Arlberg

Just like in Terminator 2, Ullr is not letting his hair down and is finally spreading powder with a coarse trowel in the Northern Alps. As in the movie, the number of explosions is likely to be quite high in this alert due to the avalanche blasts: the SLF expects "very large avalanches", which should of course keep the fun to a minimum for a few days. More on this in the alert.

First of all, to answer the question of those who keep a watchful eye on the weather: Why the alarm now? The south has snow and a base and you could already drive here and there!

Ullr wants to say goodbye to the Freeride World Tour with top conditions and is sending snow to the north and west of the Alps. It has been snowing from time to time recently - now we're finally getting alarming amounts again!

There's powder again and the old pattern is back. It's snowing, but it's getting warm. This time the warmth won't stop abruptly, but on Friday and Saturday the snow line will drop back to powdery regions, so you should still have some on Sunday. It's not going to be wild, but it's going to be decent. Just a normal alarm. It's almost a rarity this season.

Over the last few days, the much overused term "snow chaos" has been quite appropriate in large parts of the Alps. Now the snow-related state of emergency is easing and the cut-off valleys and villages are getting a weather window to dig themselves out in the sunshine.

OK, the Fenris wolf hasn't appeared in the maps yet, but what Ullr has planned for Monday looks slightly apocalyptic. 150cm and more have already fallen in the last two alarms. And Ullr thinks to himself: all good things come in threes, so he's going full throttle again at the end.

Let's get this out of the way: Yes, there will be a third alert for this storm sequence. For Part 1, I fled behind the main Alpine ridge because, as I wrote in the alert, it was supposed to push far over. It did, the rest of the storm behaved somewhat erratically due to the enormous high flow and apart from parts of the Valais, which get something with normal west or northwest winds, the larger amounts did not arrive in front of or behind the main ridge.

At least it looks as if things will continue to be lively after that, as the low pressure systems and their fronts will be in full swing in the brisk westerly flow. More on this in the paragraph on the medium term. It seems that there are only big snowfalls left this season and freeriders are happy to accept them, as they are good for building up the snowpack later and in the meantime you can finally have fun in the trees without a handbrake!

As announced, the time has come. We're in the middle of the rollercoaster and heading for the megaloop. The Ullr is sending squadron after squadron of damp, mild and cool air from the west towards the Alps and it's rattling around. There is a ray of hope in terms of the snow line, because this time it should look better in the Alps than last time. So maybe less puking and more fun on our wild ride!

After a somewhat surprising interim alert in the north, which also brought alarms, we're now off to Ullr Leisure Land and on a wild rollercoaster ride of alarms in the north-west, which will probably last until the end of the first week of January. And as is the way with rollercoasters, we'll all be wavering between cheering and throwing up. When it goes down, we cheer and when the snow line goes up, we feel bad...

PowderGuide was there for the second time to give us and you an impression of the conference. The purpose of the two-day event is to update your knowledge of winter terrain just in time for the start of the season.

Ullr is slowly saying goodbye to our beloved pattern of the weekend trough, but first sends his best wishes to the Eastern Alps!