Weekly report from HAT - 28/03/08

Henry's Avalanche Talk

Snow report from Henry

Snow report March 27, 2008

What an amazing couple of weeks. Rarely have I seen so much snow and such a stable snowpack at the same time.

The snows that are coming now (end of week of March 24) are supposed to be fairly light, in terms of accumulations and in consistency, throughout the Northern French Alps and surrounding areas.

Look for leeward slopes and the best skiing is on low angle sheltered slopes. There has not been that much avalanche activity. Also we have found that slopes in between windward and leeward firmer and holds you up. Winds have been coming from west and northwest. So often there has been good skiing on east facing.

Current Stability

There have been quite a few accidental slab releases over the last few days (Météo France has reported several each day) most without consequence probably because the slabs have not been all that big and/or the people were able to ride out or weren't taken too far. I have seen and heard of a few slabs triggered at distances of 10 metres or so on slopes facing North East to East - which makes sense since the winds have been mostly coming out of the West & North West and this will continue through the weekend. The winds aren't supposed to be as strong for this weekend and that is a relief!

Tip of the week

Watch out for slab instability (& releases) as a direct result of very recent wind loading on slopes and in general areas that were/are protected from wind in recent storms (these are very often East'ish' slopes, but not always!!). Some of the very recent slab releases have had fractures at the top (or crown walls) of up to 70 cm. So, despite the exceptional stability of all this new snow, I'm still being very careful as I enter into steep areas of nice smooth fresh white snow.

Accidental avalanches happening.

'Ride Hard Ride Safe'!

Henry

Training

We're doing lots of transceiver training at the moment in Val d'Isère: 35 euros for saisonaires for a full afternoon of coaching, timed searches, basic rescue procedures & a waterproof reference card. Call Jamie on 06 23 05 75 09

Review of Movement Thunder skis by Henry and Andreas

I'm skiing Movement Skis this week for the first time - a pair of Thunders. I think they're great. I've always been a 'shut up and ski' kind of guy, but for the first time in years I feel like I'm skiing on skis that think & feel the way I do. It has been really good snow over the last few days, but it has been very changeable too. The Thunders have adapted very well to changing snow conditions and helped me follow through on turns better than any ski I can remember. With 89 mm under foot, they are quite wide for me (I like to sink into the snow & I'm a bit of a traditionalist), but the width has been perfect for the fairly wind blown type of snow we've had over the last couple days.. and when I've hit the really light stuff, they've sunk down to face-shot depth. They also feel good on-piste! In sum: the Movement Thunders are very responsive, float well and just feel good. Any doubts just check out Andreas here on his first day on the Thunders.

Henry

I skied on my new MOVEMENT skis and they where great! We will give you a more detailed review soon!

Andreas

Henry's Avalanche Talk

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