The central Pyrenees has been blasted by a storm bringing over a meter of fresh snow in some areas. As a consequence the avalanche risk is 4/5 over a number of mountain ranges. Meteo France's avalanche services has warned of a "very unstable snowpack". With fresh, windblown snow. Fresh snow avalanches have already been seen on steep slopes even at quite low altitudes (1900m). The fresh snow cover is very significant over the weekend with windblown snow over 2000m altitude. MF has warned of "large category 4 natural avalanches which may take the whole snowpack", roads may be affected by these slides. There are also slabs in place that can be triggered by a single skier or snowshoers.
On Friday night two teenages had to be rescued after embarking on a snowshoe tour above Bareges. They had hope to spend the night in the Glere refure at 2000m altitude. Exhausted by the quantity of snow they had to call the rescue services around 17h00. They were evacuated by a ground rescue around 21h00 in poor weather conditions.
Check local advice and the avalanche bulletin before travel. There are restrictions on a number of roads in the area. Yesterday 600 vehicles were blocked overnight on the A89 highway in the Massif Central after a number of drivers without winter tires found themselves in difficulty.