 Poster: A snowHead
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In a wide-ranging interview, the director of piste security at Tignes talks of widespread ignorance of high-mountain risks, and the challenges faced in educating skiers to reduce their exposure to them.
Talking to off-piste website PisteHors.com, Jean-Louis Tuaillon believes that only 50% of skiers even know about avalanche warning flags. He explains that he is only responsible for avalanche control of marked runs, not the off-piste (unless it threatens a piste).
"We are not allowed to control a popular off-piste run like the Sache" he explains.
He also talks about the role of ABS (Avalanche Balloon System) packs for patrollers, the information services available to off-piste skiers, his opposition to fences or ropes to indicate the off-piste ... and even weighs up the safety of helmets for skiers.
Read the PisteHors interview here.
Any comments on the challenges facing Jean-Louis Tuaillon?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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He has a great attitude.
I remember him from when he was here in Les Arcs (wondered why I hadn't seen him around, didn't realise he'd moved on to Tignes).
He was so helpful to talk to before attempting an off piste route. He would advise us on the snow pack and how it had been formed, what conditions we might expect and the best places to go (or not go) on the day. We learned so much from him.
Lucky Tignes!!!
Meg 
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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chaletarc, that's the guy alright - interviewed him last summer about the state of the glaciers, a great communicator, really helpful.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Great interview and he sounds like a great guy. A well considered and sensible attitude ripples through everything he says.
Didn't realise the secouristes in Tignes weren't employed by the lift operator though. Interesting...
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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David Goldsmith,
Regarding the Avi warning flags I'd be surprised if it was that much....
Obviously locals hear of all the incidents on the mountain and should know the history of which slopes are suspect in what conditions etc.. but does he mean all 'vistors to the mountain' or new visitors to the valley.
Interesting about the Air bag and the compulsory use question. I have met ski instructors who don't carry bleeps and they say that they wouldn't go out in conditions where the risk was great.... Don't quite follow that myself. Their arguement is not to put themselves in a high risk situation.... which is what the director appeared to be saying re air bags...!!
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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David Goldsmith, doesn't surprise me at all, in fact I'm surprised if it's that high, judging by the number of times I've been asked why's that flag flying?.
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Well done, PisteHors. Excellent interview.
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Peoples lack of mountain knowledge is frightening. I am trying to learn but as I only ski for a few weeks per year it is difficult to get beyond the basics. Have encountered many people off piste whose knowledge is very poor.
Last week after high winds created lots of wind slabs. We were skiing one at a time from one safe place down a wind slab to another safe place. A lone skier burst through those waiting at the top and skiied the slab while one of our group was also skiing.It settled by a few inches as he jumped onto it and there was a loud "woomf" sound. He claimed there was no problem! At the bottom safe area he pushed his pole into the sugar snow and said that as it was only 50cm deep it was safe to ski!
Another day last week, our guide checked a small group we met and who had chosen a poor route across a wind loaded slope. They had no transceivers and when questioned said the snow depth was low and so they were not needed!
I believe that the people running Henry's Avalance Talk did a survey a year or two back. They counted people entering a popular off piste area and checked how many had transcievers. My memory is poor but I believe that half or less had transcievers; whatever the actual number, it was very small proportion.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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His repeated references to the Sache are interesting. It is marked on the current piste map (or at least that currently on-line on their web-site - I seem to have lost my paper copy for this year  ) as a regular black. Comparing the current map with another copy from 2001, they have regraded many pistes ('A' gone from red to black, 'S' gone from regular black to "unsecured itinerary" - or something like that, I can't remember the exact words at present, gollet the same as 'S') - but Sache is still marked as a regular black. From that, I'd certainly expect it to be treated the same as any other black piste and subject to the same security controls.
BTW I'm not saying that I'd expect Sache to be bashed (god forbid), or that its marked status is what it should be, but from reading the piste map I think it's a reasonable expectation for it to be made "safe" - according to the map it's NOT "off-piste".
I thought Tuaillon's attitude excellent - help people to be responsible, but don't be too nannyish about it.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Certainly the death toll in a ski resort has to be related to the number of skier days spent there, which is a huge number for Tignes.
[Just as a comparison - though this is really freaky - Mammoth in California recently saw five deaths in five separate accidents in seven days. They normally expect 2 to 3 deaths in a whole winter, of around 1 million visits. This report from Los Angeles Times.]
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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| GrahamN wrote: |
| His repeated references to the Sache are interesting. It is marked on the current piste map ... as a regular black. |
As you say there is the Sache piste, graded black. There is also a huge off piste area
| Jean-Louis Tuaillon, on Pistehors, wrote: |
| the popular Vallons de la Sache off piste route |
On the standard Tignes piste map look to the next valley to the right of the Sache piste, between the words "Col de la Sachette" and "Vallon de la Sache". To access it go up the Aiguille Percee chair, as you ascend look at the ridge from the top of the chair that goes past the pisteurs hut and continues to the left. There are several places where the ridge can be crossed and a descent made. http://www.chaletchardons.com/off-piste.html gives details of some of the options.
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Adrian, thanks for the clarification. My confusion was caused by the label in large letters "Vallon De La Sache" right next to the lower section of the Sache piste. I didn't see the same label in much smaller letters next to the Vallon de la Sachette further up near l'Aiguille Percée, which is quite clearly referring to an off-piste section.
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You know it makes sense.
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stevepick, I can't see any TOs recommending using the pisteurs - they seem to want to be considered the fount of all knowledge. they want to keep everything "in house". I regularly ask the pisteurs' advice and definitely recommend it to others. Perhaps people are afraid that the pisteurs will stop them skiing somewhere?? When Russell and I were descending the (closed) Grand Couloir recently, two pisteurs came by - one was a friend - I said "dont tell me off" and he said "I wasn't going to"!
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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| PG wrote: |
| chaletarc, that's the guy alright - interviewed him last summer about the state of the glaciers, a great communicator, really helpful. |
Can you (re)post a link to that interview in English? I only read the French version. JLT made a lot of sense.
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Poster: A snowHead
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davidof, will do - but there was a 'technical hitch' which resulted in the disappearance of the entire English version. I'm in the process of retranslating it now 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Bump..
To go with the very relevant avalanche warnings posted today
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FAQ
