Arlberg

No, I haven't seen the new Star Wars yet, but our all-time favorite movie called "Best early winter in ages" is going into the next round. It's 150-300% of the long-term average on the northern slope of the Swiss Alps and the rest of the northern slope of the Alps isn't doing too badly either. And it continues here until Monday!

After Episode VII, "Ullr's Awakening with Power" in the West, now comes the sequel to the box office hit "PowderAlert" in almost the same regions. It continues the pattern of this winter, the "weekend trough". All weekend warriors will be particularly pleased and no one else will be complaining about a weekly supply of powder in the meter range. It will be a colorful action firework like the new Star Wars movie! (For anyone who is still wondering what I'm talking about here...)

Ullr apparently wants to make this December unforgettable and sends one dump after the other. No end in sight in the coming week! It will get warmer from time to time, but the snow will keep falling down to below 1000m, so from 1000-1200m there should actually be a positive total. The next alert comes on Sunday, but more on that in the medium term.

It's that time again, a new alarm is sounding. The oracle is not moping and the medium-term prospects are not bad either. All better than the last few years. If Ullr were a Bundesliga team, they wouldn't be on their way to the Champions League this year, but they wouldn't be on their way to their 4th relegation in a row either. A healthy midfield somewhere between 8th and 12th place would probably be the appropriate analogy for this winter.

While the first big snowfalls of the season are causing a stir here in Germany, dozens of volunteers are mercilessly trampling the first snow of the winter in Aspen. Shoes and trouser legs wrapped in Ducktape, they march through the freshly snow-covered terrain to prevent the early season snow from becoming an old snow problem.

The documentary "Snow of Tomorrow" was produced in 2016 and broadcast for the first time. By chance, I stumbled across a repeat in the 3sat media library yesterday, which can still be seen for a few more days. So if you have 70 minutes to spare at the weekend: it's time well spent, as the documentary offers a panoramic view of winter tourism in the Alpine countries.

Snow & Safety has established itself as an event to get the season off to a good start in Lech-Zürs. On December 1st and 2nd, there is an extensive range of courses and training sessions that can be attended for a fee. The varied lecture program in the evening is free of charge and open to everyone, even without registration.

As always, PowderAlert is about the existential things in life. To be or not to be; to ski or to stay at home. Decisions of Shakespearean proportions are on the agenda.

Normally, snow from the north also means powder. Last week was different. This time, too, there's something wrong with Ullr's gifts: the coming fresh snow will probably not be usable below the tree line, as the snow line will also rise towards the end of the precipitation.

March is shaping up to be a veritable winter month and there's plenty more to come on top of the existing base as Ullr is working overtime on the atmospheric machine. The only fly in the ointment is the significantly higher snow line than recently.

Ullr, our dearest God, no longer seems to be working part-time in March. As soon as the snow in the south is through (with up to 120 cm according to the SLF, as stated in the alarm), it starts again in the north-west and there's a lot more to come.

Once again this year, PowderGuide partner companies UVEX, Blizzard and Tecnica invited a number of journalists from the sports and outdoor industry to get to know their latest products - even before the presentation at ISPO. This time the test took place in Zürs am Arlberg. PowderGuide was of course also there to take a look at the new products.