Please view the attached pdf.

This is a really interesting analysis of data from a highly-instrumented rock mass instability, and is undoubtedly an important contribution to understanding the proximal drivers of small-magnitude displacement events in large slope failures. Analyzing multiple drivers in time series with instrumentation on both displacements and cracking is state of the art and the analyses are done carefully using appropriate methods in my view. The conclusions that water supply rate and timing are the key driver of displacements is not exactly surprising but this is shown here in a compelling and quantitative way, in high time resolution. That the cracking detected was mostly near-surface means that its relevance to the displacement problem is limited, but still this is very useful in separating the effects of temperature and water on the overall system. Therefore, most of my comments are meant to clarify the manuscript, which in general is very clearly written and maintains a tight focus on the data and analysis.

Line 1. a sweeping motivational statement but too general I think, to say that climate change would in any given region always exacerbate instabilities or the hazards from them. 

Line 2-3. what are "driver quantifications"?

The first two sentences are written more densely with jargon and less clearly than the rest of the abstract. Like most abstracts, this one would be stronger if the first two sentences were simply deleted. Get straight to what you did and leave the motivating for the introduction.

Line 4: is there a less jargon-laden way to say "well-prepared high magnitude rock slope instability"? On first read this geomorphologist wondered what "prepared" meant in context; you're referring to natural preparation of the rock mass for failure, but at this point in the text it could mean well-prepared by people for monitoring or something else. 

83-90 "Due to its magnitude, ... four relevant drivers remain..." This seems like it would fit better in the following section that describes the field site

86 Wind is a bit too easily dismissed here, given that it can apply stress to an entire mountainside at once, and that subcritical cracking occurs under very low stresses

126 US Geological Survey

216 Please define Newmark displacement in a sentence (or parenthetical) for those outside your immediate field

305 "matching the conclusions of Dietze et al" delete, this is a discussion point, not results, and is already discussed below in better context

421-422 Perhaps be more specific in this conclusion that it's the input rate and timing of water e.g. intensity/speed of snowmelt - the rate matters, not just whether and how much water is there

424 "In the light of ongoing climatic changes that lead to more frequent and intense heavy precipitation events and faster snowmelt," are these in evidence in your paper, again I think this is too generalized. In the region of Hochvogel, are there specific projections that indicate these changes?