Review of French avalanche incidents for the winter 2013/14

Posted on: 2014-12-09 16:55:34 by davidof

Review of French avalanche incidents for the winter 2013/14

The 2013/2014 season saw 18 fatal avalanche incidents with 21 deaths in France. Well below the 30 year average. These figures were only bettered by the winters of 1988/89 and 2006/07 and don’t seem to reflect the early season headlines of the “most dangerous avalanche conditions for a decade”. So what happened?

The first incident occurred early in the Autumn on the glacier at Tignes. It had snowed 80cm over 3 days accompanied by strong winds and cold temperatures. The slab, triggered by a group of skiers near the Pointe de la Grande Motte, was on a 35-40° NE facing slope and some 30 to 60cm deep. It took two skiers and hit the closed snowpark and two small drag lifts, debris reached an open red slope.

November and the first half of December were characterised by a blocking high pressure which favoured the formation of a weak layer of hoar crystals throughout the snowpack. Some avalanche experts and snow professionals worried that the situation was similar to the deadly 2005/06 season and a series of incidents between Christmas and the New Year across the Savoies, Isere and Hautes-Alpes seemed to confirm this scenario. In Switzerland the Valais and Grisons saw an exceptionally long critical avalanche situation

December, twice the long term average fatalities in a ten day period

From the 21 to 30th December there were 6 fatal avalanche incidents, twice the average for the period. In particular on the 27th an avalanche dog trainer was killed checking the slopes above Courchevel to the refuge where he was the winter guardian. Concerned about the slope stability he’d positioned his son in a safe spot as a lookout while he crossed the slope. Somewhat omninously his avalanche dog had been killed at the same spot by a slide 4 years previously.

At Serre Chevalier there was a warning of the danger of terrain traps. A young snowboarder was skiing a small valley when he decided to climb the short 15 meter slope separating him from a ski run. A slab buried him under 2.5 meters of snow. Found by an avalanche dog after over an hour he did not survive.

January was avalanche prone with 5 fatal avalanches

There were a series of incidents between the 5 to 10 January without fatalities followed by an isolated incident on the 17th at the ski resort of Pra Loup when a local skier was caught by a small slab off piste.

At the end of January a storm cycle accompanied by strong winds created a period of considerable avalanche risk. On the 25th an avalanche on the Pointe de Rognier near Chambery caught two siblings.The sister was buried under just 20cm of snow but her brother was unable to come to her aid due to severe injuries sustained in the slide. On the same day a ski tourer on the steep Crocs route in the Vercors was carried over 500 meters downslope but suffered only minor injuries despite being taken over cliffs. He had actuated his avalanche airbag.

The next day two Danish skiers were killed skiing off piste at l’Alpe d’Huez near the col du Cluy. They were only reported missing the following day. At Auron, near Nice, an off piste skier triggered a thin windslab on a 40 degree slope in the notorious Dôme sector. He was buried under 70cm of snow. His avalanche beacon wasn’t switched on and he had been unable to actuate his avalanche airbag. He was found by pisteurs after 30 minutes under the debris using a Recco unit. The victim had been killed by injuries sustained during the slide on the steep rocky slope.

There was a rare avalanche in the Vosges when two climbers were carried 500 meters down the couloir du Grand Dagobert. They suffered severe injuries. Finally on the 31st a ski tourer was killed on the Grand Colon mountain above Grenoble after triggering a large slab avalanche. He was carried several hundred meters over cliffs which almost certainly proved fatal despite the quick intervention by his wife and other eye witnesses. Of note, the avalanche risk had been dropped to Moderate for the sector by Meteo France notwithstanding high winds and fresh snow.

Poor February weather kept skiers indoors or in the woods

The weather in February was very poor with a series of weather fronts sweeping across France. Mountains were frequently covered in clouds with fresh snow accompanied by strong winds. Trip reports showed that when skiers went out they favoured the wooded and generally safer terrain of ranges such as the Chartreuse. When the sun did appear, around the 12th and 25th of the month there were incidents.

On the 25th two British ski tourers were attempting a descent of Mont Buet near Chamonix. As they were skiing along the ridge one broke through a cornice and triggered an avalanche that took him 600 meters. Rapidly localized by his companion he had died as a result of his fall. The avalanche risk was Moderate.

March, snow and stabilization

The weather fronts continued through March although with warmer conditions. There were a series of incidents at the start of the month with a fatality on the Bellecôte above la Plagne when a skier was taken 400 meters over cliffs after triggering slab. The risk was Moderate. With the zero isotherm above 3000 meters at times a good freeze-thaw cycle stabilized conditions.

On the 29th two snowshoers were killed in the Pyrenees close to the Rabat les Trois Seigneurs by a purge due to the spring like snow conditions. Were they delayed by the technical nature of the route or did they not appreciate the snow conditions? The avalanche risk was Considerable.

The weather in April was dry and warm which further stabilized the snowpack punctuated by some weather fronts crossing the Alps and Pyrenees bringing limited periods of instability. Of note were two incidents in the Savoie on the 13th then the 15th where 8 and 7 ski tourers were caught by slides, fortunately with only 3 injuries. These incidents highlight the necessity of group spacing and the difficulties this can pose with popular routes such as the Combe à Marion in the Aravis, location of the first incident.

Winter came back at the end of the April even if Meteo France had stopped its daily avalanche bulletin but the Haute-Savoie prefecture had issued an avalanche warning due to fresh snow and high winds. A group of six ski tourers were climbing the south couloir of the Aiguille de Péclet when four of the group were taken by a slab avalanche. Two of the victims suffered severe leg injuries and due to the poor weather a ground based rescue was organized.

On the 4th May, following several days of snow, there were 4 avalanche incidents. Two fatal above the village of Bessans. Italian Mario Monaco, the first Italian to have skied Cho Oyu, was killed by an avalanche while climbing the Charbonnel. Nearby on the Albaron Chamonix guide Philippe Chillet was killed test skiing a slope with clients. The final slide of the season was also on the Charbonel when two Italian skiers were caught by a natural snow slide. Carried several hundred meters one of the skiers died as a result of injuries received in the avalanche.

Summary

So did the avalanche experts misjudge the early season conditions? The number of incidents over 10 days in December, twice the long term average for the whole month, would indicate that their fears were well placed. Looking at social skiing websites and the trip reports suggests that people did heed warnings with a preference towards routes with safer terrain. The poor winter weather, especially days of low cloud meant people either didn’t ski or stuck to wooded terrain with better visibility and as a side effect, less avalanche risk. At the same time the mild winter stabilized the snowpack after the December peak and the worst of the instabilities were concentrated in a region around the Isere and Savoie and the adjacent Italian border region. The danger was limited in area and time compared to the dramatic winter of 2005/2006. 75% of fatal incidents occurred during specific periods:

21st to 30th December - 7 fatalities
5th to 10th January - series of incidents with no fatalities
25th to 31st January - 5 fatalities
2nd to 8th March - 1 fatality
4th May - 2 fatalities

The recent trend in avalanche fatalities has been decreasing each season. Without more data it is dangerous to read too much into this. Over the last 35 years there tends to be a “dramatic” winter every 5 years with 40 or more avalanche victims. Snowpack factors are the principal cause of these outliers. However there does seem to be a meaningful reduction in the number of fatal incidents and in particular fatalities since the 1990s. Last season there were 1.1 fatalities per incident compared to the long term average of 1.5. Better equipment, better information and better training are three obvious factors.

Over the past decade the fleet of avalanche beacons has been renewed, evolving from basic analogue and simple digital beacons to advanced 3 antenna beacons with considerable computer assistance for users. This makes companion rescue faster.

Meteo France has also moved to a more detailed avalanche bulletin covering individual mountain ranges and there is increased information on ski sites about conditions. There are limits to this data. Meteo France doesn’t publish detailed bulletins outside of the core winter months and sometimes the information can be at odds with what is observed on the ground or the risk is hidden in the detail (especially level 2 days). Avalanche warnings may also come from local authorities, in particular ski resorts and the prefectures. This multitude of channels can be confusing. If you are in a ski resort the piste patrol are a good port of call for conditions, just don’t expect them to take a go/no-go decision for you.

Are we also seeing the effects of airbags in the stats? There were certainly a few deployments such as on the 2nd March when a 65 year old man escaped without a scratch when caught by an avalanche near the Buffère refuge in the Névache but would he have survived anyway? Looking through the incidents there are one or two where it is clear an airbag could have made a difference but then so could better decision making. Others - big slides or with tricky terrain traps, not so much. Then there is the incident at Auron where the airbag wasn’t deployed although the terrain, a steep rock garden, was fatal to the victim. Or that of Sylvain, killed on gentle slopes after skiing the Chaberton, not attaching the crotch strap of his airbag resulted in fatal internal injuries. As Canadian avalanche expert Pascal Haegeli notes “the benefits of airbags are quickly nullified if users use them to justify increased exposure”. That is even more the case if there are problems with usage.

A couple of notable incidents last season that don’t come into the scope of our report. Micheal Schumacher suffered severe head injuries skiing between the pistes in Méribel when he hit rocks concealed by thin snow cover. He was wearing a helmet. It was not an isolated accident. On the 2nd March a snowboarder was killed at les Deux Alpes after his head struck a rock. Again he was wearing a helmet.

In February Emmanuel Cabau, author of the well known Olizane ski touring guides was killed by an avalanche in Italy. His death shocked the ski mountaineering community. He had an 8 year old son and wife, she spoke about Emmanuel “he had lived 3 or 4 lives and knew the mountains intimately with a knowledge of snow forged on the ground over 25 years but, in spite of everything, he was caught out”.

Posted on: 2014-12-09 16:55:34 by davidof