Magazine

Not so long ago in a mountain range close close by..... DROUGHT. The stars don't lie. At least not the ones in the PowderGuide ConditionReports. One star, two stars. There's rarely more for the snow conditions at the moment.

This Chinese curse (all Sinologists roll their eyes because the oracle is giving out dangerous half-knowledge) describes our coming days quite well. But the oracle wants - no, has to - write something now, even if a lot is still unclear for Friday/Saturday, because it's snowing. And it's actually snowing right through to Saturday with short breaks.

You're supposed to have good intentions in the new year and the oracle wants to be less serene and more enthusiastic in his old age. Ullr also takes heart and wants to give us more powder.

The time has come. The Oracle says "all systems go", squeezes into the skintight clothing of an attractive pit crew member, as found in motor racing, and waves the green flag, officially heralding the start of the Christmas race.

It's finally that time again. Christmas time, PowderAlert time. And not just one but two holidays are coming up, because Ullr has finally woken up from hibernation. At the beginning of December, it looked like there would be a real second PowderAlert, but two days before the Alert was due to take place, it was swiftly cancelled and instead of the expected 70-100cm, we got 20-30cm. The oracle was quite surprised at the accuracy of today's crystal ball. That's why PowderAlerts always come just before the snowfall, because nothing is worse than snow that doesn't fall but has been hyped up in advance. Now the time has come, because first there will be a little warm-up until Friday evening and then the second Alert will come on Saturday with a really big bag of fresh snow, then also in the EAST!

The dry autumn with late summer flair in the golden larch forests and south-facing rock faces is coming to an end, and Ullr is sending us winter greetings for the second time. During the first greeting in mid-September, the first turns were already enjoyed, but the snow did not last. This second greeting hopefully heralds the start of winter, and we can start the PowderAlert series with snow height betting games as usual and bet on a strong winter.

In times of crisis, people are happy to see not only the colours of the traffic lights in the news (german politics joke), but also the best colour of all, white. Educated physicists with an affinity for art may now lament that it is not a colour, but the oracle doesn't care, because white is the colour of love. The love of any freerider and finally we get to see it again on our beloved mountains.

With this last nordstau, Ullr is sending us what could be the last cold snowfall suitable for weekends and the oracle is using this opportunity to bid a highly official farewell to the summer break, as medium range forecast does not look like there will be any more wintry surprises until the end of April.

Disclaimer: Schlager lyrics will not make sense in English. They do not make sense in German either, so dont worry ;) Ullr is on the retreat, but one last time the pop fan wants to dance the samba with us in the powder, because the powder makes us happy. Powder, Powder Powder, maybe tomorrow it will be over?

This alert is not an alert, at least not in the alert period, because it is too warm to use it until Tuesday. But more on that below.

As in the age-old internet meme, Ullr asked someone how many Südstau he should send and everyone just shouted YES! And so it comes as it must. There's another Südstau and then another one or two during the weekend. Is that good? Yes and no. This one is great. Nice amounts and a good snow line. The one at the weekend will be tropically warm with 25 degrees in the north and rain above 2000 metres in the lift. And you'll hardly be able to enjoy this one, as it'll only clear up briefly and then it'll get really warm.