An Extended Column compression Test of the snowpack today (see details on here in the YouTube video) by Alain Duclos of Data Avalanche. It shows virtually no weak layers – a good sign for at least the next week or so.
What a lot of snow and wind we had. When the weather finally cleared on Christmas day. It was glorious but frustrating for some and dangerous for others. Many were disappointed to find the snow badly wind affected and off piste conditions were difficult.
Big snowstorms and heavy precipitation on the way. This will be followed by a return to calmer sunnier weather for Christmas. In the meantime, there is a hidden risk under the snowpack The snowpack appears quite stable at the moment.
HAT started back in the 1990’s with weekly avalanche awareness talks in Val d’Isere given in Dicks T Bar thanks to the initiative from Henry Schniewind and support from Dick Yates Smith. This season we are bringing the talks back to Val, all new and improved.
Today it started snowing again. This is also accompanied by significant amounts of wind blowing in from the west. We are expecting 20 to 50cm of snow in the next 12 hours (depending on which part of the N French Alps you are in.
Big snow has started falling! This will set us up for the season, but will bring high avalanche danger! Have woken up Friday morning to see heavy snow falling and significant snowfall since midnight.
Perfect snow conditions. Snowpack slowly settling, some slabs can be triggered on NE, N, NW slopes especially under the ridges near Italian border. More snow on the way The season kicked off in style with powder snow and high avalanche danger rating 4/5 in resorts near the French/Italian border.
Or do they encourage you to take more risk? James Cove of planet ski just posted this article https://www.planetski.eu/news/12328 Interesting conclusions. In short the research seems to James Cove to point out that helmets do offer protection, but not nearly as much as people might perhaps think.
Brilliant start to the season, but early season snowpack is unstable You have no doubt seen that there has been considerable snowfall across the French Alps through November and this has created a great but unstable base for the season.
