Sebastian Müller

Both the participants of the PowderGuide final meeting in Engelberg and Mose in the border triangle fully enjoyed the last snowfalls. Elsewhere, unfortunately, there was also slow glop paired with dangerous avalanche conditions. An intermediate high is currently giving us spring fever again, but will be replaced by a southerly flow with lots of precipitation at the weekend. We hope this will bring another PowderAlert, although the state of the precipitation seems to be more liquid than fluffy.

Enrico Mosetti is to me a local legend among the freeskiers of the Italian Julian Alps. Me, a bavarian Triestino, came to hear of him on a drive back home from a ski tour. My friends were talking about "Mose" doing this or that cool line, and then I found out about him through Instagram. Soon though, on another day we arrived at Sella Nevea at the parking for the western side of the valley, the one without ski lifts, and there I saw him for the first time, and he was hard to mistake with his characteristic extravagant style. He was first to start the skinning and likely first to descend as well. I here in this interview try to find out more about him and to introduce this PowderPeople to you!

We're not complaining any more, because the recent snowfalls have provided surprisingly good conditions, especially on the southern slopes of the Alps. The Alps are currently enjoying perfect weather thanks to blocking high pressure over Central Europe. The conditions for ski tours are quite good where there is snow and especially where it has recently snowed and should be taken advantage of. The outlook is not clearly promising, but a comeback of winter is quite possible in connection with a sudden stratospheric warming. So there is hope, and as long as there is hope, let's hold on to it.

I am very happy about the breath of fresh air that Hannes Hemper brings to the videos of the week. As always, you’ll get the latest clips from the heroes of my generation and the best picks from my YouTube subscriptions. Today, Xavier de le Rue makes a comeback with a new VLOG, Sam Anthamatten is honoured, Candide Thovex shines once again in a 47-second video and Gerhard Wiedemann tells us about his last ski tour in a relaxed manner. I never get enough of these guys!

The Friday before last (07/02/2025) we released the new PowderGuide-weather, version 2.4.0, which has been providing you with the weather forecast since then. We no longer only show ICON but also the SNOWGRID and EXOLABS snowpack models. We look back with satisfaction on our old system, but we also had to develop further. The new system covers the whole of Europe and also international regions, includes new variables and extends the forecast to 7.5 days. It was a turbulent development process, and not all ideas were realised. But we are pleased with the result and we are sure that it will also keep you both informed and entertained. The weather forecast, which is usually the main focus of the WeatherBlog, can be found in abridged form in the picture gallery, and anyway and unfortunately there is not much going on in the Alps next week.

January is over, but the winter is still not very wintery. A few short episodes of fresh snow made for spectacular images - especially at the Freeride World Tour in Val Thorens, which will be remembered for its impressive lines and deep powder. Nevertheless, the snow conditions are below average in many places. There is hope for a sustainable return of winter, but the weather situation remains complicated.

It won't get any more wintry in January. Apart from low pressure activity in the Thyrennian Sea, not much precipitating weather is to be expected. Although the western Alps will get some snow again at high altitudes, there will also be rain. We see that the main reason for the uneventful westerly weather is the stability and positioning of the polar vortex. Is the winter weather dead and if so, when will it rise again?

The Kilo from La Sportiva is a newly developed ski touring boot that is named after its weight of one kilogramme and promises strong downhill characteristics despite its lightness. Here we present the boot based on initial but not yet ultimate impressions.

Sport Conrad's Snow Safety Days are aimed at budding freeride and ski touring enthusiasts and are a first introduction to lifelong learning about avalanche danger. The theory was first crammed into the head office in Penzberg and then put into practice the next day on the Zugspitze. The program was spiced up with the best advice on avalanche safety equipment.

The Scandinavians lead the way once again. Trygg Lind and friends are a feast for the eyes and ears, and Antti Autti finds the best spots and lines, and simply tells the story so well. Carlikolumna also proves with her ConditionsReport that dream conditions are currently prevailing. So, at least for now, don't head south, head north!

All good things come from above, but our weather mostly comes from the west. Cyclones and troughs form in the Atlantic and then wrap around the Alps with fronts and cold air intrusions. Or warm air simply rushes in from the Azores High and puts the brakes on all skiing fun. The Atlantic is Europe's weather kitchen, it's still feverishly warm and there's a bit of everything this week.

The heavens have given us plenty of presents for Christmas. It's still cool at the moment and there's still plenty of powder under the northern slopes of the Alps. But we are also thinking of all those on the southern slopes of the Alps who are unfortunately more likely to go for a walk in the foehn this year.