Monday, 18 February, 2008
Smog blankets Alps
The long period of high pressure has resulted in a smog cloud settling on the French and Swiss alps below 800 meters altitude. The pollution alert reached 9/10 (bad) on Saturday as thousands of tourists crossed the region heading for the ski resorts. The French love of diesel cars doesn’t help matters. However road transport is not the only culprit. The fine particle cloud is also the result of domestic heating and industrial emissions such as waste incineration.
Smog in the Arve valley yesterday
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Wednesday, 13 February, 2008
Alps snow holding up despite record temperatures
Meteo France is reporting that snow cover is good in the Alps and Corsica, but only above 1500 meters. However the Pyrenees is suffering from a second year of poor snow with cover only starting from 1300 to 1500 meters on north faces and 1800 meters on southern slopes.
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Mystery of bodies in the woods
The bodies of two skiers have been found yesterday evening at the foot of a couloir in la Grave. The first body was discovered by a mountain guide in the vallon d’Orcière at 2000 meters altitude. A helicopter search of the area by the High Mountain Police from Briançon discovered a second body 100 meters higher up at the foot of the cliff face.
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Tuesday, 12 February, 2008
Ski Accidentology
It’s said that journalists “never let the facts get in the way of a good story”. When the facts concern snow, avalanches, swanky Alpine ski resorts and junketting doctors the press pack is out in force. The office phone was ringing hot last week as British journalists tried to find an interesting angle on the death of a 40 year old doctor in Val d’Isère.
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Monday, 11 February, 2008
Missing snowboarder records “last message” on digicam
It was to be the perfect end to a week spent in les Deux Alpes. A trip down freeride Mecca of the vallons de la Meije above la Grave. The only problem, the five young Belgium snowboarders were not properly equipped and didn’t have the necessary level for the adventure that would turn into a nightmare.
The Girose
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Wednesday, 06 February, 2008
Climber identified after half a century
The remains of a climber, frozen in ice, along with a crampon were discovered in September 2007 on the Tré la Tête glacier at around 3000 meters altitude and started the High Mountain Police in Chamonix (PGHM) on a long quest to discover his identity.
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Boarder found dead at Pra Loup
There have been a number of accidents over the last couple of days. A ski tourer was caught by an avalanche on the north face of the Grand Colon close to Grenoble on Sunday. He was carried 100 meters over small cliffs but was not buried. He suffered from a broken ankle and other injuries and was taken to hospital by helicopter. Witnesses described the conditions as delicate because of around 40cm of fresh snow and very strong winds.
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Thursday, 31 January, 2008
Time to retire the Ortovox F1?
Ortovox have recently advised users of the ORTOVOX F1 Plus, manufactured in the early 1990s, that their beacons cannot be serviced and may need to be replaced. A recent study by Thomas S. Lund (Signal Strength vs. Signal Timing - The Avalanche Review - Vol 26/2) questions whether it is time to retire other analogue beacons including the venerable Ortovox F1 given that there may be compatibility problems with more recent digital beacons.
Please read ORTOVOX comments on the F1/F1 Plus
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Tuesday, 29 January, 2008
Bust up between la Clusaz and the Croix Fry
Over the summer ski resorts have been busy. Improving ski runs modernizing ski lifts and, a key marketing tool, adding links between disparate domains. But not in the Haute Savoie where relations between some resorts have become decidedly frosty, unlike the above average temperatures this January.
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Friday, 25 January, 2008
The Beaufortain gets a Beacon Basin
A new avalanche beacon training area has opened in the Areches ski resort in the Beaufortain mountain range. The Areches is the home of the Pierra Menta ski mountaineering marathon so it seems appropriate they have made this move.
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