Posted on: 2021-01-16 21:57:15 by davidof

Series of avalanches, one fatal

With the first sunny day after a period of unsettled weather that had brought close to a meter of snow in some areas of the French Northern Alps the authorities feared the worst. Particularly with new skiers that have been attracted to ski touring and snow shoeing following the shutdown of ski resorts. The avalanche risk was High (4/5) across the region but in the end things could have been worse.

The most serious incident occurred in Tignes. The resort is shut at the moment but some routes have been secured by the piste services. A 40 year old local man had set off with three friend on a ski tour from Val Claret to the Aiguille percé. Skiing back via the Vallon de la Sache a slab avalanche at 2600 meters altitude buried the man under some 2 to 3 meters of snow. He was declared dead on arrival at Grenoble Hospital. The rescue services had to intervene in two other incidents in Tignes and one at la Plagne.

A lone skier was caught by an avalanche in the Combe de Bridan in the Lauzière mountain range. He was following ski tracks which had  encouraged him in his route choice. He managed to remain on the surface of the slide losing only a ski. There were a number of skier triggered avalanches in the 7 Laux ski area, all without injury. These were recent snow slabs triggering on a weak layer at 30cm depth (buried surface hoar or a temporary instability). There was a large skier triggered slab on the SW side of the Aiguillette des Houches in the Aiguilles Rouge (Brevant) sector. In the Chablais a snowboarder was transported to hospital by the rescue services after hitting a treestump after being caught by an avalanche in a couloir in the Mont de Grange sector. The avalanche occurred at 1450 meters. There were numerous remotely triggered slides which highlight the current instabilities and the persistent weak layer formed at the start of the season.

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