Thursday was our last day of heliskiing and –boarding in BC with CMH. We had lots of fun on nice technical lines, pillows and deep, really deep powder. We’re waiting for the flight back to Europe at the airport in Calgary and we’re just in time for PowderAlert #18. This week showed why you want to go to Canada! Not for the resorts, because they’re pretty much tracked within a day. The heli brought us hipdeep powder in probably the best forests for treeriding in the world. Do you want to join us next year? Start saving money, cause we’re organizing a trip in winter 13/14.
It was pretty warm in the Alps the last couple of days. But that will change the next couple of days. We’re still dealing with a warm front, but a cold front will hit the Alps in the night of Friday on Saturday. The wind is turning northwest and will bring cold air.
PowderAlert #18
The weather will definitely change on Friday evening. Time for PowderAlert #18. You can expect around 50-80 centimeters (locally even 100 centimeters in the northwest stau). The snowline will be around 1800 meters in the west and 1400 meters in the east on Friday, but will be around 900 meters on Saturday. The avalanche danger will rise significantly due to a combination of lots of snow and wind on Saturday (it might be a four on a scale of five). Sunday will be calmer in the western Alps and the sun may come out for a while, but it will still be snowing in the northern Alps. You can expect another 10-30 centimeters in the northstau regions of Austria and Switzerland.
Powder advice this weekend
There’s no need to go out on Friday, because Saturday and Sunday will be so much better. You can ride great powder in the forests of the Isère, Aravis, Beaufortain, Chablais and the western part of Unterwallis. The precipitation will intensify in the northern regions of the Alps on Saturday. Don’t go to resorts without any trees, because the strong winds and lots of snow can create a dangerous cocktail. The sun will come out in the west (French northern Alps) on Sunday, which gives you more options, but you’re best option probably still are the trees.
After the weekend
The north stau will continue on Monday, but you can expect warmer air coming in (temporarily) on Tuesday. Temperatures will drop again in the night of Tuesday on Wednesday and it will snow a lot again.
Conclusion
Winter is back! Lots of snow from Friday till Sunday, especially in the north stau regions of the northern Alps! It will be warmer (only temporarily) on Tuesday, but it will be colder after Tuesday with some new freshies. This will be a fine PowderAlert #18!