S5E10
TME 13/02/10
Saturday, February 13th, 2010Editor’s Letter
Saturday, February 13th, 2010At the time of writing, the TME office is waiting with bated breath and whispering humbleness for the arrival of Xerox enginneers from the UK. This is still a big if, but if they turn up on time you might just be reading this in a new improved print quality come Saturday night… alternatively, you may be lucky to be reading it at all!
This week is one of the busiest of the season with all the school holidays coinciding. If you don’t like kids this probably won’t be a good week for you. It makes for a different type of atmoshere in the village, but Tinsel town becomes the place it’s built for. It also leaves most of the harder runs on piste and all the runs off piste pretty quiet for your enjoyment, with the caveat that the masses will all be queueing at the bottom of the lifts around 9.30am every day. You have been warned.
We are bringing you the low down on the Winter Olympics this week and we couldn’t get away without mentioning Valentine’s Day on Sunday. For all you lovers, enjoy. For all the losers out there, I’ll probably be seeing you in the pub. MB
HAT Snow Report for Feb 13 2010
Saturday, February 13th, 2010Snow Quality and Stability
There were quite a few accidental avalanches (people setting off avalanches) and some close calls at the beginning of this past week especially. Many of these close calls were not reported officially since the ‘vicitims’ got away unhurt and all that was observed were tracks going into the slab avalanche fracture line and tracks coming out of the avalanche debris at the bottom… and then some stories circulating about what happened. There were several in Savoie, Haute Savoie earlier this past week and in the Northern French Alps area in general e.g. there was a well-publicized accident in the Swiss Valais region (see www.pistehors for more on that).
Even though there have been more deadly accidents this year in France than usual, I think that there have been many, many more avalanche accidents where people were lucky and got out unhurt. This is mainly because the size of the avalanches (fractures often equal or less than 30cm) where relatively small. And as well-known avalanche expert, Bruce Tremper says, “When it comes to avalanches, size does matter”.
Tips for this coming week
There is a very weak layer on North’ish facing slopes and very shaded slopes due to the increased cold, which is creating the build-up of layers of angular/faceted snow crystals in the snowpack in these areas. Météo France is warning us all about these slopes even as they report increased stability on other (South’ish) facing slopes. More snow will be lots of fun, but will aggravate the already fragile condition on these slopes – especially North facing slopes that haven’t been compacted by lots of skier traffic on them.
Have Fun and Be Safe!
