Salzburg

Okay... I have good news and bad news. You want it like in the action movie? The bad news first?

Who hasn't heard phrases like "Take care" from their loved ones when setting off for a day in the mountains? Sometimes these well-intentioned words are annoying, but you can understand them. But how do relatives of professional freeriders feel when they set off for their work?

I've been snowboarding for 20 years. And for the past six years, I have been fascinated by deep snow skiing. I still remember the first descent in waist-deep powder - and I remember the enormous muscle ache the days after almost as well. But what remained was an addiction to the feeling of silence and solitude in untouched nature: to the adrenaline and happiness of "floating through the snow".

On March 23, 2013, I took part in the X Over 1* Freeride World Qualifier Contest on the Kitzsteinhorn in Salzburgerland. This contest in late winter was also the last part of the Open Faces series.

After the unfortunately somewhat warm start, a whole series of small to medium dumps now follows. And that means PowderAlert again.

The Open Faces make a stop in Salzburger Land: While it was still overcast the day before, the Aberg in Maria Alm showed its best side on Saturday, 26 January, and gave the 74 starters at the OPEN FACES *FWQ Hochkönig a warm welcome. Hosting a Freeride World Qualifier for the first time, the Hochkönig ski region more than did justice to a 1-star event. Creative lines and clean jumps were required to win points from the judges. Ferdinand Winter (ski/AUT), Johanna Obermoser (ski/AUT), Niklas Hollsten (snowboard/FIN) and Jenny Farrah (snowboard/USA) knew how to get the best out of the face and won in their respective categories.

Ullr has a heart for the East and before it gets really warm for a few days, he really covers the almost Polish-Russian areas of the Eastern Alps.

The Hochkönig, a magnificent massif in the Berchtesgaden Alps with its high rock faces on the south side. In the middle of this magnificent sight lies the Lammkopf at 2846m. The summit has something special about it, the Weißkar stretches southwards to this Weißkar: a classic among the steep face descents in Salzburger Land.

What does a true freerider want from her favorite? Right – fresh pow. And what does Ullr give us? Nordstau and fresh powder.

It's time for an alarm, because there's fresh snow from the west to northwest again. And the magic meter is likely to be broken again by Sunday. The chances of this happening in the congested areas from Glarnerland to Arlberg are quite good, and in the far east, from Salzburg to the Dachstein, it's even very likely.

After the previous northern accumulation remained just under a meter, and thus only met my standard values of 50-100 cm, it's now starting again! Snow will start falling again from central Switzerland to the east this afternoon. The snow line will remain in the lower powder regions and the amounts will be huge in the east.

I'm barely back from Valais and I'm already here to tell you about Ullr's new presents. Here we go again. This time, please be surprised, again in the north. But, and this is different, the massive traffic jam also extends to the east. So, dear Styrians and Salzburgers: you too can expect a big packet in addition to the usual suspects from the north.