Snow Height Betting Game 2024/2025

For the ninth time in a row, the snow height betting game is taking place on PowderGuide. This time there are not only great prizes to be won, but the first place winner can also build their own perfectly customised ski. More on this below, but first the conclusion of last year's betting game.

Review

Last year's winter 2023/2024 got off to a great start. Lots of snow in December, so that 5/15 betting games had already taken place by the beginning of January. The next 5 picks were spread over the period up to mid-March and classic late winter dumps led to the last 5 picks in April.

During the April picks, Ralf468, benooe and JohnSoda held steady on the podium. However, Mukki1 scored a direct hit with the very last tip and thus jumped from 5th place to the final podium! A ranking list with all the final results can be found in the picture.

Congratulations to the winners of the 2023/2024 betting game season

Place: Mukki1 with a deviation of 0.035 wins a new Bamboo 104 - PowderGuide Edition from Valhalla Ski!
Place: JohnSoda with a deviation of 0.037 wins a PowderGuide insulated jacket from our weather partner Penguin!
Place: benooe with a deviation of 0.055 wins a PowderGuide fleece hoodie also from Penguin!

Congratulations to the winners! It should be noted that many players had very good tips but then didn't continue playing - if you play more consistently, your chances of making it into the top 3 increase enormously!

Here's a strategic tip for next season from award winner Mucki1:

"The settling of the snow cover is a key factor - not just the freshly fallen snow, but also the snow cover underneath. Otherwise, you just have to stick with the betting game for 5 good bets."

Final result of the 2023/2024 prediction game. The smaller the bar, the better the prediction results. Mukki1 deservedly wins with two perfect tips and a deviation of 3.5% from the measured snow depth.

Anselm Köhler

New Game, Same Rules

Whenever a "significant" storm brings a lot of fresh snow to the Alps, Ullr and its oracle issue a PowderAlert to estimate the amount of new snow. In a PowderAlert, not only the amount but also the time period and a core zone are specified. The betting game is held at a measuring station within the core zone, i.e. you predict the amount of fresh snow and then compare who was closest to the actual amount measured. For each PowderAlert, the measuring station, the period over which the prediction is made, the deadline for submitting a bet and the initial snow depth are stated. The winner of the betting game is the person who manages the best 5 snow height bets over the season.

And what's there to win?

The first prize is an absolute cracker! You can win a ski building workshop from the artisan ski manufacturer Valhalla in Freiburg.

The prizes for 2nd and 3rd place are not yet revealed, but there will definitely be some nice prizes again - in other words, they have not yet been finalised...

Small prizes will also be raffled off again among all participants at the start of the next season - so even if you're not necessarily one of the Snow Smillas, there's a good chance you won't go away empty-handed.

How do I play along?

All you have to do is play along:

Regularly read the PowderAlerts to make sure you don't miss a tip
Log in with your PowderGuide account
Study the PowderGuide weather maps
Submit your bet as a comment under the PowderAlert, i.e. post your new snow total below.

Only the five best predictions count. This means that the overall winner at the end of the season is the one with the lowest average of the best five odds. In plain language, this means that you don't have to play every game and can also join the betting game later in the year, because only five are being counted anyway. As this winter is going to be awesome, there will be more than 15 PowderAlerts or betting games this time.

So that you always know in time about a new PowderAlert, there is an e-mail notification for every new betting game, just send an Email! Alternatively, you can subscribe to the PowderGuide social media channels (FBook/Insta) to make sure you never miss a PowderAlert or betting game!

With a big thank you to **Valhalla Ski** from Freiburg, the main prize is the chance to shape your own personalised skis - for the powderdays with a **Snow Height Betting Game** and PowderAlarm.

Anselm Köhler

What is the amount of fresh snow?

The new snow total is defined here as the maximum snow depth minus the initial snow depth in centimetres - the image illustrates this graphically. In this example, the forecast period is 48 hours with an initial snow depth of 75cm. During these two days it most probably snowed most of the time. In the last few hours it snowed less or not at all, so that the snow cover settled and compacted. The maximum snow depth was 128cm, resulting in a new snow total of 128-75=53cm.

Please note that even if new snowfall amounts (calculated, red bars) are sometimes displayed at weather stations, our own definition of the maximum change in snow depth applies to the betting game. Here in the graphic, the sum of the red bars would be an unrealistic 150cm in the prediction period...

Ratio as a measure of deviation

The quota Q is defined as the deviation between the tipped (HN_t) and measured new snow sum (HN_m):

Q = | HN_t - HN_m | / HN_m ,

i.e. the amount of the difference between the estimate and the measurement, normalised to the measurement. This results in the limit values Q = 0 for accurately guessed to the centimetre, Q = 1 for not estimated at all (HN_t = 0), and Q > 1 for completely wrong... For the deviation percentages, the odds are multiplied by one hundred.

Don't be put off by the odds formula. Each PowderAlert is accompanied by the current interim result of the betting game so that you always know where you stand and who the toughest competitor is...

Have fun with the 2024/2025 snow height betting game: Ullr is keeping its fingers crossed!

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