Snow report December 2, 2009
This weeks snow report from Henry - 2/12/09
Welcome to the Henry’s Avalanche Talk weekly snow report and welcome back to those of you who have returned to reality for another season!
It will continue to snow off and on this weekend and at least through Tuesday. That’s great news for this early season as one of the biggest dangers off piste at the moment is hitting crap (which is the technical term for rocks, tree stumps etc.) under the snow cover. Hopefully that will be resolved by the end of the week with the new accumulations.
Snow Stability
The total snow cover (what we call the snowpack) will be evolving over the next few days as we get a series of new snowfalls which will be adding new distinct layers to the snowpack. All of this new snow will be sitting on other different layers from snowfalls this past week and before. The important thing to remember is that there are many different layers of snow in the snowpack and some of these layers are stronger than others; and sometimes there can be weak, fragile layers in the middle of the snowpack or even at the bottom.
Last week there was a couple of accidental avalanches in the Northern French Alps, one in the Haute Tarentaise area of Savoie (which is basically the region of La Plagne, Les Arc and the Espace Killy) on a slope facing North West at about 2300 metres (remember that most accidents happen on North’ish facing slopes in the winter months, contrary to popular belief).
There’s a good chance that instability in the snowpack will increase with these new snowfalls and strong winds out of the West over the weekend – the new snow will be putting stress on old weak layers and building new varied layers in the snowpack… but the skiing will most likely improve too!
To learn how to reconcile improved skiing conditions with increased instability in the snowpack (layers of snow etc.), see www.henrysavalanchetalk.com, come to one of our talks and join one of our new on-snow courses. And of course we’ll be updating you each week with a snow report!
Have Fun and Be Safe!
PS A thank you goes out to Cécile Coléou and the team from Météo France and Centre d’Etude de la Neige for providing much of the weather and avalanche forecast information that we use to make these snow reports complete.
Off Piste & Avalanche Awareness Talks
Monday 15.30 sharp Basic Talk at the Moris in Val d’Isère
Tuesday 18.00 Basic Talk at the Bagus in Tignes (you need to be at the Bagus by 17.30 to take advantage of the deals on food & drink!)
Wednesday - 18.00 sharp Basic Talk at the Pacific Bar in Val d’Isère
Tickets are €7.50 (one person under-18 in free per adult) and includes great deals on food and drinks at each place!
Pre-booking on line price is: £6 on www.henrysavalanchetalk.com
HAT is taking the Talks on-snow this year for people who want to learn more in Val d’Isère & Tignes!
See www.henrysavalanchetalk.com for more info on these practical short courses.
