Backcountry Skiing and Snowboarding

Tuesday, 08 January, 2008

Love Shack

Love is in the air for French ski resorts. In an effort to attract new clients and differentiate themselves from the hyper-domains, Valmorel in the Savoie and les Orres in the Hautes-Alpes are both running their own version of blind date to warm up the cold month of January.

snow dating

Posted by davidof at 07:55 AM
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Sunday, 06 January, 2008

Ski tourer killed by Hautes-Alpes avalanche

A ski tourer has been killed by an avalanche close to the col de Malaure in the Abriès range on Saturday. This is the first avalanche fatality in the Hautes-Alpes department this winter. The victim, named as 27 year trainee ski instructor old Alexia Garcin and local to the Queyras, was with two friends. They were on a route they new well but had to change their itinerary due to poor visibility.

Posted by davidof at 10:10 PM
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Wednesday, 02 January, 2008

Beware of tracks!

On snow the sayings go: To make the first tracks one can be tempted into stupidity and when a slope is covered in snow it can anaesthetise one’s caution, forgetting basic safety rules. This is a little story with a lesson.

avalanche north face bellecote

Words and pictures by Didier Givois

Posted by davidof at 10:11 AM
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Tuesday, 01 January, 2008

Happy anniversary le Corbier

The Savoie ski resort of Le Corbier opened its doors 40 years ago last weekend but the gestation of the resort was not an altogether happy affair and would lead to the ruin of a family. Unlike many promoters Christian Guerin was not a rich industrialist or banker. He had made his money playing in Jazz bands in Paris chic St Germain des Pres district but the arrival of “anglo-saxon” pop had left him without work. A chance meeting with Maurice Michaud, the government official in charge of development ski resorts, would change his life.

le Corbier
St Germain des Neiges

Posted by davidof at 04:23 PM
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Vallorcine renews off piste ban

The mayor of Vallorcine, Patrick Ancey, has passed a bye-law for the start of the 2007-2008 season banning off-piste skiing in 2 sections of his community and restriction access to a third sector to days when the avalanche risk is less than 3 (Considerable) on a scale of 5. The ban has not gone down well with snow professionals in the Chamonix valley. Mr Ancey is up for re-election in the spring of 2008.

Posted by davidof at 03:30 PM
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Sunday, 30 December, 2007

Vosges climbers injured by snow slide

Two climbers have been injured by an avalanche in the Vosges massif yesterday. The climbers, a man aged 45 and a woman of 35 were in the Y couloir near to Falimont on the north side of the Hohneck. They were not buried by the slide but suffered from a number of fractures.

Posted by davidof at 05:12 PM
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Thursday, 27 December, 2007

Faction’s Fat Twins

Verbier based Faction Skis lives by the slogan “Nothing but Fat Twins”. We caught up with Entrepreneur Alex Hoye and Graphic Designer Tony McWilliam up on the glacier at les Deux Alpes. Melbourne based McWilliam took us through the range. For the park there are two skis with 92mm underfoot, the Dillingen 168cm and the Wednesday 178cm. For Backcountry freestylers the 3Zero in 183cm and its bigger brother, the Thirteen 191cm. Both have an ample 112 mm at the waist.

Posted by davidof at 10:22 PM
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Sunday, 23 December, 2007

Ski tourer killed by Pyrenees avalanche

A 35 year old ski tourer has been killed by an avalanche in the Hautes-Pyrénées close to the ski resort of Val Louron. The deceased was named as Stéphane Sabathé. Originally from Tarbes and a resident of Toulouse was accompanied by a his wife and a friend. They were able to remain on top of the slide and were slightly hurt and in a state of shock.

Posted by davidof at 11:52 PM
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Wednesday, 19 December, 2007

In the heart of an avalanche

Lots of people give advice about what to do when caught in an avalanche but how many of them have actually been through the nightmare of white death? The ski resort of les Deux Alpes wants to do exactly that to visitors, but in complete security thanks to a simulator dubbed The Robocoaster. The simulator is the brainchild of local businessman Marc Dode who lost a ski instructor friend and his client in an avalanche several years ago.

robocoaster

Posted by davidof at 10:35 PM
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Thursday, 13 December, 2007

Artificial snow, a short term fix?

The Swiss Federal Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research located in Davos have just released a monster 189 page tome in German studying the effects of snow canons on the mountain economy. I’ve only had time to read the “shorter” 35 page version. The overall conclusion is that while artificial snow is essential in the short term for the economic stability of ski areas long term it has no future below 1500 meters.

snow canon