Editor’s letter
March 6th, 2010 by The EditorWeek nine has come and gone. The weather could have been better for it but it didn’t seem to dampen too many spirits. Seems like we’re in the midst of a season where it’s not quite snowing snowing, but loads of overcast days with little bits of snow. Where’s the dump?! I think if we all think about it hard enough and do whatever ritual, dance or prayer you can to the snow gods it will happen.
The X-games hits Tignes this week for three days in the first ever European version of the event. They are bringing a lot of the big names from the States so it should prove quite the spectacle. If our petitions to the gods don’t work, then if there’s ever a sure way of making it snow it’s holding a big outdoor event!
The season is heading into the latter stages in some ways as, while we still have a lot of time left, it goes quickly so don’t waste it. We’ve got an article to help pump you up again.
I’m sure I’ll be seeing you around.
MB
HAT Snow Report for 6 March, 2010
March 6th, 2010 by Henry's Avalanche TalkThis season’s trend of cloudy weather, wind and light snow with the occasional clearing spell for a few hours or a few days continued this past week. The result was more great skiing simply because the old tracks always seemed to be covered up by the frequent snow showers. This coming week looks like more of the same: cold cloudy weather for Saturday and Sunday with maybe some snow showers, a bit clearer on Monday and then sunny and slightly warmer for mid-week
Snow Quality and Stability
“I’ve been talking about a weak layer that is still persistent on North’ish facing slopes above 2200 metres, and it is still there”. This is what I’ve been saying for the past few weeks; true we haven’t had really big cycles of large avalanches, perhaps because the quantities of new snowfalls during any given snow-storm have not been that big in much of the Northern French Alps. However there has been accidental avalanche activity that can’t be neglected. The accidental avalanche in the Combe de Signal a.k.a. Sunny Bowl in Val d’Isère last Monday, is a good example of how, with a 40 cm of new snow over a few days, a well traveled area can suddenly be triggered and take 3-5 skiers down the slope with it (see photos on blog entry for March 1 on www.getoffpiste.com). This avalanche fit the forecast in the avalanche bulletin and the definition of the danger rating for the day – which was a 3.
Tips for this coming week
a) When there’s fresh snow on a steep slope, there’s always some risk that should never be marginalized in the minds of the people on that slope… just in case there is an ‘unlucky’ avalanche.
b) Well traveled off piste runs are fairly well packed down by in-resort skier traffic now, but once you venture even a little way from where people have been skiing over the last couple months, it’s a much less stable situation. Plus you never know… So keep up-to-date on the snow conditions and stability by visiting our blog on www.getoffpiste.com and go to the avalanche forecast translation in the left column, OR if you can read French, on: www.meteo-france.com >Montagne>Bulletins Avalanches.
