A series of avalanches across the French Alps this weekend has left four dead as well as a number of injured.

You guys probably know more about Chris Davenport than me. The 43 year old Aspen pro skier has climbed and skied on Everest as well as winning the world extreme ski championships. Twice.

As anyone who looks at the French avalanche bulletins will notice there is a lot of risk 3 (Considerable danger) and risk 4 (High) announced at the moment.

Le Matin Swiss has published a fuller interview with Dominique Perret.

The 7 Laux ski resort has been doing avalanche control work in its famous Vallons du Pra sector today.

After the deadliest start to the ski season for 15 years in the Swiss Alps an article in Swiss newspaper Le Matin warns that the avalanche situation is so bad that even pros don't want to go off pi

The last few days of 2013 have seen quite a few avalanche accidents, in part due to the number of holiday makers in the mountains, in part due to the current conditions.

The CRS des Alpes in Briançon has issued the following warning: The snowpack in the Hautes-Alpes is particuarly unstable at the moment, something that is at odds with what you may read in the avalanch

Despite early season snow, conditions have been a bit poor in recent weeks outside of open ski runs where cold night weather has enabled some snowmaking.

Conditions at the moment are similar to the start of the 2005 / 2006 season which saw a record 57 avalanche deaths in France. A thin snow-pack with very strong temperature gradients.