Avalanche of hyperbole buries Euroskiers

Backcountry travellers risk being buried in an avalanche of hyperbole this winter as journalists and law-makers turn their sights on off piste skiers. Writing from the comfort of some Parisien brassiere the Guardian’s intrepid Lizzy Davies alluded to a “Winter of Terror” similar to 1999 or 1950 with “alpine residents living in fear” of avalanches raining down on their chalets. 

Lizzy continues with the warning that with the current weather conditions “the season of 2009/10 could spell disaster”, although the expert she consulted equivocated with “it’s too early to tell”. She even managed to link the events to global warming and melting permafrost.

Le Temps has been hunting for scape goats on the ground in the freeride mecca of Verbier where, according to Jean Moulin, commercial director of Verbier Sport Plus “off piste skiing is their main product”. For local rider Alexandra the problem is “Parisians who see us going off piste somewhere and think they can follow”. The deputy director of piste security Jean-Sébastien Maret makes the same point “A young freerider with large skis, a beeper, shovel and airbag knows what he is doing. A dad with two kids who ducks ropes and skis a slope that I wouldn’t ski without a maximum of precautions, oblivious to dangers, that happens a lot. The article concludes with the line “the best weapon to clear a slope of avalanches is a Brit!”

However Montagnes Magazine (special Snow and Avalanche, Winter 2009) paints a different picture. The typical victim is probably a local and maybe even a pro, guide or ski instructor. “The images painted in the press of an unskilled novice is in complete contrast to the reality”. Last year 12 French guides died in the mountains in avalanches and falls.

In a more considered article Simon Petite writes of the “Scapegoats of the white death”. Two avalanches, at Anzère and Zermatt, hit piste skiers luckily without injury. The resorts said they had been triggered by off piste skiers without explaining why runs below unsecured slopes had been opened. Swiss public opinion appears firmly ranged against off piste skiers if comments from a vox-pop by Le Matin are typical:-

* I can’t understand why off piste skiing is still tolerated?
* Off piste skiers have no consideration for others.
* Stop the massacare
* They need to be taken to court

However Petite notes that all the deaths have occurred while ski touring, and as at les Arcs in France one group was lead by a guide. “We are a long way from the image of freerider outlaws drawn by the press”, he continues. He says the ski resorts share responsibility. Marketing at Zermatt, les Arcs and Val Thorens plays heavily on images of skiers and snowboarders off piste in deep powder. He concludes that we live in a society that craves freedom but is not prepared to pay the price, that is obsessed with control but on the mountain slopes control is an illusion.

The Dauphine Libere has been leading the charge in France repeating the line that the avalanche risk was 4/5 (High) over Christmas. This has been widely reported by the British press including our own Lizzie Davies who commented that the weather had led “Météo France, the national meteorological service, to raise the avalanche warning this week to level four out of five”. In fact at Orelle where an instructor lead group was avalanched the risk was 2, as was the case for the British man who died on Corsica on Christmas day. The incidents at Le Tour and les Arcs were at risk 3. Still considerable but not unmanageable by experienced skiers. Only one death occured at risk 4, that of a French hospital worker ski touring in the Hautes-Alpes.

Italy has also suffered over the Christmas period when six people, two ski tourers and the rescue workers who had gone out to look for them, died in avalanches. An off piste skier died in another incident. According to the BBC Guido Bertolaso, head of Italy’s civil protection unit said he “had enough of our emergency workers losing their lives because people go off on excursions without taking into account the risks”.

Lets look at the figures. To the first weekend of January, in other words the end of the Christmas/New Year holiday period Switzerland has seen 3 fatal avalanche incidents and 9 deaths. Since 2001 the average number of fatal incidents is 3.25 with 3.5 deaths. Looking in more detail, 2008/9, 2004/5, 2003/4 and 2001/2 all had more fatal incidents at the same date although the total number of fatalities this year is exceptional due to a major incident in the Diemtigtal which killed 6 ski tourers and a rescue worker (doctor) in a secondary avalanche. France has had five fatal incidents and seven deaths compared to an average of 4 and 4.9. 2008/9, 2005/6, 2003/4 had more or as many incidents and 2005/6 and 2001/2 had as many fatalities.

So is this the start of something big? Well as the expert told the Guardian it is too early to say. Certainly a layer of depth hoar has formed on high north faces after a thin layer of snow was deposited at the start of November. The poor weather during the Christmas period certainly reduced the number of ski tourers and off piste skiers in the mountains. A few sunny days could have seen a big increase in the figures. However the yoyo temperatures and high altitude rain will have a stabilizing effect after any overloaded slopes have had time to purge. Below 2000-2300 meters we may finally have a good base and excellent off piste skiing and touring conditions with moderate avalanche risk. However above that level snow depths are above average. Backcountry travellers should be aware that the avalanche risk can increase very rapidly by climbing just a couple of hundred meters, say taking a ski lift to access some untracked bowl or by passing close to the base of steep slopes.

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