To keep Ian happy I will open this thread for business. On Sunday we were on the Dome de Pravouta a few minutes from my house. We made the mistake of going up 20 minutes before the snow plough had cleared the road which meant I did the last 1km in reverse gear (the Toy-Yoda is not the best winter vehicle and I couldn’t be @rsed to get the chains out). Here is some footage:-

http://www.vimeo.com/2426724

We’d settled on Pravouta after looking at the weather - strong southerly “foehn” wind blowing since Friday and poor weather on the Belledonne (cloud on the summits). Climbing up we had to keep close to the forest to keep out of the wind and this was the best route down although there were patches of crusty snow on the way down.

<http://www.bivouak.net/topos/course.php?id_course=386&id_sport=1>

On Monday I was finally tempted by a trip to Chamechaude, a classic for the Grenbobblois. There was snow cover from le Sappey. I took the “long” climb from the Chamechaude drag at 1250 where there was a compact 30cm base with 5cm fresh on top covering the tracks. It looked like it was going to be good. This was the first time I’ve not seen another person on this mountain. I had to make tracks to near the summit. I stopped short as the viz was poor and the fresh snow was getting quite deep, 20-30cm and I was alone.

Skiing down wasn’t great. Heavy snow with tracks making themselves felt below. From 1700-1500 meters there were a lot of rocks not far from the surface. Skiing back down the pistes of the col de Porte was fun though despite the best efforts of walkers and snowshoers to ruin the base .

I didn’t get out again this week despite Wednesday and Thursday morning being good. We’ve had another 10cm of fresh this afternoon with estimates of 30-40cm between now and Sunday in the French Alps. That should go a long way to cover the last of the rocks bringing a good start to December. Enjoy while you can. The current snow in the Alps doesn’t deserve all the hype but I guess ski resorts have to clutch at straws. One insider said that the main reason we are seeing so many early openings is not the “exceptional conditions” but the fact that many resorts are getting much better prepared to open their runs when the have snow. I was at les 7 laux on Sunday afternoon piste skiing and the conditions on piste were pretty good with excellent preparation by the resort.

Probably goes without saying that there is a risk of avalanche in the Alps this weekend.

http://pistehors.com/news/ski/comments/0867-meteo-france-warns-of-avalanche-risk-december-2008/

Two soldiers who undertook a ski tour in the Ghisoni range of Corsica on Thursday have been recovered safe and sound by a Super Puma helicopter belonging to the army yesterday. The men, said to be very experienced, contacted the rescue services by telephone late on Thursday to say that they had become disoriented in the poor weather. The PGHM (mountain police) helicopter was unable to take off due to poor weather. The Army’s Super Puma is capable of flying on instruments only, a good exercise for the pilots in the difficult mountains of Corsica. One of the men was recovered by the helicopter suffering from a night in the freezing temperatures. His colleague was then able to descend on skis.

Similar situation on the plateau d’Emparis near la Grave where two teenage walkers spent the night in a refuge before being recovered by the PGHM from Briançon this morning.

Massif Central nicely wrapped in snow and frost. Piste and hors-piste are both enjoyable.

Looks great, I didn’t get to ski, too busy, but here is a pic of Vercingétorix and the Puy de Dome

Nice shot! 

Dolomites and Sudtirol are getting tons of snow this season.  Here is how it looks for the next days:

http://www.meteoexploration.com/

And these are the current conditions in Tirol:

p.

Looking good. We’ve had snow down to valley level overnight and it is looking “all white” outside. I got out on Monday before the current weather front came in. This is Bruno on what looks like a ski piste at the bottom of the Pointe d’Andey

in the Haute-Savoie. Actually that’s just the effects of a hundred randonneurs who were up there on Sunday.

I’m looking at low angle, tree lined stuff once the weather clears on Friday.

Franck Chevallier found much better conditions in the Pointe d’Andey this morning:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TCXgaEL6qM

I’ve been up on the Saleve the last couple of days. That’s the big lump of rock just behind Geneva. Friday wasn’t great. Cold and grey and too much snow although the route would be good for Nordic skiers or snowshoers. More risk of a tree overloaded with snow falling on your head than an avalanche.

Today I was back on the Saleve by a slightly steeper route, the Couloir de Convers. I thought this track was a bit of a secret so was surprised to see ski tracks that must have been laid down on Friday. They had followed the summer trail up and down and made climbing a bit easier.

From the summit you could see the Haute-Savoie. Here is the Tournette above the Annecy lake and you can see a lot of wind transport. The wind has been blowing strongly from the south and moved a lot of snow onto north facing slopes. The nights have been cold and there are weak layers on those slopes. Not somewhere I would be skiing at the moment.

The snow off the top of the Plan du Saleve (1348 meters) was windblown at first but pretty soon turned to powder.

There is almost a meter at 1300 meters and 30cm at 700 meters. A very good start to the season. The snow had improved overnight. The base had consolidated but the surface had been kept cold and light by the clear night (at 5pm tonight it was already -4C at 700 meters). The slope wasn’t really steep enough here to lay nice tracks, hence the tramlines.

and it would get even flatter!

Here is a view of the Genevois, the plane behind is at 400 meters and has a fair covering of snow.

Just a reminder to take care. A British snowboarder was seriously injured today off piste in la Plagne. The accident occured at 14h00 in the Couloir Rosset at 2300 meters. He was part of a group of four boarders in the couloir.

There was also an avalanche in the Massif Central in an east facing bowl between the Puy de la Tâche and the Puy Barbier. The slide happened just under a narrow section. The skiers were surprised as grass was visible on the slope. The slab broke at the point the first skier turned and the slide took his partner at the top of the slope. The first skier rolled into a ball to protect his airways and found himself close to the surface of the slide when it came to a halt. He had lost his skis and poles in the avalanche. He checked the surface of the slide and saw a ski pole which was moving. This was his friend who had been completely buried but was just below the surface. Impossible to dig himself out. No injuries but a big scare and a missing ski.

http://www.skitour.fr/forum/read_91098.html

Grimentz yesterday :

And Zinal last week :

Some interesting lines in the 2nd photo Ian. They look like strong skiers but I’m not sure I would be taking convex slopes with the cliff.

News of another slide in the Massif Central. This time in the Chaudefour valley by the Moine. Three skiers involved, one completely buried and recovered unconscious. Maybe Eric knows about this?

davidof - 15 December 2008 10:33 AM

Some interesting lines in the 2nd photo Ian. They look like strong skiers but I’m not sure I would be taking convex slopes with the cliff.

It’s pretty safe, it’s a piste when the resort is fully open and the pisteurs make it safe. At least one of those tracks is a pisteur who chucked the explosives

davidof - 15 December 2008 10:33 AM

News of another slide in the Massif Central. This time in the Chaudefour valley by the Moine. Three skiers involved, one completely buried and recovered unconscious. Maybe Eric knows about this?

From what I heard, it was in Couloir du Moine in Chaudefour, on Saturday like the other windslab on Puy de Barbier a few kilometers more North. I don’t know much, except that they were rescued by another 2 skiers following on the same itinerary and by the rescue helicopter. One was said to be buried 2 meters deep.

Both slopes involved are facing East, not a surprise as the successive snowfalls came with strong westerlies. During the previous week end some skiers went to the East couloirs in Val d’Enfer (Puy Redon Y, Collangettes...). It looked scary with the visible accumulations at the top of these couloirs… but nothing happened - luck. This Saturday 5 were caught in avalanches, very lucky to end up with a big fear only… I was skiing in Lioran and noticed that the temperature at the resort went from -7C to +3C in about 3 hours with bad weather coming. If the same thing happened in Sancy, I has certainly added to the snow unstability already present with accumulations and windslabs.

If East slopes are certainly loaded with threats - now hidden by the more recent snowfall - other directions are not totally safe either, as the wind has blown strongly from all directions in the last weeks…

The point being, in Massif Central as elsewhere, that the first snow cover is very attractive… but particularly unstable… We were referring many years ago as “spring ski” for ski touring and it made some sense! The elders also told us to stay at home 3 days after a snowfall. Rule of thumb, not sufficient for sure, but much better than guessing and trying and following tracks - or absolutely willing to touch untracked territory - as we see too often these days.

To conclude, “un bon skieur est un vieux skieur”, a good skier is an old skier!

Take care and stay safe

Thanks for the update, with avis in the MC and Jura we are going to have to be very careful after the next snowfall.

here is some a description from one of the following skiers posted on Skitour

I was part of a group of 4 skiers that came to the aid of the 3 caught in an avalanche in the couloir du Moine on Saturday just before 14H00. We had descended into the valley by the couloir just below the Puy de la Perdrix. A small warning in the first couloir, a slab of 10x5 meters but only 3-4cm thick was triggered by one of us in the only spot that seemed risky : a little accumulation between two rocks. The rest seemed to have more been cleaned than loaded by the wind. We decided to continue our tour all the same and we headed for the Moine saying to ourselves that we would decide at the foot of the couloir whether we would climb or not. Reassured by another group in front of us (it’s stupid I know) we started to climb by the side of the couloir by a small parallel valley. In the first quarter a big blast, the avalanche passed just beside us with two skiers swimming on the surface, before being buried near the bottom of the slide.

The third member descended as quickly as possible joined by two of us, we knew there were two victims. Given the small search area one of us took the time to dial 112 (European rescue service number). The first victim was localized very quickly (4 to 5 minutes) and dug out even faster as they were lying just under the surface. Completely lucid he finished by freeing himself and a few minutes after helped with the search for the second victim. The avalanche beacons continued to give us exactly the same indication as the first victim, we decreased the sensitivity to below 8 meters and the signal vanished, at least for two of us. We checked and rechecked that all our beacons were in receive mode. Difficult to make a fine search with an intermittent signal. We found something with a probe at 1m50 to 2 m depth, we started to dig while asking ourselves if were losing time, not certain about the indications given by our beacons, it seemed completely impossible that two victims were in the same spot. After some (too much) time we spotted a bit of a hood. Some minutes later we freed the victim’s face and a few seconds later her lips started to move. A huge relief. 15 minutes had long since passed.

We dug as fast as possible to recover “M”. Not easy to do without getting in each other’s way, the hole was very deep. She was buried on her knees, her feet were about 3 meters below the surface. I called 112 again to tell them we had found everyone and the important thing was to evacuate the victim who had been more than 20 minutes under the snow. “M” recovered consciousness slowly, surprised by all the people around her. Another 30 minutes before the helicopter arrive, with rescue workers and avalanche dog, then the doctor and finally the evacuation of the two victims.

Two of us left for Super-Besse by the GR (we arrived at night in a storm) and two others descended to the bistrot where we picked them up 3 hours later.

http://www.skitour.fr/forum/read_91098_2.html