I was going to write about how conditioins seemed to be stabilizing a bit as we enter March but then news reached me of Nicolas Wirsching’s death on the Grande Moucherolle in the Vercors. One of two avalanche deaths in the French alps this week.

http://pistehors.com/news/forums/viewthread/550/

I was on a similar but much less steep route than Nicolas’ today - the Pas de Rocheplane and there were quite a few microslabs near the ridge and one lower down in the crux. If you were on a steeper, more exposed route these could be problematic.

Back to the snow. The Foehn last week and rain to 1500m did a lot of damage. Conditions are poor in low mountain areas now. On east facing slopes the skiable snowline is around 1600m although you can ski lower on flatter forest trails or where snow has accumulated. However this causes a problem in itself, there were a lot of snow purges and avalanche corridors now have a lot of debris in them and slopes above lack snow as most of the slides below 1800m were full depth. Above 1800m snow conditions are good but there are some large slabs on north facing slopes above 2200 meters. On west slopes there was about 15cm of fresh powder on a hard base at 2000m. Transformed snow, or settled powder on east slopes.

Some warmer temperatures for the beginning of March and amidst many windslabs flushing, a seriously bigger avalanche went down Val de Courre at the Verrou where many people enjoy the view or even a picnic… That is the second time in a few weeks that this slope slides almost entirely.

Now cold temperatures are back, wind is still strong - and changes direction - and old and new windslabs are still around, a lot of ice everywhere. With the cold temperature, it is ‘relatively’ stable as is, but if fresh snow falls on that, avy risk will be strong. If it gets warmer, instability will also increase short term. Seems the snow is made of piles of various layers that don’t yet merge well… Spring will bring the solution, but obviously not this week.

Well… I’m assuming not many people are getting out there lately, the conditions have been quite unlike March. I just stumbled on this vid taken near Zermatt a couple days ago which pretty much summarizes the situation at mid mountain level. Warm and wet with snow purges going off everywhere… Stay safe!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkNZsNll8ys

Without going into hyperbole conditions are more like April than March. This is the Dent de Crolles this morning:

looks like we are a couple of weeks in advance of normal thaw conditions. The slopes are south-south-west facing between 1500-2000 meters at the summit. We had a weekend of tropical rain and strong southerly winds. If you can find sheltered bowls things are ok (between the avalanche debris).

... Same here, from winter to late spring in a week, from deep to grass on many slopes. Couloirs are still relatively good, if the night clears the morning should provide good conditions…

... and same here (Jura, pre-alpes and Zinal over the last three or four days), I was supposed to be in Kandersteg but that’s cancelled/postponed, usually very cold so it’ll be interesting to see how it is.

We had a “regel” last night which made for good spring conditions this morning.

But as you can see this ridge (at 2100m) is not in good nick. The mountains in the background (up to 3000m) look good though.

Plenty of big purges

A panorama here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/endlessride/4457736345/sizes/o/in/set-72157623680534340/

Second day in a row of pleasant sunny skiing.

Tuesday we drove to Orelle, paid 12.50 EUR to take the lift up to 2350m. Found the re-freeze much better than I’d have guessed from the forecast 0-isotherm. Went to Mt Gebroulaz (3511m) and Pointe du Boucher (3420m)—saw lots of people out having fun skiing moderate off-piste lines in bright sunshine—just a little fresh snow made it fun.

Wednesday we started by Col du Lauteret—too much clouds and wind coming from the southwest, so we drove down the west side. One of the skiers with local knowledge led us driving up thru Vaujany. Parked our car at the end of the road in sunshine and calm air. Skinned up to Col du Sabot, then I went higher to the top of Cote Belle (only 2395m) - found plenty firm snow skiing down the W face, then pleasant skiing on much snow down to say 1600m, then finished just skiing down the snowshoer-packed road.

All we did was:
* drive to the best approximation of clear night sky and morning sunshine.
* start before 9:30 in the morning.
* stay away from the Chartreuse.

Ken

Excellent couloir skiing conditions for the last 2 days in Sancy with a good refreeze… but rain is coming, then snow, difficult to predict the outcome yet!

More picts: http://ericlodi.posterous.com/cool-les-couloirs-du-sancy

After a morning meeting in Geneva I joined Junior and the missus at le Collet d’allevard for an afternoons ski. It must be the first time we’ve seen sun this season! Well almost. The pistes between 1450 and 1650 were closed, lack of snow. They are hoping to open them after tomorrow’s dumpage which promises 40cm (well 4cm maybe) at 500 meters in the Haute-Savoie and 1200 meters in the Isere. The upper bowl had plenty of snow but a bit on the warm side by 1pm.

I skied some off piste but on low angled slopes, not because of the avalanche risk but because the 30 degree slopes had taken too much sun and were too soft to ski safely. Off piste was generally good and I imagine it is great early on. Still all that will change again tomorrow with the fresh snow.

The photo flattens the slopes of the bowl. The whole area you see in front is off piste between 30 and 40 degree slopes. It is also avalanche prone but they normally close the access lift in this case. The triangular mountain on the right is the most interesting slope. You can also ski down to the valley des Bens on the north-east (hit these slopes early at this time of year) then skin back up. A few of the slopes on this side of the mountain had purged with avalanche debris in places. Not great to ski but higher up on the Petit Charnier conditions looked better.

Here is a little video to give you a taste of the conditions.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GS5YctVmlxI

The bottom of the Grand Moulins south-west couloir had purged with a couple of slabs just above the summer track. The upper 3/4 look skiable though as is the south face (but it is a long traverse).

Talking of the changing conditions a lot of soft snow type injuries at the moment it seems.

At la grave a german fracture his knee just before midday in the Chirouze couloir at la Grave and rescue services also had to airlift two skiers trapped on the glacier de la girose as well as a liftie who had an accident on a snowscooter. On the 23rd a French snowboarder was found off piste head first in the snow close to the Alouettes run. The boarder had suffocated under the snow. Police believe he may have blown a turn in the soft conditions and fallen head first into the snow and been unable to extricate himself.

Snowing at 1100 meters now in the Haute-Savoie (it was raining earlier on)

Heavy snow here in Tignes at the moment at 2100m. Big flakes with not much wind, so most welcome after some very warm unseasonal weather.

Take it back about the wind. Howling gale now!

Thanks for the mention about wind.
My experience skiing Thursday above 2500m on the Tour + Argentiere glaciers around Mont Blanc was that wind-affect on the snow was the main issue. Mainly that lots of the snow was firm and sorta crusty—not terrible for skiing, but not very good—so that the fun part was when I finally got low enough to reach some mushier snow.

Also that a substantial section of the Glacier du Chadonnet looked like the seasonal snow had been blown away so that the old glacial snow was exposed.

So I’m eager for some fresh snow with less wind—maybe around Tuesday?

Ken

P.S. Overall it was a nice tour Thursday on with lots of nice “sunny breaks” - (made a little more interesting when they told all of us waiting in line for the upper Grands Montets lift that we had to leave because they were having electrical problems with lift—perhaps also related to wind?). So I hiked up from Lognan over Col du Passon and continued to Col Superieur du Tour—the upper Tour glacier is a spectacular space. Then I found out that there is at least one bad way to get from the bottom of the glacier down to tour - (and was further surprised to discover back home that the GPS track recorded on my GPS was pretty closely following the ski-route line drawn on the IGN 1:25000 in my digital mapping software).

Howling wind over the ridges in the Haute Savoie today, good dry snow above 1500m, shocking cement below and down to the snowline of between 1000 and 1200m.

This pic taken at 1600m

Nice pic, that’s what I call getting tracked out.

Friday seemed to be the best of the recent days down in the Isere weather wise despite promises by Meteo Chance of a sunny Sunday. However unusually I was working on Friday and only got home at 9pm. The missus had his my alarm so I only managed to get up at 8am on Saturday. There had been about 10cm on the summits, from 1400m on the Belledonne to the east and 1200m on the Chartreuse. The Dent de Crolles had turned white-ish again. However the rain soon started and the summits were enveloped in cloud. I decided I had better stuff to do.

It probably snowed around 40cm over the weekend at altitude with some very strong winds over the night of Thursday to Friday. Sunday I’d promised to take junior to the Alpe du Grande Serre for the closing day. This resort lies to the south-east of Grenoble and has runs from 1350 to 2150 meters although it is difficult to cover all 800m of vertical in a single bound.

The off piste was very heavy, even at the summit of 2100 meters. It had maybe been better early on. The resort has some fairly slow chairs and drag lifts but the pistes are interesting, laid out in a couple of bowls.

I’ve toured and skied off piste here before and the area has a lot of potential. Particularly the extreme couloirs from the top of the Grande Serre which are easily lift accessible. I will try to write some more about the area later.

Prices for food are reasonable: a sausage / frites comes in at 4.50euros.