Marius Schwager

A colorful plate this week in the Videos of the Week. A seasonedit by Adria Millan, a controversial short film, Zillertal avalanche bunnies and much more is on offer. Click in and have fun. Today, as always, free of charge.

The Wild Thirteen gets to the bottom of the social media factor today: Did you know, for example, that Facebook "is changing skiing so much"? No? Well then you must have been living behind the moon for the last few years, or simply not staring like zombies at their paradise-promising small screens. Which is also rather likeable per se...

How could it have come to this? Avalanches and deaths and yet hardly any snow. Can we already write off the winter of 2014/15? We don't know. Or does anyone know a good crystal ball? And what about this northern traffic jam? Broken? Or is it just waiting for a real 19999 winter hammer? Will WePowder's MeteoMorris now declare the first Powder World War after all its superlatives? Questions upon questions and yet no answers. Let's just blame it on the hopeful pre-north jam excitement.

If there's anyone out there who doesn't consume social media, they might have almost missed the latest masterful post by freeride and freestyle champion Mr. Thovex himself. And even if you didn't, you can still watch it several times.

After the recent snowfall, the current winter is proving to be one of the more dangerous for freeriders. Although the tricky avalanche situation doesn't stop individuals from doing risky things in the mountains, it also means that there are few current videos for the VdW. Not much news here for the inclined couch potato, but being a couch potato seems to be the more sensible activity at the moment, at least in the Austrian and German parts of the Alps. Playing avalanche test bunny is not everyone's cup of tea.

Aha, so here it is this winter. There's not much going on yet after the first real and probably long-lasting dump, and there were plenty of encounters with stones, roots and other vegetables at the turn of the year. But hopefully that will change as the weekend approaches.

Winter 14/15 is still searching for itself. While presents are being given and opened, something could slowly be happening on the weather front. Maybe more sacrifice will help?

As we all know, there is currently nothing to much less snow in the Alps. And cat pictures aren't the last word in wisdom either. This brings us directly to the topic of freerider gossip. If you like reading Skiing, Bunte, Gala, Bild or Spiegel Online, you've come to the right place.

News of the week: Cody Townsend is trying to break the internet, and almost succeeding. His line of the year from MSP's Days of my Youth is breaking all ski movie records.

If you want fresh powder, you can simply order it from Amazon. Waiting is as much a part of freeriding as butter on jam sandwiches. So we wait. And wait ... And watch videos from better days. Incidentally, the author was cycling at 1300 m altitude yesterday in a T-shirt and shorts. Perfect trail conditions, if anyone is interested. (If not, you know it now anyway).

The state of the nation: Russia, Ukraine, IS, new products from the sports sock industry and, of course, mass balances of the local glaciers were the main topics in the editorial offices of the powder-affine media. Why not, there's hardly any snow so far anyway. At least you can hardly see any in the north and, as we all know, for most people the Alps end south of the Fellhorn/Kitzbühel line. We think so. For all those who are of a similar opinion, a delivery of procrastination aids in video form. As today is Black Friday, everything is free. Today only, go for it!

Who would have thought it, there is still such a thing as early winter. Our colleague Orakel has already "commented" on the legendary 5-meter fresh snow forecast of a Dutch online magazine... er.... The Southern Alps are going well at the moment, but unfortunately there's not a lot of viewable material from the area so far. Should you go there at the weekend? Here are some nice videos to get you in the mood for the long drive.