Snow Conditions
19/04/07 - Chris Radford the HATadventures ezine editor reports on the state of the snow and pistes.
The lifts in Val d'Isere keep running right up to 7th May. This time of year often provides some of the most enjoyable skiing of the season. Over the past 10 days we have had some great spring skiing. Apart from 3 days where it was cloudy and did not refreeze overnight, we have enjoyed clear skies, glorious sunshine and been grappling with the constant challenge of being on the right slopes at the right time of the day.
We have found good off piste up until 10.30am on the eastish slopes, then moving to South facing slopes until 12.00pm and then migrating to the West and north slopes for the rest of the day.
After 13.00, we have tended to return to the pistes for 3 important reasons:
- 1. There is a risk of wet slab avalanche in the afternoon.
- 2. The pistes offer the best skiing surface.
- 3. If you ski the off piste when it is soft, you create huge ruts in the snow that freeze up overnight and make the slope un-skiable the next day.
Whether you choose the piste or the off piste, having a great day is all about hitting the right slopes at the right moment. Our article this week goes into this in more detail as well as discussing the risk of wet slab avalanches in the afternoon.
Enjoy
Chris Radford: HATadventures ezine editor
This report has been taken from Henry's Avalanche Talk. To sign up and receive tips, advice and reports like this weekly click here.
19/04/07 - Snow report from Henry
The spring skiing has been great over the past few days and promises to continue to be so over the next week or more. The forecast is for continued clear weather (cloudy in the mid/late afternoons) and it will be getting cooler early next week which will help the essential 're-freeze' at night. Even if there is a bit of rain/snow in the afternoons, this will have the effect of helping to clean up and smooth out those nasty ruts from people skiing slopes too late.
Right now it's freezing at night at 2000 metres, but warming fast especially on east to south facing slopes - skiers breaking through starts at 2300 metres by 9:00 and by 11:00 on west to north'ish' slopes. The good news is that spring snow is appearing and very nice up high at 3000 metres (except not quite yet on north slopes that high) this is thanks to the very hot days and the resulting melt-freeze up there. For example, Pays Dessert in Val d'Isère (west facing 3200 to 2800 metres) was fantastic spring snow at 12pm on April 17.
Have Fun and Be Safe
Henry and the HAT team
Tip of the week:
Watch out in the late mornings and afternoons for the increased avalanche danger especially if you have to traverse out of your run under south facing slopes. But even some north slopes have gone big recently due to the reheating during the day and old weak layers. We've noticed lots of activity starting as the temperatures rise - quite often departing at 2400-2500 metres and going down to the ground on many slopes.
To sign up and receive tips, advice and reports like this weekly from Henry's Avalanche Talk click here.
