Backcountry Skiing and Snowboarding

Thursday, 22 November, 2007

Are Southern Alps ski resorts ready for winter?

Last week we covered the drought in the south of France and how this may affect ski resorts over the winter. While the Northern Alpes have had a snowy start to the ski season, some resorts opened earlier than normal, the situation further south is more worrying. There was fresh snowfall at the end of October but temperatures have since been high. The col d’Agnel (2630m) has 25cm of snow on the ground, 15cm fell over the last 24 hours but further south at the Col de Restefond there is barely 10cm and the zero isotherm is around 2700 meters. The situation regarding water stocks looks better but two clouds hang over the ski resorts of Céüze near Gap and the Val d’Allos.

Posted by davidof at 12:27 AM
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Monday, 19 November, 2007

Record breaker for les 7 Laux

After last season’s poor winter with a loss of over 600,000 euros mid-mountain ski resorts have been looking skywards with some trepidation over the last few weeks. The storm which has blasted Austria and Switzerland, dumping around a meter of snow in 24 hours in Davos, finally ground its way south into the French Alpes. Although it had lost some of its early force it still managed to leave 50cm of snow at the top of the pistes of les 7 Laux in the Isere department. Enough to give the piste director the seemingly crazy idea of opening his ski resort in mid-November.

les 7 laux opening day 2007

Posted by davidof at 06:59 PM
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Thursday, 15 November, 2007

French ski resorts race to open

With fresh snow covering the Vosges, Jura and Northern Alpes, French ski resorts are racing to get their ski areas opened. Here is round-up of the current situation. The greatest quantities of snow, around 40cm fell in the pre-alpes and at mid altitudes – around 1500 to 2000m.

december snow
Early season snow is a bonus for ski tourers

Posted by davidof at 09:53 AM
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Zag is back

It looked like game over last Autumn for the Bourg St Maurice ski company with their original designs. The company had been doing well with 2000 pairs of skis sold per annum however they faced a funding gap after the withdrawal of one of their shareholders. They maybe did well to miss the miserable 2006-7 winter. The company was refinanced by their Pyrenean rider Franck Bernes-Heuga but keeps their shaper Stéphane ’ZAG’ Radiguet on the team. We caught up with Steph at the Mondial.

Posted by davidof at 07:12 AM
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Tuesday, 13 November, 2007

‘Cham’, The Beach on Ice!

After the success of ‘Boy A’, which has just been made into a film, Jonathan Trigell’s second novel ‘Cham’ is about the quest for powder and forgiveness in Chamonix Mont Blanc.

Posted by picaroon at 06:56 PM
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Drought worries southern ski resorts

The mayor of Gap in the Hautes-Alpes has introduced water restrictions. From today it will be illegal to water gardens, wash cars or to fill private swimming pools. The mayor has asked everyone in the area to make an effort. The restrictions will be reviewed on the 2nd of December. The region has been suffering from a drought for some time with little rain over the last few months. Many reservoirs are lack water and there are worries that the shortage may have a knock on effect on the ability of ski resorts to make snow.

Posted by davidof at 06:33 PM
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Sunday, 11 November, 2007

Dynafit Se7en Summit Ski and Vertical ST binding

A review of the Dynafit Se7en Summits Touring Ski. We spent a weekend on this ski, equipped with the Dynafit Vertical ST binding (and not another manufacturer as we say in the video!). The glacier up at les Deux Alpes provided some testing conditions of hard snow and ice and we really liked the ski.

Posted by davidof at 05:20 PM
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Avalanche starters get year ski ban

The 19th of January 2006 was a particularly bad day in what was a particularly bad year. Meteo France had issued avalanche warnings after 50cm of fresh snow, accompanied by moderate to strong winds, formed slabs on north to east facing slopes. The avalanche risk was high (4/5) over much of the French Alps but the temptation of so much fresh snow was too much for many off-piste skiers. The result, by the end of the day five had been killed in avalanches and there were many less serious incidents across the region.

avalanche 19 jan

Posted by davidof at 03:35 PM
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Saturday, 10 November, 2007

A weekend with the Dynafit Zzero 4

Last week we spent a couple of days on the new Dynafit Zzero 4 C-MF boot, no touring, just skiing and walking and overall we came away with a favourable impression of this stiff ski touring boot.

Posted by davidof at 10:45 AM
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Friday, 09 November, 2007

Environmentalists take aim at snowmobilers

Yesterday saw the opening legal shots in a long standing dispute between the refuge Napoleon on the Col d’Izoard and the group SOS environment. The court case is in the Gap criminal court. The refuge is being prosecuted unter the French Mountain Law for using a motor vehicle on a highway normally closed to traffic due to snow cover.

stop snowmobiling
Image: Mountain Wilderness Italy