We’ve spent the last few days touring in the Maurienne, Grands Rousses and Belledonne areas in a mixture of conditions from choppy powder to perfect spring snow. After a fairly lively Saturday with a lot of avalanche activity conditions seem to have stabilized, at least below 2500 meters with the major risk being wet snow avalanches and purges in the afternoon. East facing slopes were in condition from 10am but the snow quickly turned soft under the warm, spring sun.
Grand Replomb North couloirs
The sun is now high in the sky during the day and even north facing slopes are getting pretty warm. The weekend’s powder was not that deep and sitting on a hard, icy base. Conditions that suited fatter skis with some float such as the Silvretta FR800s that we tested. There was a lot of avalanche debris under powder which called for care. Winter is set to return from the start of next week with a northern air stream and perhaps 30cm of fresh snow falling to quite low altitudes. Given that the snowline is now around 1200-1400m this will be most welcome.
Dent Noire de Bédina