The snowpack on south-facing slopes below 2500 to 2800 m, and on east-facing and west-facing slopes below 2000 to 2300 m,
is thoroughly wet. On north-facing slopes the wetness to this degree starts below 1500 to 1800 m. In the northern regions
where snowfall has been heavier than elsewhere, numerous glide cracks have opened in the snowpack surface. Gliding avalanches
are growing to large size in some cases.
More deeply embedded inside the snowpack, more than anywhere else in the southern Valais as well as in the inneralpine and
the southern regions of Grisons, there are pronounced weak layers evident. However, since the end of February until the middle
of March, no further fractures have been recorded as triggering in these layers. Currently, as a consequence of the beginning
moistening of the snowpack, fractures in these weak layers have again become possible, as initial triggerings have already
demonstrated.