Arlberg

More than 40 different courses were on the programme at the Arc'teryx Freeride Academy from 1 to 4 February 2024. PowderGuide was able to attend the Avalanche Awareness & Mountain Safety Clinic with Recco at the Arc'teryx Freeride Academy on a sunny and cloudless day. The avalanche course took place in a group of six participants plus two mountain guides in the terrain of the St. Anton am Arlberg ski resort. The course was designed for all levels of skiers/snowboarders and yet each person was able to expand their knowledge and skills individually. The exact daily programme of the Arc'teryx Clinic and the most important aspects and procedures of an avalanche search can be found here.

The Arc'teryx Freeride Academy will take place for the third time in 2024 from 1st to 4th of February in St. Anton am Arlberg and offers a varied programme of courses, workshops, film evenings, parties and other opportunities for exchange to all freeriders. From beginners to experts, everyone is welcome at the Academy, so exciting days in the company of Arc'teryx team riders and other snow sports enthusiasts are just around the corner. We will be there, live with PowderGuide, taking part in various practical training sessions and workshops over the four days and report back to you!

An alert appears, but the outlook is rather mediocre. Of course, an alert is always better than no alert, but with this one, the snow line is a bit of a bitch and the outlook after the weekend is also rather poor.

After December was characterised by a succession of snowfalls from the west to south-west until the end of December, and accordingly warm, and even January started like this, we are now returning to normality and slowly having to say goodbye to the record snow depths at altitude, but also to the lack of snow below 1500m. Thank Ullr, because the valleys between 1000-1500m are still feeding off their early-season cushion and below 1200-1400m there is hardly anything possible away from the artificial snow.

What sounds like an erotic film from the 70s filmed with soft focus, which you used to be able to marvel at on linear television on private channels, is unfortunately the current reality, because even if Ullr sends us even more precipitation to our record-breaking base above 2000m, the inclined freerider will cry hot tears for the melted snow in the middle altitudes.

For the first time in years, ski resorts are opening earlier instead of later, there's more snow than at the beginning of March last season and it's cold too. Can it get any better? Yes and no.

You know it from soccer (that's the sport without skis that many people supposedly think is great. I once saw it on TV!), if a team somehow always gets everything right, or you always ski the right line on the same day, then that's a run.

They have all come to stay.

Just in time for the end of the season and the first of April, Ullr proves to have a special sense of humor and sends us another alarm. One wonders why he wasn't able to increase the frequency of alerts three months ago, but Ullr's disciples are patient and happy for any blessing.

This winter has been tedious, but at least something is happening again in March. Ullr really hasn't made it easy for us this year. Little snow, warmth, weak layers and so on. But spring is shaping up to be at least halfway decent. Another dump in March that's worth seeing and this time brings snow for everyone!

The alarm comes with a massive line of thunderstorms and will bring some powder to the Alps again. This time with less densely packed warm and cold air masses, which made things quite complicated last week: Saturday the west lost out on the powder roulette table and the north won, Sunday it was the other way around.

As announced, the snowfall continues seamlessly. Surprisingly, the snow line for this alarm is lower than feared at times. Ullr likes us after all! A strong westerly flow is also dumping a lot of snow, but no Californian records are in danger.