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French Snow Report

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
A little vid from today:-

Selle du Puy Gris - google video

take care tomorrow, 3 ski tourers killed in avalanches today.

http://pistehors.com/news/ski/comments/0686-avalanches-kill-three-ski-mountaineers/
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
davidof, nice video! snowHead
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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?
Hoppo, off topic, sorry, but thanks for your tips for Val Thorens, they were spot on and we found some great snow and runs.
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davidof, Great video, lovely to see the mountains.

snowHead
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okay, so it's not Wimbledon common... snow report for the 28th of January
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davidof - excellent as always.
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Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Col du Tepey some film from yesterday to give you an idea of the backcountry conditions. Location- South Savoie, north and east facing slopes between 1200-2750meters.
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
Great film davidof, really good to watch. snowHead
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Video Update on the snow conditions, hopefully things are looking up again over the next few days with maybe30-50cm by next monday?
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davidof, Any ideas on the possible avalanche risk levels ie has the snow got a dodgy bonding surface at the moment
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Hi Frosty,

I don't think there is too much to be alarmed about. South facing slopes are pretty stable but there are some small slabs on shaded slopes which are not bonding to the old hard snow. We dislodged a couple of small slabs at the weekend, nothing scary but add 30cm of fresh snow over the week and some wind Shocked ... but you are really looking at problems above 2200-2400m on north sector slopes if we get the promised snow.
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 And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Its just started snowing in Tignes Very Happy Very Happy
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 So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
it's looking wonderfully miserable here! Very Happy
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
It is snowing at 1200m in the Val d'Arly too.
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Snowing here too, though it doesn't look too convincing; cloud cover not very thick at the moment. But the grass is looking a bit whiter...
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Poster: A snowHead
Looking good for the chaos that is half term.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
marc gledhill wrote:
Looking good for the chaos that is half term.


Even more so for the chaos involved in getting to the mountains for half-term; looks like plenty of snow likely to arrive Friday through Sunday.

Now would be a good time to find some snow chains if you're driving out this weekend... snowHead
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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?
more convincing now, settling quickly on the road, considerably snowier than forecast, and earlier. Don't just get out the chains, practice putting them on.
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WooooHooooo! Snow. Lovely snow snowHead (sorry, no constructive points to make Laughing )
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MrDan wrote:
WooooHooooo! Snow. Lovely snow snowHead


That's plenty constructive! Laughing

Sad that I'm not in the mountains right now but it's great news for all the families heading out for half-term - and good news for a lot of shops, restaurants and other businesses that have been having a pretty hard time so far this season.
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According to netweather some resorts in France gonna have snow on and off for two weeks. Obviously it cant tell how much yet exactly but sure anyone skiing in Feb Half term weeks will have decent conditions.
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hee heeeeeeeeee snowHead
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
admin, i take it from the glee that you're off somewhere in France soon ...... pray tell ....
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Here is some info fro l'Alpe d'Huez today

http://snowheads.com/ski-forum/viewtopic.php?t=23131#547022
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Avalanche Warning - Monday 12th February 2007

The weather system over the course of Monday dumped 20 to 40cm of fresh snow at 2000m, 40 to 60cm at 2500m but with accumulations of snow due to the wind from the west. There have been three separate falls of snow since last Wednesday bringing 60 to 90cm of fresh to the Bauges and Beaufortain and 50cm elsewhere.

There are fresh slabs, particularly above 2000m on north sector slopes. These slabs resemble fresh powder and are very difficult to detect visually. A single skier or snowboarder could start a sizeable avalanche which could be sizeable on an open slope. Lower down take care on close to summits, convex slopes especially north-east to east slope aspects.

The sun will return in the Savoie and Haute-Savoie during the course of Tuesday. The off-piste will look particularly inviting but the risk are very high at the moment even on quite low slope angles. If you know anyone in resort send them this message.
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davidof, ..bump?
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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.
Rain to 1900-2200m today with some very heavy powder snow. We are expecting another 20cm overnight in the northern Alps then Thursday / Friday promise wonderful sunny weather with the zero iso to 2000-2500m tomorrow, 3100m on Friday so we could be looking at spring snow conditions on southern faces. Here are a few bits of video I snatched this morning.

Grand Rocher

We managed to break a large chunk of corniche away but it didn't take much of the 35-40degree slope with it. However that was at 1900m. Higher up, say above 2200-2400 there are weak layers of unconsolidated snow on shaded slopes which now have new slabs in place. There are also some sliding surfaces due to the graupel (balls) that fell on Tuesday and older ice crusts from earlier in the winter. These now have slabs in place on various aspects all of which are quite delicate. The warm temperatures tomorrow will also cause some surface slides on sunny slopes.
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Today we toured one of the back bowls of the 7 Laux ski resort. Very very warm on the south facing slopes we were on, we were expecting rain early on but this cleared out much sooner than expected. This is a frequent "feature" of Meteo France forecasts, even the 12 hour bulletin, while getting the overall weather right is often out by 4 hours either way.

Zero isotherm is predicted to be at 3100m so we will probably avoid south facing slopes while they either consolidate, or purge.

Cime de la Jasse - video

There was 5cm of new snow at 1600m, around 20cm above 1800m. Lots of snow being moved around by strong winds from the north... hmmm that probably means no powder on north sector slopes. Confused
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We were out today over at St Columban, part of the Sybelles ski area. The original plan had been to do a north facing valley on the Belledonne side, but when we got on the scene we could see that two of the routes that were interesting had been avalanched and the third, while probably quite safe, was very windblown. We saw some skiers coming down later and it looked tricky.

So good news, south/east facing slopes seem pretty stable and there are spring snow conditions. We also found some powder on a north facing valley but it is starting to get a bit cohesive. Rocks are still not far from the surface below 2000m. It was also unskiable mush by 2pm today below this altitude due to the zero iso being around 3200m.

Col de la Lavoire - google video
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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I've updated our table of off-piste and backcountry avalanche statistics. There is quite a bit of avalanche activity in the Hautes-Alpes at the moment althought the warm weather over the last few days with clear nights has stabilized slopes, especially southern aspects.

Here are some links to the incidents over the last five days

http://pistehors.com/news/ski/comments/0698-hautes-alpes-avalanches-continue/

http://pistehors.com/news/ski/comments/0697-ski-tourer-missing-under-crevoux-avalanche/

http://pistehors.com/news/ski/comments/0695-fatal-avalanche-close-to-tignes-pistes/

As ever if you want to report French off-piste incidents to PisteHors feel free to do so.
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davidof,

Many thanks
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Nice stats.

According to my rough calculations:

* The average risk rating was set at Level 3 when an offpiste accident took place;

* 67% of offpiste accidents occurred on slopes with an Easterly aspect;

* 60% of offpiste accidents occurred on slopes with a Northerly aspect;

* The average offpiste accident took place at 2400m / 7900 ft.

* 87% of offpiste accidents took place in the afternoon.


One might conclude that skiing after midday on high Northeastern slopes following a fresh snowfall is a relatively risky activity.
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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?
Whitegold wrote:
Nice stats.

According to my rough calculations:

* The average risk rating was set at Level 3 when an offpiste accident took place;

* 67% of offpiste accidents occurred on slopes with an Easterly aspect;

* 60% of offpiste accidents occurred on slopes with a Northerly aspect;

* The average offpiste accident took place at 2400m / 7900 ft.

* 87% of offpiste accidents took place in the afternoon.


One might conclude that skiing after midday on high Northeastern slopes following a fresh snowfall is a relatively risky activity.


Without reading too much into the stats (and I'm sorry they are a little incomplete) the afternoon figure is interesting. Is the snowpack that much more unstable or are there other factors? Some experts, includng Henry Schniewind and guides I have spoken to say that they don't think snowpack stability is the issue but that skiers start pushing things beyond the limits later in the day. I can put forward two reasons.

1. skiing powder all morning has numbed them to the risks other slopes may pose - the so called "powder rush"
2. after fresh snowfall the relatively safe slopes get skied out early and people start pushing things too far

there are possibly more people skiing in the afternoon as well. Certainly in ski touring the there is a trend to much more winter touring and some groups going out much later in the day.

Just some thoughts.

Another interesting point. If you look back over the last 5 years the majority of French fatalities occur at risk levels 3 and 4 whereas in Switzerland the figure is 2 and 3. I have quite a bit of background information to this and it is principally down to a difference in how the French and Swiss interpret the 5 level scale. This means that skiers used to France bulletins may take more risks if they go to Switzerland. It also means the avalanche risk reduction methods (principally Munters) developed for Switzerland will be more concervative when applied to France.
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Interesting.

Maybe the reasons for more afternoon mishaps (assuming the stats hold true) are one, most or all of the above.

Hubris, complacency, tiredness, riskier slopes and higher traffic all seem logical causes.

Perhaps higher afternoon temps, the sun, any rain and meltwater all play a role, too?

Perhaps the lifts on high Northerly faces are later to open than lower Southerly ones after a heavy snowfall.

All speculation on my part, of course.
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After a dull but dry weekend Tuesday was a glorius and sunny day, ideal spring skiing conditions. We headed to a summit I've never tackled before, les Illettes in the Belledonne massif.

les Illettes - google video

The rest of the week looks like being a mixed bag of weather but there doesn't seem to be any serious snow on the horizon at the moment. The snowline is around 1200-1300m on north sector slopes with levels well below normal.
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davidof, Looks great, also looked like a hell of an effort to get up there. The person in the white headband can ski a bit eh? Very Happy Very Happy
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easiski wrote:
The person in the white headband can ski a bit eh?


That's Guy dressed as a khamikhazi pilot. To be fair he had the best snow. I should have included the bit at the end where I'm following him and ski into a tree ! oooops!
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
HELLOW

ITS SNOWING AGAIN IN TIGNES Very Happy Very Happy Very Happy Very Happy Very Happy Very Happy Very Happy
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Here too! Very Happy Very Happy Very Happy
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hopefully it is snowing to around 1400m (the weather forecast said 1500) but it is a bit colder.
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