A week rest, then PowderAlert #2?

After a weekend with a lot of snow for the south and west of the Alps, a week of rest follows. High pressure nestles above the Alps, keeping storms at bay. It is possible that some snow will fall at the start of the new weekend, but storms worth a PowderAlert will only be on the maps from Monday the 9th of December.

In this forecast:

• PowderAlert #1, some images
• Conditions in western and southern Alps are already fine to good
• Sunny this week: time to go touring
• Storm cycle from December 9th?

PowderAlert #1, some images

A PowdeAlert was in effect for the first time last weekend (read the details againhere and here. That already resulted in wonderful images from Puy Saint Vincent and Val d'Isère last weekend.

The sun came out again this morning. Oh boy, what an images this early in December. If you didn't know better, you'd think they were images from the beginning of February. What a wonderful sight.

Conditions in western and southern Alps are already fine to good

The snow cover in the western and southern Alps, certainly for the time of the year, is already of an excellent or sometimes even unheard of thickness. South of the main alpine ridge and in the French Southern Alps in particular, there has been a particularly good start to the season. Here is a base where they can certainly survive above the tree line until the end of March. The French Northern Alps made up part of their backlog last week. First of all there was the western Stau which brought snow between Wednesday and Friday and then a lot of snow followed on Sunday.

A major exception are the northern Alps where the snow cover is clearly thinner compared to the western and southern Alps. But don't worry, it's only December 2nd and a lot can happen before it's Christmas. Certainly with the computer calculations leaning towards a northern Stau for next week.

Sunny this week: time to go touring

Many ski areas are still closed in the western and southern Alps, while there is already a lot of snow. In addition, we get to see the sun frequently in the coming week and the snow cover is slowly settling. Ideal weather for a nice tour. Check your local avalanche forecast first, then set out on a tour from an open mountain pass or in a still closed ski area and enjoy yourself. It may only be early December, but the conditions for touring are fantastic.

Storm cycle from December 9th?

The weather will be great this coming week, with fresh snow and sun, but after the weekend of December 7th, it all seems to change. The jet stream then finds its way back to the Alps so that storms can move towards the Alps. All too early for details, but the base that is already in the Alps is good and with even more snow on our long-term maps it can only get better .

New: wePowder Guide The Alps

It is as if King Winter has been waiting for us. For the last two years, Arjen and I, along with a team of designers, editors and not to mention all our friends in the Alps, have worked endlessly on the ultimate freeride guide book: wePowder Guide the Alps. The last two months in particular were intense, working on that last bits. The presses are running and the aim is to ensure that if you order now you'll receive your guide before Christmas. You can read all about our new book here. The guide is available in a limited edition and only the guides from the pre-order (€ 40,00 instead of € 45,00) are exclusively numbered. Order it now and make sure that you don't miss out!

Stay stoked, Morris