The conditions in Alaska are awesome right now, it’s the darkest week of the year, but skiing great.  I’ve been jealous of the reports I’m seeing from Europe, so figured I’d share.

We didn’t see anyone but a couple Ptarmigan hunters.

Skied the face bellow Saturday, we skinned up a ridge out of the photo too the left.

Skied the middle chute Sunday, booted directly after a 20 mile snowmobile ride.

And here is a little video, skiing with some snowmachining. 

We found very stable conditions, but we did have a women completely buried by a slide that broke on the facets above the ground, but she was rescued and survived.  Details on that here.  Stay safe out there everyone

It is certainly shaping up to be an epic winter. Here is some more information on on the Puy Barbier avalanche in the Massif Central

http://www.data-avalanche.org/alea_avalanches/view_item/Avalanche/50000248

The snow is causing a lot of problems. At Val d’Isere there is 150cm at the bottom of the slopes. The weather conditions caused the Ski World Cup to be cancelled. The avalanche risk as at Extreme (5/5) which means ski runs and buildings are threatened. The village of Fornet was cut off by the “Branches” avalanche which was 3.5 meters deep.

Scot Mark Wilkinson who runs a shop in Val d’Isere was surprised to return to his bedroom to find it had been invaded by an avalanche of snow. Memories of the catastrophic winter of 1970 when 30 school kids were killed in the UCPA chalet while eating breakfast. “Wilky” had forgotten to shut his special avalanche proof shutters.

Many thanks to Henry Schniewind ( http://www.skioffpiste.co.uk/ ) and Mark Wilkinson for this report. There are some more photos on TGR - http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/showthread.php?t=143825

Avalanches and snow drifts have also blocked the roads to Val d’Isere and Tignes. The highways department is working around the clock at the moment. Snow chains are mandatory for all vehicles leaving Bourg St Maurice for ski resorts.

In the Queyras an avalanche has damaged a number of houses and also part buried a 12 year old at the bottom of the ski runs. In the Maritime Alpes four houses have been damaged by an avalanche. No one was hurt by the slide.

The situation doesn’t seem to be improving with 80cm of fresh snow in Tignes and more heavy falls expected on Tuesday and Wednesday.

There was an avalanche above Bernex/Thollon-les-Mémises on Sunday involving four skiers. One of the skiers suffered a broken leg in the slide.

There are a lot of problems in the south, the col de Montgenevre has been closed and a lot of the villages in the Queyras are cut off.

Two alpinists also spent an uncomfortable night at the bottom of the Aiguille du Midi ridge. Surprised by the strong winds they were unable to climb to the cable car station at 3800 meters for the last tram of the night.

Parts of the Haute Maurienne are also cut off. Over a meter of snow has fallen at Bonneval-sur-Arc.

Thanks for that translation further up this post. It sounds like the rescuers did a fine job. It also sounds like a good situation to have one of the modern ARVA’s, searching for two victims that have been buried in close proximity is a pain in the head with just a bleep (or 2) to go by!

We curtailed our plans because of the conditions in the Chablais. The trailhead in the Valley de La Manche was rammed on Sunday with most parties heading up the Col du Cou or the Tete de Bostan, we went between the two, pictures here http://www.chaletgeorge.com

Terres Maudites? you just know that’s going to be a bad day!

That’s why I kept my distance!

A big change in conditions this week with the foehn wind and warm weather. Today I was on my own and down in Grenoble so headed for the Chartreuse and la Pinea

from the hamlet of le Croz you follow forest trails before exiting onto the south east face at around 1600 meters. You then zig zag up to a small couloir which accesses the summit. The snow at le Croz was 1100 meters was humid and crusty in places. This turned to dense powder from 1300 meters with a crust where it had caught the sun. The only positive thing I could take from this is that it had cleaned out some of the weak layers at low altitude and would provide a solid base when the cold weather returns mid-week.

First thing I noticed exiting the forest a lot of snow transport from the north-west wind. In the first part of the couloir the snow seemed to be a bit slabby. I was only around 25 meters from the summit and had wanted to take some pictures of the Grande Sure. I looked at the terrain, even a small slab could take me 10-15 meters over rocks and anything bigger and the woods were just below. I did some small test blocks. The 10-15cm of fresh that had fallen on Thursday was cohesive but did not bond at all with the base, it just slid straight off.

I decided not to chance the summit.

The face was windblown snow, a mixture of textures. The woods were not bad and recently clear in most places although not really open enough to let it rip. Risk 3 seems to be justified anyway.

Excellent snow conditions on glacier du Toule last week. No avalanche accidents on the Hellbronner so far this year. Check out the pictures at http://www.mountain-spirit-guides.com/gallery.asp?galleryID=65

the wind has caused some terrible snow around Courchevel,
the sun is forecast for a week, its sunny over here in bourg st.M as i sit poaching wifi in mackys, so hopefully the snow will begin to stabalise.

powder is on my christmas wish list!

I was in the Maurienne today. We climbed from St Columban up to the Selle du Puy Gris. The conditions were not too bad. Mix of thin crust, 15cm of powder on a hard base (sometimes avalanche debris) and some spring like snow. If I wasn’t so tired from the climb it would be quite enjoyable. It seems like you’ve got to aim for high east-west valleys that have been sheltered from the north/south winds of the last week and the warm temperatures.

I’m back in the midwest visiting family, they have an unusually healthy amount of snow, so were re-visiting some stuff from childhood

cannonsburg

sugarloaf

sleeping bear dunes

it’s shaping up to be a pretty good winter by midwestern standards

Massif Central has widely varying conditions depending on the place and time of the day

From soft spring snow

To ultra hard and icy winter crust

And a lot of wind and frost materials

Merry Christmas and happy holiday!

Looks like the snow is holding up well in the Massif Central. Yesterday we toured up to the Cime de la Jasse. Since the access road was closed it has been much less popular, it is now 1400 vertical meters to the summit. The snow was transformed, spring snow on east to south-east slopes at around midday when we skied down.

but still some light powder in the forest

The snow was much better between 1400-1800 meters than higher up where it had really been beaten by the wind. We are hoping for a few cm tomorrow but we really need to see some more snow in the Northern Alps to avoid a repeat of last year.

I was in Chamrousse above Grenoble today. There was around 3-5cm of snow (Meteo France had promised a large dump earlier in the week) in the early morning but winds were extremely strong from the north and most of the fresh snow had long since blown into the either. The sun wasn’t strong enough to melt the snow on south facing slopes, as a consequence the conditions were very hard albeit with a good surface grip. Great where there were no frozen tracks lurking below. North facing slopes were a mix of crust and fresh although you can find a wind crust on north facing slopes and sun crust on south facing slopes if you are unlucky. Anywhere near a ridgeline is bare of snow now! In short the condition range from poor to average.

Here is a look at the Grandes Rousses from the Grand Galbert yesterday afternoon

With 10 days of clear weather we are firmly into spring skiing conditions, at least on sheltered south-east facing bowls. Higher up the snow is windblown and on south-thru-west the sun is not strong enough to melt the crust. We found some powder on north facing slopes, but it is quite compact. The snow is starting to destructure in the cold - which doesn’t bode well for stability after the next snowfall, at least on north sector slopes.