Südstau

After the winter in the north hasn't really worked out recently and most of the old year has melted away, Ullr is returning to its old virtues and remembering the base that it had already distributed in the south above 2000 m in November. So a small südstau is on the cards. But the north, from France to the Arlberg, should also be affected by the passage of the small low, albeit with small amounts of fresh snow.

The Bedretto Valley just behind Airolo needs no introduction to the touring community. With excellent transport links, it offers a huge reservoir of touring opportunities on both sides of the valley. And since south-facing snowstorms have been a reliable part of the winter weather repertoire, this valley is blessed with impressive amounts of snow every year. Of course, these two facts ensure that the Bedretto is very busy, but fortunately the crowds here also move along the red lines on the ski touring map. Once you leave them, it quickly becomes quiet and usually rather steep...

New dump, old neighborhood. Ullr does the triple and sends another dump to the south. This time a cold front follows, so a few flakes may also fall in the north.

The same procedure as every year? Is Ullr behaving like in the New Year's Eve classic Dinner for one? Another südstau, another massive dump. Is this becoming a habit again, is Ullr no longer very imaginative and taking the dump blueprints from last year?

Most people are rubbing their eyes in amazement, because as soon as the northern congestion has melted away again, the next dump comes. And this time Ullr's disciples have a little dejavue, because that's what it looked like all the time in 13/14, right? Catastrophic amounts of snow in the south and warm foehn in the north.

After weeks of television weather forecasters rejoicing and finding warm temperatures 10 degrees above average and sunshine "totally great", the heat is finally over and we are rejoicing because Ullr is not leaving the field to summer without a sound, but is at least giving it a serious fight back.

After it has been rather quiet in the Alarmecke recently with several small snowfalls and steeper things to tackle in the touring terrain, the powder pirates are getting excited again, as there is südstau and new opportunities to have some lazy fun in the powder from the lift. Once again. In the north, we can probably kiss the season goodbye when we look at the forecast warmth for next week.

PowderGuide über-user Tobi asks: how do such pronounced southern winters or, last winter, northern winters come about? I'm aware that there is a certain tendency to preserve the snow. But the fact that it always turns out to be as extreme as this winter is astonishing.

Didn't I say in the last alert that it would stop snowing on Monday? I was just on the Ullrphone and he said: Think again, dear! The new alert is in effect until midweek, as Ullr apparently has a plan to break seven-day snowfall records (it has already literally "pulverized" the 48-hour ones in places with 50- to 100-year events in the southeast). Then it's on to the next alert.

You won't hear it from me often, but at the moment it would be disrespectful to the people who are cowering in their basements and fearing for their lives and I actually see it this way: Ullr has an understanding and it will finally stop snowing soon. Sunday evening will be the end of the doomsday crowds.

The northern congestion was short-lived and we fall back into a south-westerly situation that is quite impressive: While there are warnings of heavy snowfall and high to very high avalanche danger on the southern slopes of the Alps, the north can expect a mild foehn.

Ullr has also taken this, admittedly slightly modified, wisdom from the IT industry to heart and, after a rather half-hearted Nordstau interlude, is now giving us another Südstau that is really something.