Steiermark

This article is a guest contribution and reflects the personal views of the author. At PowderGuide, we see ourselves as a platform for discourse and want to highlight different perspectives. Our Snow of Tomorrow section grew out of the debate on man-made climate change – a topic that has both scientific and social dimensions – and is now dedicated to critical and future-relevant issues in the context of mountain sports. We invite you to participate constructively in the dialogue: if you have an opinion on any of the topics or would like to contribute, please feel free to do so in the comments section and contact us. Lena is a passionate ski tourer and activist. In this very personal article, she explains why the mountains are a political place for her.

Today the focus is on the sometimes forgotten Styria. In this article, Helmut Gassler shows us that there is more than just industrial manufacturing there and that it is worth going on a tour.

From the perspective of skiers in Germany or Switzerland, Styria is hidden somewhere in the east of the Alps. Away from mass tourism, small Styrian valley villages offer a paradise for ski in/ski out tours with cosy accommodation. From easy beginner tours to steep gullies, there are exciting options for everyone. A big recommendation!

Steep face freeskiing is not only possible in Chamonix! The "Eastern Alps" also have a lot to offer in this category, although they often receive less attention than the better-known destinations further west. The book "Ski Extrem Guide. Steilwände und Normalanstiege auf 78 Gipfel in der Steiermark, Niederösterreich und Salzburg" by Michael and Hannes Pichler and Peter Kolland (2013) offers a comprehensive overview of the classical routes as well as more exotic destinations in the region. A clear recommendation!

From the perspective of Switzerland, Germany and the western federal states of Austria, for most people the Alps and their "interesting" part in terms of skiing end with the "almost three-thousand metre" Dachstein. The areas further east are generally referred to as the eastern edge of the Alps even by experts (such as the PowderGuide community) and are wrongly considered to be insignificant in terms of skiing.

Arnold Studeregger is part of the avalanche warning service at ZAMG in Styria. We spoke to him about the development of the Styrian LWD, the biggest innovations and his favorite snow profile

Ullr means well with us. Unfortunately too well. As with all triologies, the grand finale comes at the end: the return of King Ullr. But he wants to make the Eastern Alps look more like the second Star Wars and turns everything into the ice planet Hoth.

Number 5 is alive! As promised, it's still going strong: it's snowing and it's getting cold. The oracle has already had a really nice day and is now writing live from the north parking lot. Even areas where there has been no snow in the valley for a long time will soon be worth it, because this alarm goes all the way down.

The last alert was too warm and too windy, but Ullr now promises to do better, at least in terms of temperatures. For a long time, it wasn't clear whether this dump would miss the Alps and end up too far east in no man's land. It was only in the last 24 hours that Ullr had an understanding and steered the flow further west so that at least the eastern Alps would be fully hit.

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!

And like a ninja, he sneaks out of the shadows into the weather maps and turns inconspicuous amounts into a veritable alarm. The Oracle didn't take a close look and Zack hit Ullr, because the untrained eye is easily fooled by a ninja alert that looked like less than 30cm on the maps from the weekend. It was only because the Oracle happened to look at the radar that he realized something was going on.

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.