° for the first pitch, maybe just over at the top.
My turn, finding the transition from crust to powder (or vice versa):
From there on the gradient mellows out to 35° then 30° out through the couloir. Again a mix of nice old powder and strange crusts interspersed with a bit of rock and gravel, but with more room to see it was easier to stay on the nice snow for enjoyable skiing:
Looking back up:
On the flatter terrain at the bottom through the bushes and forest, which doesn't get any sun at all at this time year, the snow was still lovely old untracked powder back down to the forest road. An enjoyable wind down before another 15 minute skin and 5 minute slide along the forest track for radler and strudel at Gasthof.
Menno:
My turn:
All in all not a bad day out!
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Nice !
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Very nice, this is what this forum is for, I may never ski to that level but loved the TR
+1 Except that I can confidently say I will never ski to that level!!
that too!
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
@clarky999, Please don't post any more such pictures as they tell me that I'm a punter with a capital P
Last edited by Then you can post your own questions or snow reports... on Tue 7-01-20 18:17; edited 1 time in total
After all it is free
After all it is free
Great TR
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
I'm scared just looking at the pictures. Respect!
Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads
Gorgeous!
(no not you @clarky999, )
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
Great little write up and stunning pics, well done!
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
Great adventure!
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
Love it!
You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
@clarky999, fairplay, looks awesome. Can I ask, as someone who would love to do this sort of thing but hasn't quite got there yet, how do you go about assessing avalanche risk for something like that? I've read the books, done a bit with guides and know a bit of the theory, but how do you actually, practically assess risk on the day you decide to go?
Not having a load of experience of steep off piste, I would look at that couloir and think 30-40 degrees, deep wind blown powder, no go.
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Excelent. Good work.
Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Thanks all! It was a fun day
@element, if it had been deep wind blown powder it would have been a no go Mostly dense but not solid (ie without skis on you sink into it) old snow, with either crust or wind-pressed powder (think kinda creamy, if that makes sense) snow on the surface.
In terms of avalanche risk, I read the forecast and and keep an eye on the weather across the region every day, so I can keep up with how the snowpack is developing, and also where avalanches are happening (and when, on what aspects/altitudes/layers/etc). I've also skied the couloir quite a few times, so am fairly familiar with the terrain and where thinner spots may be. Yesterday avalanche danger was 1-2 depending on altitude. N-NE ridgeline aspects (ie exactly the terrain we were on at the top) was explicitly mentioned as needing care due to old snow problems, so we were alert to that (the good thing about climbing up is you are literally right in the snow for a long so are quite intimate with it!). In the end, while there is some nasty weak sugary snow in the pack, there wasn't really anything on top of it to slide off - at worst a 1-2 inch crust. *However*, that WILL be problematic when new snow falls on to that crust with the weak layer below it (which comes back to keeping up to date with how the snowpack develops over the whole season).
I don't pretend to be an expert though! Rather try to stay alert, observant, and cautious. But in this situation I think the bigger concern is rockfall from above. It wouldn't be advisable to bootpack the last section late on a warm spring day after the rock above had been baking in the sun for a few hours for example.
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
@clarky999, Thanks very much for the detailed response - the complexity of the decision making makes me think it's probably very difficult to learn it in any meaningful way for a couple of week a year holiday skier like myself, so it's nice to live vicariously through posts like this.
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
@element, no worries! I think the hardest thing is, to have a real feel for it, you have to pay attention to the reports and weather religiously, every day, all season. And then only for the area you/I/we pay attention too... Must be REALLY hard to be a guide expected to manage safety travelling in different places over the winter!
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Looks like one of those ski tours that rarely has the right conditions to ski. Either there is enough snow but the avi level is too high or the avi risk is low but there isn't enough snow.
So was your approach the blue descent route shown at 3:52 in this clip?
Cool TR. And may I complement you on that great jacket
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
super line - i'm only surprised you got first tracks -is Innsbruck not full of extreme austrian mountain folk? Great to see a brit stealing it
After all it is free
After all it is free
@DB, tbh the majority of it is safely doable much of the time - the last ~60 or so vert metres of the bootpack is the exception. The blue line (and where they descend) is the other couloir on the western side of the north face.
@BobinCH, cheers
@8611, The couloir on the other side (and the main shared lower half of both of them) had already been skied - and it turned out a friend of mine with a different group was in it at the same time we were there But tbh I think most people think there hasn’t been enough snow yet. And it was only one day after the last snowfall.
FAQ
Poster: A snowHead
)
But tbh I think most people think there hasn’t been enough snow yet. And it was only one day after the last snowfall.