Wow, it was deep. Our karma is probably pretty good, because how can you explain that you get that much freshies on a pre-booked trip to Livigno? We met at least about 40 wePowder readers from all kind of countries over there. Thanks for a great time guys! And somehow I have the feeling that there were many more. We enjoyed Livgno. It felt like a warm tub, or rather a deep powder tub. We visited the local avalanche service (thanks @Fabiano and @Luca), who are doing a great job, enjoyed the village, the powder, the terrain and the people. It was great. But the big question is: should we stay in the south? Or move to another part of the Alps?
Retrospect
PowderAlert #6 was exciting. Sandwiches from south and north are always in for a surprise and it is always good to look back. Because I keep learning because of reflection and because you comment (preferably) critical (keep doing that), I can see where to improve myself. Because ultimately I write these forecasts for you, so you ride better and more powder (and especially for myself so that I can immerse myself from time to time in deep powder).
The story began around the 5th of January when the first maps indicated snow for the south. Later the calculations turned more to the west, but whatever it would be, it was time for a PowderAlert. Time to block your weekend and if possible some extra days, as it was clear that PowderAlert #6 would be deep. PA #6 eventually came in three steps. First, the snow came down in the west and northwest, phase 2 was for storm Hermann who dipped the Alps into the powder and phase 3 will follow this Monday when the west will get some snow. We filtered from general (PowderAlert), to regional and later on with specific tips for certain resorts. That is exactly how a PowderAlert works. General at first, refined later. Powder can not be planned weeks in advance, let alone your destination. But we can help you to organize in a timely manner so that you never miss a dump again. And this weekend, you missed nothing when you’ve followed my tips. The reports came in (thanks, thanks!) and we hit the jackpot. I won’t forget this alert anytime soon. In fact, we’re still in the middle of it. Because the snow announced for the West is still to come this Monday.
Snow for the west
Today there will be a front from the west. This will bring 10-20, locally 25 centimeters of freshies. Tuesday will be a powder day in the west. Certainly not as deep as it was here in the south, but there is no competition and not many people in the resorts. The riding will be pretty good on Tuesday in the pre-Alps of the Haute-Savoie and to be more specific in areas like the Aravis and Chablais. The same applies to the pre-Alps of the Isère, where the Belledone will get some freshies again, as are the areas west of the Ecrins.
Tuesday will be a powder day in:
In addition, there is still powder to be found in the Southern Alps. Opt not for the steep lines. The snow cover is still very unstable and we have seen a quite a lot spontaneous avalanches yesterday.
PowderAlert#7: retour d’est
But this small front from Monday to Tuesday paves the way for a Retour d’Est. After storm Hermann that brought us PA #6 is now time for storm Iustus to bring us freshies. Still small on the maps, but every freerider knows you’ll have to appreciate the small dumps as well.
Iustus will pick a spot south of the Alps from Thursday and the snow machine will be switched on again. The latest projections are that the snow machine will work overtime in the southern Alps and a meter of fresh snow can be expected. The good news is that Iustus brings colder air, so the snowline is much lower. PowderAlert #7 is coming and the the southern Alps will be the best region again to ride powder.
The next few days we will continue to fine tune things so that you’ll be in the right place in a few days. PowderAlert #7 will be for the southern Alps again and keep an eye on the areas below:
More details tomorrow!
Stay stoked
Morris
Reacties
@@meteomorris I was in Auron this weekend and had the pleasure of skiing about 30cm of perfect fast snow. I still had to pick and choose lines carefully as to avoid rocks and wind blown snow, but generally the north facing slopes above 2000 meters where good. I was fortunate enough to be skiing with the avalanche and mountain control for a couple of days, so i was given the opportunity to open a few faces. We spoke with the control over in Isola2000 and they where reporting 50cm. i’d imagine that some of there slopes and gullies would be perfect right now, although probably need a day or two to settle. Thanks for the updates.
Another pre booked Livigno tripper reporting in! Awesome days! Thx for your work Morris ;)
How was the base under those freshies in the south?
@@AndersBj, still pretty sketchy. In the trees it was good, but higher up we never went steeper than 35 degrees. But cccording to the latest forecast I strongly recommend you to stay in Europe. No significant snow for the USofA in the forecast.
Thx @@meteomorris! Right now western Norway is very tempting with its solid base and it seems that we’ll get some snow from the weekend and on