Sebastian Müller

Winter will change, for the better or worse. Meteorology tries to predict these changes, but the VdW realise that things change and are embracing them, no matter what. And of course, we keep dreaming, night and day!

A westerly weather pattern is establishing itself and the short and medium-term outlook is warm and wet. We'll report on it as far as we can bear it. Then we broaden our horizons and take a look at a few well-known but distant ski destinations in the northern hemisphere and the state of the cryosphere.

In unison with the sensitive PowderAlert, the VdW also warns of the approaching "mid-season blues". We are countering this with everything YouTube has to offer and hope for a mild course and a speedy improvement.

Their names are Nikolai, Jacob, Antti and also Trygg and Hedvig and they produce ski VLOGs. You can't get past them. And rightly so, because they have the best English "Lordy-Dordy!", the best safety management (Extended Column Test) and run everything on green electricity. They wouldn't need to be skiing, but even that they usually do pretty well. But of course, there are a few Alpine one-offs that stand up to their dominance.

After the recent snowfall, the conditions for freeriding and especially ski touring are perfect across the Alps. It's chilly, at least north of the Alps, and half of Germany is also enjoying classic winter weather with frost and a hint of snow. It's like imperial weather!

Today we are focussing on the most original style of skiing, telemark. This means heels free and knees bent with every turn! We have collected classic teaching material and more recent productions. The aesthetics of telemark skiing remain irresistible!

Let's pause and just consciously block out everything that's going wrong in this world and how difficult it is to forecast the weather numerically. Kye droppin! Kye Petersen's life is full of tragedy, but his skiing is full of glamour. What's more, Michael Larcher comes back to earth every year to remind us of all avalanche-related things!

Ialakha is a remarkable ski adventure film that was recently released. It tells the story of a 60 km long and 4000 metre high traverse in the Caucasus in Georgia, on skis of course and with a few spine walls in mind. We are delighted to gain even deeper insights into the project in an interview with Heli Hoffmann, the author, and Sammy Theurer, the film maker. The two were accompanied by Eva Stribrna (photos), Yessica Kurock, Levi Seiferheld and local Zura Phaliani. They were also supported by other locals from Ghebi and their horses and were occasionally followed by dogs.

The well-known YouTube greats - Wester, Autti, Schirmer, Wiedemann... - are slowly taking over the main part of the VdW again, but a few independent films still appear, of course. We round off the menu with a culinary and cultural trip to the mountaineering village of Villergraten and the Low Pressure podcast.

Compared to the last few winters, the start of the season was reasonably good for the northern side of the Alps. Even Munich and even Lower Bavaria enjoyed and groaned under unprecedented amounts of snow. This was followed by a warm and wet period of precipitation, which caused considerable damage to the snow cover at lower altitudes. But now a cold front gives us hope for good fresh snow before we head towards sunny times. We are also noticing that the southern side of the Alps is still suffering from a considerable lack of snow.

High winter in early winter, as proclaimed in PowderAlert #3, is standard for ski film producers. We are confronted with an avalanche of new films and movies, and try to keep ourselves above powder as best we can, and finally gain a clear view and new inspiration. We start with Antti Ollila, end with a podcast by Hugo Harrisson and in between you'll find a competition.

The supreme discipline of PowderGuide articles is also awakening from its summer slumber: the videos of the week are back! With local productions of the finest quality, portraits and farewells, we want to keep you entertained when it's cold and dark outside.