Unbelievable: five avalanches hit chairlift at Val Cenis

A snowHead

April 15

https://www.data-avalanche.org/avalanche/1713293054366

It was already known: the risk of avalanches was high and the Arcelle chairlift in Val Cenis, France, had been closed since Friday.

But last Monday evening, after the ski resort closed and while the entire area was cordoned off, five natural avalanches surprised everyone, including the pisters who were busy triggering the avalanches with explosives. The avalanches hit the top station of the lift. How could this happen? Well, the avalanche fences were completely buried under the snow.

Extremely high snow

Above 2000 meters altitude there is a lot of snow in this region, thanks to several retour d'ests in the Haute Maurienne. Most avalanche fences, which are meant to prevent the snow from sliding, are simply buried under the thick layer of snow. The extremely high temperatures then made the snow cover very unstable and after the first avalanche, the avalanche fences that had not yet been snowed in had become almost useless.

Avalanche was spontaneous.

While the ski slopers of the ski resort were preparing to trigger avalanches with explosives as a precaution, they started moving on their own. It was going to be a risky operation, with the snow cover on edge. Pisteurs, who were on the lookout to make sure no one would get under the avalanches to be triggered, noticed the first spontaneous avalanche. This completely filled the avalanche fences that had not yet been snowed in.

Not with explosives, but spontaneous

The subsequent attempts to cause explosion-controlled avalanches were remarkably unsuccessful. But another spontaneous avalanche broke loose and slid over the avalanche fences. And if that wasn't enough, three more avalanches followed almost simultaneously and reached the top station of the chairlift.

"Damage is not too bad"

The damage is currently being analyzed. Although the station was hit and there is damage to the structure, the drive, pulleys and concrete foundations of the elevator seem to have survived relatively well. Fortunately, there were no injuries.

https://www.ledauphine.com/faits-divers-justice/2024/04/17/phenomene-exceptionnel-5-avalanches-ont-fracasse-un-telesiege-a-val-cenis