Saisonstart

This year I'm back in Japan for another three months to enjoy JaPow to the full. I arrived in Hakuba on December 13th, which is rather early for skiing in Japan. The snowy season usually doesn't start until January, although it often snows properly around mid-December and the season begins.

I dust off my electronic parchment, sharpen my wit and am pleased to present you with the first alarm of the meteorological winter. Ullr has seen sense and we are finally switching from late October to winter. Oh wait, wrong... There was more snow in the northern Alps at the end of October.

After sweating it out on the bike last weekend at just under 2000 m and 15 degrees, Ullr now suddenly decides to take over the sceptre of the seasons from the sun god Ra and we hurtle from high summer into high winter. The first dump is coming up.

It's not winter yet, neither in meteorological nor in calendar terms. Nor is there much snow yet. Nevertheless, with the unconditional cheerfulness of the annually greeting marmot, it has been suggested for a few weeks now that something is ready. Online portals that have gone into summer hibernation are waking up again, the glaciers are filling up with ski clubs from central Germany, and if you believe the tracks in the off-piste terrain, which is sometimes really difficult, then even the average freerider seems to be blessed with a surplus of pre-season motivation.

As some may have already noticed, a short but, as is so often the case, heavy südstau has set in in the Southern Alps. As these are always somewhat difficult to forecast, the alarm is only being issued now.

25 centimetres of fresh snow have been reported for the third weekend of Advent. What hardly allows for a descent in the rocky high mountains can be a lot of fun on grassy mountains: the best conditions for making the first powder turns of the season in the snow of the Kitzbühel Alps.