"You don't have snow for ski touring in Europe? Let them go heli-skiing in Alaska!". This famous quote from Marie Antoinette about the frequent situation in early winter in Europe famously led to the snowflake revolution of 1999.

There is one thing you can take away from last winter: It can only get better. In terms of the amount of snow, the winter was weak and had long enough dry spells between new snowfalls. This winter got off to a better start. The first PowderAlert came unexpectedly early, and the first ConditionsReports have already arrived and look promising. Let's keep our fingers crossed for Ullr that it will once again cover the mountains properly. Of course, the snow depth prediction game is back - this time in the 10th anniversary edition or tradition!

Dr. Ullrstein stands impatiently in his laboratory and attaches power cables to season 2025/26, which is laid out in front of him. At the end of October, his capacitors have enough energy for a first power surge and something twitches through the early season.

Various WeatherBlogs, regulars' table discussions and powder oracles have already hinted at it and we confirm: the winter weather is over for now. The infamous Omega weather pattern is currently establishing itself over Central Europe and it is already getting noticeably warmer. Whether there will be a summery Christmas, how much rain could fall and what this has to do with the polar vortex is discussed below. For the Omega weather situation, we recommend that nervous freeriders take a meditative "Ommm", inhale deeply through the nose and exhale with the belly. We hope this will help regulate stress levels for the time being.

As my colleagues predicted last week, all that's left for me this week is the meteorological start of winter and tough, snow-unfriendly weather conditions. For the time being, we'll have to make do with what's left of the first snow of the season and what the snow cannons are still producing.

There is a magic in every beginning, and winter has got off to a magical start.

Unfortunately, too much time has passed for many people since the last major snowfall in mid-January. Since then, a very stable area of high pressure has dominated large parts of Central Europe and ensured long-lasting warm temperatures. This triggered euphoria among some climbing enthusiasts, powder fans got long faces and yet not all freeriders lost their motivation, because the best snow after powder is known to be firn. But just as with fresh snowfall, there are a few things to bear in mind when there is no snowfall.

"Nothing can happen in the forest." - This is probably one of the most widespread misconceptions among skiers. It is true that statistically there are fewer avalanche accidents in the forest. However, those who are lulled into a false sense of security are unconsciously taking a high risk and acting carelessly. In today's SnowFlurries we therefore take a look at how the forest influences snowpack stability and what skiers need to bear in mind.

Fortunately, this season got off to a very snowy start and provided a good foundation. It stayed that way until shortly before Christmas. The so-called Christmas thaw materialised just in time for Christmas.