Magazine

The weather is going crazy and leeward cyclone Anett has caused chaos in many regions with large amounts of precipitation (a more detailed analysis in weather blog #1 2024/25). It brought an early onset of winter to the Alps at higher altitudes and even below 1500 metres. Even if the beloved snow is just melting again, the start of winter cannot be stopped. Here is an overview of the ski resorts that are the first to open.

A group of young women are standing on the glacier. One of the women is carefully lowered into a crevasse. She practises crevasse rescue with her rope team and climbs out of the crevasse with ice axes and crampons. The glacier is then surveyed with scientific equipment before returning to the expedition camp. So many women on a glacier? Even in times of legal equality, this is a rather rare sight. However, the idea of Girls* on Ice Austria (GOI) is not to be intimidated by this, but to go on an all-female expedition for this very reason.

A WeatherBlog sparked by the circumsrtances; the first snow is falling in the Alps, and it's falling a lot. We take a closer look. Is that enough to go powder skiing already? Or does it at least provide a stable base for future snowfalls? We also clarify the status of our current weather service and give an outlook on new developments for the winter.

It feels like we've only blinked once and the season is already over. But so much has happened and it's been great. The start in December was brilliant, hopes were high for an exceptional season - but the weather and winter had its own plans. From Christmas onwards, the Alps were hit by unusually mild temperatures, which continued throughout the winter. It was a season full of highs and lows - literally. Because while we were looking forward to the powder days, the snow cover retreated regrettably early to well over 1500 m altitude, and the touring options were massively restricted, especially at lower altitudes. But spring was kind to us, bringing back the winter for a good ten days in April and providing good conditions for the alpine touring season.

The news of Sylvain Sauda's death at the age of 87 from a heart attack is a loss for the entire skiing and mountaineering scene. Saudan's pioneering spirit and his courageous descents set standards and inspired many generations of skiers and mountaineers.

Only a financial rescue package totalling 95 million euros can create the conditions for Austria's Alpine Associations to continue to preserve mountain huts and and hiking trails for all mountain recreationists.

Attention to all mountaineering enthusiasts among you: The screws on the Neve Strap crampon (green version 2024) can loosen, causing the heel cup to come off the crampon. Those affected can return the crampons.

Dear readers, another season is drawing to a close, editorial content has already become scarcer in the last two weeks and the PowderGuide editorial team is slowly going into summer hibernation. And yet this year is different than usual! For the first time, our weather service is NOT taking a summer break! And of course neither is the development team...

On the last weekend of April, the PowderGuide team met up with friends, partners and long-time companions in Engelberg to celebrate the end of the season in style.

The WeatherBlog is taking a summer break, unless there's another onset of winter with corresponding blog inspiration in between. Over the next few days, the south-west will be in full swing again - there would probably be a PowderAlert if our oracle wasn't already in summer mode.

For many ski tourers, the Wildspitze is a favourite classic in spring. The summit can be reached quickly via the Mittelbergjoch and the Taschachferner via the Pitztal glacier lifts. The only drawback of this tour: due to the very low gradient, it is not very rewarding in terms of downhill skiing. In terms of the descent, the tour via the Southcouloir is much more appealing (assuming you have the ability and experience to tackle steep slopes). This route takes you to the highest peak in Tyrol "by fair means" and by the most direct route.