Engadin

The PowderGuide team meets up every year at the end of the season to celebrate a successful time together, catch up with old friends and make new acquaintances. This time, the highlight took place from April 16th to 19th, 2025 in the beautiful Engadine. It was a weekend full of contrasts: the spring-like vibes were reflected in the varied program. From alpine tours, climbing and ice swimming to table tennis rounds and cooking evenings, everything was included. THANK YOU to everyone who was there, took part and organized, we are already looking forward to next year!

The Biancograt is one of the most famous and aesthetic routes in the Alps. It leads to the 4,048-metre-high Piz Bernina, the only four-thousand-metre peak in the Eastern Alps.

Mud and sweat in black and white: this is as close as you can get to the heartbeat of the National Park Bike Marathon. It's not perfection that counts here, but determination. My camera was right in the middle of it all.

Well, after warming up with the alert limit in Alert 7, Ullr our favorite god finally gives us some real snow. The only downer: it snows the most where there is little snow and where the foundation of the snowpackis rather dangerous.

Not so long ago in a mountain range close close by..... DROUGHT. The stars don't lie. At least not the ones in the PowderGuide ConditionReports. One star, two stars. There's rarely more for the snow conditions at the moment.

The euphoria and fun that skiing triggers in many people is always associated with the dangers that this sport entails, especially in open terrain.

After it rained up to almost 3000m and the Swiss zero degree limit climbed to 3764m on 1.1.22 (statistically likely for mid/end June), it is now winter again. And it's snowing on our boulder-hard frozen ground... Hopefully it won't be a Holiday on Ice week now that the swamp will freeze through. There's just enough for an alarm in the north, and more interesting amounts in the south-east.

Most freeriders will be familiar with Corvatsch, as the Engadinsnow Freeride Contest, a stop on the Freeride World Qualifier Tour, has been held here for several years. In addition to numerous steep descents on the north and west sides, there are also much easier tours with descents of more than 1000m. One of these is the descent towards Pontresina, whose north/east slopes offer enjoyable turns.

The third ContestHappening of the season is about the Freeride Junior World Championships in Kappl, the FWQs in Engadin and Les Arcs, as well as a new season wildcard for the FWT and two more wildcards for the Kicking Horse stop.

A leisurely ascent in the sun, a racy descent in the shade. Doesn't sound bad, does it? You can find it on the Roccabella, at the end of the Julier Pass, above the small village of Bivio.

The Good: The fourth alarm of the season and the fourth südstau. In a mirror image of last season, Ullr presses the weather lock button and one südstau after another rushes into the Alps.

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.