Kärnten

Now that the Northern Alps and the Pyrenees have been raised from two below-average stars to four-star report level in 7 days, our favorite Nordic god is taking on the south of the Alps - and not the classic south of the last Southern Alps, but the more exotic spots that haven't done so well so far.

The snowless winter of 2013/14 in the northern Alps and the constant reports of Adriatic lows - with their almost unbelievable amounts of snow - drew our attention to Carinthia. And because Mother Hulda was particularly kind to us, there was another half a meter on top 48 hours before our arrival - snow depths of around 4 m awaited us at Nassfeld!

Premiere of the Freeride World Qualifier series on the Goldeck sports mountain in the Gailtal Alps: The organizer "SGS - Sportgemeinschaft Spittal/Drau" has proven its organizational talent and successfully integrated the Big Mountain Goldeck into the ever-growing FWQ series. Despite the lack of rain in the run-up to the contest, the conditions on the face were good. The winners of the FWQ premiere knew how to take advantage of this: Wolfgang Kofler (snowboard), Dees Hetzenauer (snowboard), Rene Riegler (ski) and Jenni Kaipainen (ski). Contest participant Nikolai Göz was there for PowderGuide in Carinthia...

Some resourceful students with too much time on their hands and online access to a precipitation radar may have already noticed: it's snowing again. (Everyone else can't use it anyway). They will also have noticed with surprise: It's snowing, but not in the north for once.

As we drive through Kitzbühel, it is slowly getting light, but the sun doesn't really want to break through the thick cloud cover. But as soon as we leave the 5.6 km long Felbertauern tunnel, we are greeted by East Tyrol and Carinthia with glorious imperial weather. Our stop for the day is Heiligenblut.