Lars Oelmann

The time has come. The Oracle says "all systems go", squeezes into the skintight clothing of an attractive pit crew member, as found in motor racing, and waves the green flag, officially heralding the start of the Christmas race.

It's finally that time again. Christmas time, PowderAlert time. And not just one but two holidays are coming up, because Ullr has finally woken up from hibernation. At the beginning of December, it looked like there would be a real second PowderAlert, but two days before the Alert was due to take place, it was swiftly cancelled and instead of the expected 70-100cm, we got 20-30cm. The oracle was quite surprised at the accuracy of today's crystal ball. That's why PowderAlerts always come just before the snowfall, because nothing is worse than snow that doesn't fall but has been hyped up in advance. Now the time has come, because first there will be a little warm-up until Friday evening and then the second Alert will come on Saturday with a really big bag of fresh snow, then also in the EAST!

In times of crisis, people are happy to see not only the colours of the traffic lights in the news (german politics joke), but also the best colour of all, white. Educated physicists with an affinity for art may now lament that it is not a colour, but the oracle doesn't care, because white is the colour of love. The love of any freerider and finally we get to see it again on our beloved mountains.

With this last nordstau, Ullr is sending us what could be the last cold snowfall suitable for weekends and the oracle is using this opportunity to bid a highly official farewell to the summer break, as medium range forecast does not look like there will be any more wintry surprises until the end of April.

Disclaimer: Schlager lyrics will not make sense in English. They do not make sense in German either, so dont worry ;) Ullr is on the retreat, but one last time the pop fan wants to dance the samba with us in the powder, because the powder makes us happy. Powder, Powder Powder, maybe tomorrow it will be over?

This alert is not an alert, at least not in the alert period, because it is too warm to use it until Tuesday. But more on that below.

As in the age-old internet meme, Ullr asked someone how many Südstau he should send and everyone just shouted YES! And so it comes as it must. There's another Südstau and then another one or two during the weekend. Is that good? Yes and no. This one is great. Nice amounts and a good snow line. The one at the weekend will be tropically warm with 25 degrees in the north and rain above 2000 metres in the lift. And you'll hardly be able to enjoy this one, as it'll only clear up briefly and then it'll get really warm.

While freeriders in the south are literally in the green and sitting on the black branch, the north is getting the literal foehn again.

"You better watch out what you wish for" - this or something similar came to the mind of the oracle when it wished that the southern congestion would please continue on the perfect weekend.

When Ullr takes a rest from work in the evening, he treats himself and us to a Southern Comfort, because he feels at home in the Dolce Vita and invites us to take another trip to the Southern Alps.

It's been a long, long time since the last alert. Unfortunately, the oracle in the last issue of PowderAlert was right: nothing happened before the beginning of February. And now it's almost the middle of February!

An alert appears, but the outlook is rather mediocre. Of course, an alert is always better than no alert, but with this one, the snow line is a bit of a bitch and the outlook after the weekend is also rather poor.