The CRS found a couple of women blocked by cliffs in the couloir d’Orcières above la Grave yesterday. They were dropped by helicopter in the village. Free heli rides in la Grave are quite the thing this season.

What a difference a week makes? Here is the Dent de Crolles on the 23rd March

and today

Still some instability about and a lot of wind from the E->NE which has cooled things down. Spotted this slab yesterday through the binoculars just below the North Couloir of the Ferrouillet, brêche Nord. That’s a NW slope, about 2300m altitude in the Belledonne.

The avalanche bulletin mentions the risk of small slabs at this altitude, particularly with the wind.

Over the last week we’ve lost 20cm of snow at 2300m at the Aigleton (NE slope) and 30cm at 1600 meters at La Gua (E slope). Thaw is more or less stable above 2600m

A weather system is blowing across the Northern Alps at the moment. Very heavy rain between Annecy and Chambery tonight but it is still very warm. Zero iso around 2200m with snow down to 2000m, dropping briefly to 1800m tomorrow. We’ve lost a lot of snow over the last week. 20cm at 3000m on the Bellecote, more like 30cm at 2300m and over 40cm at 1600m altitude.

If you are looking for fresh snow head above 2000m where there is around 5-20cm of new snow from the last couple of days. Avalanche risk has nudged up a bit to 2, but as we’ve seen this year that is not to be taken lightly.

The high altitude rain, to 2200 m this week in the French Alps, has caused quite a lot of fresh avalanche activity. Largely purges as the snowpack as become overloaded but also some slabs formed by the wind episodes such as this slab under the Roche d’Eveque in the 7 Laux area.

A sign that despite what looks like a fairly benign avalanche risk of 1 to 2 in the Isere there are some small slabs in place but the deposits can be quite extensive. Also an indicator of some weak layers in the snowpack. This particuarly slab is on a slope that is very often skied by tourers heading up to the Dent du Pra / Belle Etoile / Cabottes summits and there will almost certaintly be skiers in the area this weekend.

We saw a lot of activity off rocks, again not too many big slides but remember that a small slide may take the rest of the snowpack, particuarly later in the day.

Finally at 2200 meters we founds some fresh snow!

Other reports today indicate that south facing areas have really suffered. The popular Venetier valley in the 7 Laux backcountry was described as “barely skiable” and many people ended up doing U-turns as they discovered unskiable snow due to the lack of refreeze or purges in couloirs (couloir Davin for example).

On all mountain ranges the snowpack is below average beginning of April. However the conditions for skiing are still alright in the Northern Alps where snow is present in North facing slopes from 1100 to 1500 m. The Southern Alps have the poorest conditions, the snow line on North Facing Slopes is about 1700 m in the Hautes-Alpes and rosing to 2200 m in the Alpes-Maritimes. On the southern slopes the snow was less resilient during the mild and sunny days of March, the limits of snow are 400-600 m higher than the north side.

In the Pyrenees as in Corsica, the existing deficit persists. There is snow from 1800 m in the north aspects and south-facing slopes have no snow to 2100 m at least.

Snow has disappeared from the Vosges and covers only sheltered areas at the top of Jura and Massif Central.

The snow falling in these first days of April will barely change the situation

Northern Alps
March has been stingy with snow and the weather sunny and remarkably mild giving a very spring feel to the snowpack, including a very marked difference between snow on shaded and sunny slopes.

At the beginning of April, small snowfalls have occured above 2000 m. The snowline in northern slopes is around 1100/1200 m in Haute-Savoie, between 1300 and 1500 m in the rest of the Northern Alps.

At all altitudes, snow cover is well below normal, the deficit is usually between -30% and -50% (lower deficit, however, at high altitudes). The snow depth are:
- 1500 m: 60 to 80 cm in North Slope in general, but only 40 to 50 cm in the Maurienne mountains, the Grandes Rousses, the Vercors and Oisans, and even 0 cm in Haute-Maurienne; no snow on the southern slopes in all ranges;
- 2000 m: often between 1.50 m and 1.80 m in the north side, but 1 m to 1.30 m in the Vanoise, Maurienne and Isere mountains, and only 50 cm Haute-Maurienne, from 40 to 60 cm in general on the southern slopes, but only 10 to 30 cm in the Isere ranges, and 0cm in the Oisans;
- 2500 m: 2.40 m to 2.70 m in the northern slopes of the Haute-Savoie and the north of tje Savoie, 1.50 m to 2 m elsewhere; 1m to 1.60m on the southern slopes in Savoie, just 30 to 80 cm in the Isère.

Southern Alps
The lack of snow is very severe, especially in the south. It is between -40% and -60% in the north of the Hautes-Alpes, between -70% and -90% in the rest of the Southern Alps.

The limit of the snow lies between 1700 and 1900 m on north aspects in the Hautes-Alpes, between 2000 and 2200 m elsewhere. In southern slope, it is between 2300 and 2500 m.
Snow depths are as follows:
- 2000 m: on north aspects, from 30 to 50 cm in the Hautes-Alpes, Ubaye 10 cm and 0 cm in the Alpes-Maritimes, on southern slopes, there is no snow;
- 2500 m: on north aspects, 1 m to 1.10 m in the mountains of Tabor and Pelvoux, from 70 to 80 cm in the other massifs of the Hautes-Alpes, 50 cm in Ubaye and 20 to 25 cm in massive Alpes-Maritimes.

Corsica
The snow cover is also very deficient (deficit of between -50% and -75% depending on altitude and the mountains). The few small snowfalls that occur in early April at 2000-2200 m above do not change the situation.

The limit of the snow is about 1800 m on northern slope, 2200 m on the southern slopes.
At 2000 m, there are 45 to 60 cm of snow in the northern side, while there is no snow on the southern slopes.

Pyrenees

Small snowfalls in recent days have not significantly altered the landscape, the last major event occurred on 21, 22 and 23 March. In this episode, the snowpack has gained more than a meter of snow on the Canigou and 30 to 50 cm over the entire chain. The snow melted on the sunny slopes and is packed at altitude.

However, there is snow in North aspects from 1700/1800 m in valleys that are sometimes very well covered but southern slopes are snow free below 2,100 m. The automatic station at the Lacs d’Ardiden (Hautes-Pyrenees, 2400 m) currently shows 1.50 m of snow, which is below average, of around 2.10 m at this time of the years.

The snow cover is generally deficient and reflects the low rainfall this winter in the Pyrenees. Actual conditions of snow are comparable to those found on average in early May. But the situation may improve with snowfall announced for the coming days.

Vosges, Jura, Massif Central
There are no more snow on the Vosges.

In the Jura a small layer persists, mainly above 1200 m north slope and in forested areas.
The Massif Central, the snow is only present on the peaks above 1500m where there are 20 to 30 cm in shaded area.

Good skiing yesterday and still some good snow on north facing slopes today although snow levels are not great for the time of year at lower elevations.

A French ski tourer was seriously injured by an avalanche in the Roche Noire sector of Valmeinier yesterday. The man was found by his friend, a foot was visible on the surface of the slide, but despite a rapid intervention by the rescue services in the from of the CRS he is in a very serious condition. A group of ski tourers were also in a slide at Pralognan and another skier was carried by a slide close to the Promontoir refuge in the Ecrins. Both incidents were without injury.

The zero isotherm touched 2800 meters yesterday around midday then after raining continuously since yesterday afternoon we have about 20cm of fresh snow at 1500 meters altitude with snow down to around 900m in the Haute-Savoie (looking over at the Saleve above Geneva now). Some localized areas have had considerably more snow, up to 50cm. There were also some strong winds at the start of the episode from the NW / N. The Pyrenees and Southern Alps have seen similar amounts of snow. Depending on which bulletin you take the risk is now 3 at altitude (Haute-Savoie/Isere) or 3 generalized (Savoie). I would take a great deal of care if you go out over the next 48 hours. I didn’t see any weak layers (facets) on Sunday below 2300 meters but the different layers of new snow accompanied by wind could have formed weaknesses in the snowpack and this is accompanied by a frozen base.

The man killed on Sunday was Christophe Lavanant, an active and enthusiastic member of my mountaineering club in Grenoble. He was at 2800 meters when the avalanche struck. According to rescue workers the two skiers were 200 meters from the summit of the Roche Noire a little before noon when they changed slope aspect and at this point triggered the avalanche. Recovered in a critical condition from under a meter of snow he was transfered to Grenoble hospital later in the day and declared dead at 21h00.

Photo of a little slide kicked off by a skier on Thursday

not very deep but the deposit is quite substantial never-the-less.

Avalanche risk is generally 3 in the Northern Alps at the moment with about 20-30cm of fresh over the last 24 hours. Zero isotherm was briefly up around 2000m today which would have caused some purges.

There has been about 30cm over the weekend in the Northern Alps, it is now cold and quite windy. Conditions were humid below 1800m yesterday with zero visibility. The Pyrenees have got blitzed though, 60-80cm above 2000m altitude and now an avalanche risk of 4 over much of the range.

There was some very heavy snowfall up in the Pilat range between St Etienne and Clerment Ferrand yesterday. 130 cm in some areas completely blocking roads. Take a look at this video

http://www.francetv.fr/info/chutes-et-tempete-de-neige-dans-le-massif-du-pilat_84657.html

2 avalanche fatalities in Switzerland. In the first incident a 45 year hold Dutch national died in an avalanche around midday in the Anniviers areas in the Valais. He was ski touring from St Luc with a friend. The slide, in the N/NE facing Vallon de Tourtemangne under the Col de Vijivi at 2920m caught both men but one was able to stay on the surface and call the rescue services. The man was buried for 20 minutes under 80cm of snow.

In the Grisons a 24 year old resident of Bâle was killed by an avalanche near the Piz Linard (3411m). He was part of a group of five ski tourers. Two other members of the group were taken by the slide and one received minor injuries. The group were at 3000m meters altitude on a SE facing slope. In both instances the avalanche risk was 2/5 (moderate risk).

This brings to 17 the number of avalanche victims in Switzerland during the 2011/2012 season, 12 of them ski tourers.

see also: http://www.slf.ch/

Finally a teenager suffered a broken nose and mild hypothermia after falling 30 meters into a crevasse on the glacier de Girose (3500m) above la Grave. The crevasse was covered by a weak bridge of fresh snow.

Sorry I’ve been away a few days and had no internet access. As I write the Alps are getting absolutely blasted by a foehn wind. This is the view from the window,

I’ve not seen snow transport like this since 2010.

The wind and fresh snow over the last week caused at least one avalanche, in Chamrousse, yesterday

http://www.skitour.fr/sorties/croix-de-chamrousse,41620.html#sortie

The skier was surprised to trigger a medium slide on the Olympic Black piste, the resort has been closed since Friday.

Yesterday evening I noticed the first few purges and things will no doubt continue today as temperatures reach 25C - zero iso above 3000m.

This is a photo from last Friday showing the Croix de Chamchaude with rime ice

An indication of north winds during last week’s snowfall - the south facing slopes were pretty wind loaded close to the ridges.

up on the col-du-grand-saint-bernard last week

Have you been out the last couple of days?

Seems a bit sketchy over your way.

http://www.20min.ch/ro/news/romandie/story/Tu--dans-une-avalanche-malgr--son-airbag-21369149

Killed Despite his airbag

The freerider was swept away in the area between Tortin and Gentianes, police said Wednesday. The unfortunate man was skiing with a friend. Down first, he was carried several hundred meters through rock bands. Other backcountry skiers immediately rescued the victim who had remained on the surface after activating the airbag, but the Valais resident died at the scene of the avalanche.

This drama did not stop the first departures of the Patrouille des Glaciers, last night in Zermatt. The legendary race connects the station in the Upper Valais in Verbier. The organizers yesterday recommended the utmost caution the public asked to quickly leave high altitude areas.