Arlberg

Unfortunately, the finale is rather counterintuitive for a classic Ullrflix series, namely much too warm and not very exciting: More snow is coming from the west, but it's getting EVEN warmer than before.

Now a little less warm, a little less wild and directly after the first big climax of the series. Is that why the episode is bad?

In the words of the German Chancellor: "We're breaking new ground!" And I'm not talking about the internet, but about Alarm 8, because this time Ullr isn't sending us cold and snow all the way down, but a partially warm alarm with a fluctuating snow line.

Everyone rubs their eyes in amazement - what is this? Bright colors on the north side of the Alps? Is it a UFO, is it a Marvel superhero? No, it's a northern traffic jam!

Peter Höller, avalanche expert at the BFW in Innsbruck, has analyzed accident statistics from the Austrian Board of Trustees for Alpine Safety. He found that fatal avalanches in the variant area close to ski resorts are often due to new and drift snow problems, while there are proportionately more fatal accidents on classic ski tours with old snow problems.

It's snowing again in the west and a little in the north too, but that's not quite part of this alert. Or half of it. And it's getting warm too, but not everywhere. As you can see, it's not easy to get Ullr's gifts out to the people this time, because Alert 16 is a little moodier than the great Alerts 14 and 15.

After November and the current April, Ullr is finally no longer switching back and forth between fall and spring, giving us a real west/northwest blast. Even after that, it looks quite wintry, at least for this winter. The oracle sits in the parking lot and waits for the snow. Up to just under 2000m, almost everything is bare on the south side and on the north side there is just enough in the forest to reach the parking lot. This is not winter.

The answer my friend, is blowing in the wind. Bob Dylan's masterpiece "Jim Button and the Wild 13" is a freeride book classic and the hurricane engine of Lukas and Jim is powerfully under steam in this timeless winter 19/20 masterpiece.

Last week, Ullr made a brief appearance from early retirement, only to be washed away again by tropical masses of rain. This week is better, because first of all it's snowing everywhere in the northern congestion, and then it's staying dry so that you can use the snow for longer.

Everything back to the start. After a good start, hardly any snow has fallen since Christmas and it feels like we're back in November, but finally Ullr has seen sense and sends us a winter greeting again. Unfortunately, he has to get back into the groove and it won't last, but more on that in the alert.

You could say that the weather gods didn't mean well with the new, old Snow&Safety Conference in Lech am Arlberg this year. Rain in Lech was not necessarily what freeriders and off-piste skiers had hoped for. On the other hand, it wasn't really about powder skiing but about risk management in the winter mountains. The conditions were indeed challenging for this and therefore anything but unsuitable.

Ullr seems to have taken pity on the sad locals and holidaymakers on the northern side of the Alps and let it snow there too. Unfortunately, this is just a drop in the ocean for the areas that have been hit the hardest. From central Switzerland eastwards, the sharks will be able to swim again and grab some tasty p-tex, but the alarm won't be enough for real freeriding.