Powder for the Western and Northern Alps

Powder for the Western and Northern Alps
It's on like Donky Kong!!
It’s on like Donky Kong!!

The conditions hasn’t been quite good in the Alps, but hey, we’re riding deep, really deep powder in British Columbia. The wePowder heli week is deep! Day after day we’re riding around 9000 vertical of bottomless powder on spines, pillows and steep pitches with just thirty people in a mountain range that’s as big as the northern French Alps. And to make things worse, the beer in the jacuzzi is cold and the snow just keeps on falling. Start saving some money if you want to join us next year!

In the meanwhile, it was pretty warm in the Alps. The snow line was around 2100 meters and some Powfinder reports even mentioned temperatures up to eleven degrees. It wasn’t the best time to ride some pow. But change is on its way. Just when we’re about to return to the Alps again, winter will strike back in Europe. And it will strike hard!

Short term

Just hang in there! It’s getting colder, but you can expect the biggest snowfall on Friday afternoon until Sunday morning. But….this will happen in the western and northern Alps and not in the southern Alps. It will be sunny in the inner alpine areas on Thursday and Friday, but it will start snowing above 1800 meters in the pre Alps.Poederalert#18

Finally northwest stau
Finally northwest stau

Powderalert #18

The weather is changing for real on Friday night. Time for PowderAlert #18! Some weak fronts are passing on Thursday and Friday, but it will be really start on Saturday. A low pressure area is moving south towards the Alps from the Northsea and this will bring cold, arctic air even to the Mediterranean. This combination of cold and humid air will result in a huge stau!

This means tree runs, tree runs and even more tree runs on Saturday. The snow cover will grow in the western and northern Alps, but a (north)western wind will become stronger and stronger. Please keep in mind that the avalanche danger will rise. The combination of lots of snow and strong winds will cause a high avi danger (especially above the tree line).

It will snow a little bit on Sunday, it will stay cold and part two of this PowderAlert will start. The details aren’t quite clear yet, but it looks like it will keep on snowing until the end of the week. What this will mean? Faceshots galore!

Powderadvice

Head to the northwestern Alps for tree runs on Saturday. The resorts that already have a nice base layer will be your best choice. Go for a combination of open faces and trees. We’ll give a more detailed update on Friday for Monday and later that week! Start your engines, wax up, or do whatever you do to get stoked. It will be on. Like Donkey Kong!

Stay stoked

Morris

meteomorris
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