Reboot for Dynafit Fatal avalanche at Chamonix Lost French winter makes comeback Stable conditions and spring snow Silvretta FR800/Pure Freeride First Look Weekend of unstable snow conditions in the Isère 8 months for ski instructor Barryvox PULSE potential design flaw French Alpine Club in fatal snow slide Discovering the secrets of snow 22nd Pierra Menta ski mountaineering competition Vars ESF Director sees red! Haute Route with Google Earth files Ski tourers killed by avalanche near col du Galibier Low-tech returns to its roots Extreme to high avalanche risk in the Northern Alps

Wednesday, 28 March, 2007

Reboot for Dynafit

Dynafit has gone back to the drawing board with its new selection of ski touring boots available for the start of the 2007/8 season. Reflecting a redesign from the sole up the range has been aptly called Zzero. While Scarpa and Garmont are focussing on the sidecountry market with heavy touring boots that owe more to alpine designs Dynafit is keeping the accent on light weight.

Dynafit 2008 boot range

Posted by davidof at 07:54 AM
• (1) Comments • Read More... •

Tuesday, 27 March, 2007

Fatal avalanche at Chamonix

A skier has been killed after been carried over cliffs by a small avalanche yesterday. The accident occured in the Brevent sector around noon at 2100 meters altitude. The 27 year old man, a resident of Chamonix, was killed by the 30 meter fall.

Posted by davidof at 08:38 AM
• (7) Comments • Read More... •

Sunday, 25 March, 2007

Lost

You would think that a map and compass would be standard kit when heading into the mountains, especially with the low cloud that has enveloped the summits over the last week bringing with it almost zero visibility at times. Two major rescue operations this weekend and a number of other anecdotes suggest that many backcountry travelers are auditioning for a part in Lost.

poor visibility
Where did I leave the map and compass?

Posted by davidof at 06:00 PM
• (6) Comments • Read More... •

Thursday, 22 March, 2007

French winter makes comeback

It was panic yesterday in the tiny ski resort of Saint-Pierre de Chartreuse as winter made an unexpected return, or should that be start? With half a meter of fresh snow the piste director spent the evening ringing around his list of temporary staff in an effort to get some lifts running. Most had already headed for the coast to prepare for the summer season after a disappointing winter of lay-offs and short time working.

Posted by davidof at 11:49 AM
• (0) Comments • Read More... •

Thursday, 15 March, 2007

Silvretta FR800/Pure Freeride First Look

Last weekend we took a pair of Silvretta Freeride 800 skis for a test drive. These skis were equipped with a pair of Pure Freeride bindings. The FR800 is the top of Silvretta’s 2007/8 line-up. It is a mid-fat freerando ski built using a wood core and honeycomb construction. The graphics are very pleasant, a pair of burgundy stripes with a translucent top sheet. The FR800 has identical dimensions to the Atomic Sweet Daddy, 118-80-106mm. This gives plenty of float underfoot for powder. The ski remains light - in 175cm a pair weighs around 2800 grammes, 200 grammes less than the equivalent Sweet Daddy but the FR800 gains 3cm in length.

Posted by davidof at 09:11 PM
• (6) Comments • Read More... •

Sunday, 11 March, 2007

Weekend of unstable snow conditions in the Isère

The weekend has seen some very unstable snow conditions in the Isère following a drop in temperatures, strong winds and fresh snow down to 800 meters. On Saturday ski tourers in the department were surprised to trigger a number of avalanches in the mountains well below the 2400 meter level specified in the area’s avalanche bulletin where the risk moved from Moderate (2/3) to Considerable (3/5).

fare couloir vaujany
Fare canyon, scene of an avalanche today

Posted by davidof at 09:59 PM
• (1) Comments • Read More... •

8 months for ski instructor

A ski instructor, accused of manslaughter for not having respected his safety obligation towards his clients, has been sentenced to 8 months in prison (suspended) by the court in Nice. On the 4th of February last year Jean-Alexandre Echene, an experienced and popular ski instructor in the ski resort of Isola 2000, was hired by the Darmon family to guide them on some of the area’s off-piste runs.

Posted by davidof at 09:42 PM
• (2) Comments • Read More... •

Saturday, 10 March, 2007

Barryvox PULSE potential design flaw

The off/send button on the new Mammut/Barryvox PULSE tranceiver can be knocked to off, due to a very poorly designed and implemented on/off switch. I’ve just purchased two of the spankin’ new Barryvox PULSE transceivers, and both have the same major design fault! To turn them on the on on/off button is pulled sideways, and is meant to lock into ‘send’ and can then in theory only be turned off by pushing it AND the off button down together and then moving the whole switch to off.

barryvox pulse

Posted by Colin McCubbin at 02:31 AM
• (14) Comments • Read More... •

Wednesday, 07 March, 2007

French Alpine Club in fatal snow slide

A group of eight ski tourers from the French Alpine Club in GAP (CAF) have been involved in an avalanche incident above Saint Paul sur Ubaye close to the border with Italy. Four of the group were caught by the snow slide while they were ski touring in the area of the Aiguille Pierre André (2857m) at around 2,700 meters altitude.

Posted by davidof at 10:19 AM
• (1) Comments • Read More... •

Tuesday, 06 March, 2007

Discovering the secrets of snow

One of the big variables when starting ski or snowboard touring or going off marked and open ski runs is the snow. Is it safe? Will the conditions be skiable? Many, quite reasonably, leave such decisions to a guide or instructor so they can focus on the pleasure of riding acres of powder or gliding perfect spring snow.

snow