Ski Women set for FWT stop 5 on Friday, Ski Men have to wait

It’s not the greatest of winters for snow in the Eastern Alps. That once again shows at the fifth FWT stop in Fieberbrunn, where the famous Wildseeloder face hasn’t been in perfect shape and the current weather conditions didn’t exactly help. There is a forecast of snow starting this weekend, but the temperatures are expected to stay rather high, so it’s not quite clear whether the conditions will be better next week and what kind of weather window will be available for a competition.

Therefore, it seems, the organizers decided to split the competition in Fieberbrunn, both due to the limited available terrain features because of the overall snow situation and due to the warm weather which will soften up the venue quickly and only allows for a limited time frame to hold a safe competition. The first part of the Fieberbrunn Pro—consisting of 3 categories Ski Women, Snowboard Women and Snowboard Men—is now scheduled for Friday morning, one day ahead of the original event period, while the second part featuring the Ski Men category will hopefully happen sometimes next week.

For Ski Men, this is a real gamble. If they are lucky, they will profit from fresh snow and have another great contest, but if the weather situation won’t allow any competition next week, they will have do live with one competition less. That’s tough for all the riders who are below the qualification cut ahead of the FWT final in Verbier. I guess there will be quite a few guys donating to both the snow and weather goods in Fieberbrunn over the weekend. For Ski Women and all the snowboarders, the deal is a sure contest in exchange for a contest that won’t see the glorious powder conditions the FWT had become accustomed to this season. Some will be happy about this, some won’t.

The exact reason for the current situation, next to a below average snowfall this winter, is a weather phenomenon called “Föhn.” It’s a southerly wind that results in very warm temperatures on the northern side of the main alpine ridge and is often strong and gusty. It’s a phenomenon that occurs on most major mountain ranges, but it is very prominent and therefore famous in the Eastern Alps. The warming effect results from the air “falling down” behind the main alpine ridge, while it doesn’t cool as much on the rise before the main alpine ridge due to orographic rain. Hence Föhn leads to warm temperatures even in clear nights and therefore less stabilization of the snow pack.

In case you are less interested in the weather situation and more on the consequences of the happening or not-happening of the Fieberbrunn Pro for your favorite riders, you can have a look at t he current FWT Overall standings here and go try your hand at the Peak Performance Funbet.