Snow Report for Christmas Week 2006

There has been little fresh snow since the 8-9 December except in the Southern Alps close to the border with Italy. Many resorts opened on the 23rd for the Christmas week but on artificial snow below 2000m. The week was marked by strong winds from the east on the border with Italy and these formed some new slabs on lee slopes particuarly in the Haute-Maurienne and Hautes-Alpes. A skier was trapped by an avalanche in the Champsaur area on Christmas Eve and we noted some slabs in our video bulletin.

Posted by davidof on Monday, 25 December, 2006 at 10:18 AM

A group from the Web community SkiTour also triggered a fairly large avalanche on the Coupa on Saturday (23/12). The slopes are reputed to be very avalanche prone.

http://www.skitour.fr/sorties/la-coupa,4468.html#sortie

The slide was 70m wide and about 70-80cm deep, large enough to bury someone. After triggering the slide the group, who had just attended an avalanche course, noted that the slope was around 35 degrees, in the lee of strong winds and they hadn’t left enough space.

A group in the Combe Charbonnière at l’alpe d’Huez also noted avalanche activity on Christmas eve.

http://www.skitour.fr/photos/avalanche-de-plaque,4465-2.html

Posted by davidof on Tuesday, 26 December, 2006 at 06:06 PM