Henry's ski diary - off piste ski guide, snow report Val d'Isere, avalanche awareness

HATadventures Feb 27 & 28

This is why I like this off piste stuff!

For more photos of this off-piste skiing Adventure and others see the photo album

Snow Report 28 Feb & Video Update

Snow report Feb 28, 2008

There are times when a guy will take anything he can get and now is one of those times for me. Any dusting of snow,… any bits of soft white patches bring joy to my heart these days. It might not be huge dumps or even small dumps yet (although I’m somewhat hopeful for Monday and Tuesday), but it’s something and that is a good thing!

I guess the chance of real snow next week helps my optimism too. And the fact that the snowpack is really stable helps a lot. But Just a reminder for when we really do get more snow: last week and the week before I mentioned a concern I have for the next significant snowfall. This concern is still valid: it is the return and continued build-up of angular crystals, ‘frisette’ and depth hoar on flat and shaded slopes above 2500 due to the cold temps two weeks ago and before (the recent warm temps have not altered their shape, form or existence). The renewed growth of angular grains and depth hoar is not a problem now; in fact it has made for some very nice skiing in some places! But, with the next significant snowfalls (total 30 to 40cm or more in one place), it will be a source of instability under the new snow on shaded slopes that were not subjected to much skier compaction. So that really means in places that were not ‘pisted off-piste’ and more on north-facing/shaded slopes (where most avalanche accidents take place) that have not been skied very much. I have been out off-piste and touring in the last few days - there is definitely a lot of unconsolidated snow around on the types of slopes I just mentioned. It’s starting to make up the whole snowpack in some places.

Tip of the week: If we do get a lot of snow at some point over the next week then watch out for the ‘powder frenzy’. That happens when we haven’t had snow for a while and when it finally comes, we go crazy. Off-piste isn’t dangerous unless you do something foolish and there’s no better scenario for foolish off-piste than when you and you’re your mates go nuts and create a powder frenzy. Take it from someone who has been foolish more than once and been lucky.

‘Ride Hard Ride Safe’!

Henry

PS For more info on snow conditions, courses and updates: see henrysavalanchetalk.com and if you sign up for our e-zine, you will get this snow report by email on Thursday with a whole lot of other useful stuff too.

Ness Skiing Today

We're hoping for some more snow over the next few days and in the mean time here is some entertainment! My God daughter Ness, just turned 3, making some nice little turns in Ste Foy:

We're still out there having fun!

The snow gods have not been looking upon us favourably over the past couple of weeks, but at least we have a good stable base. I’ve never seen so many days in a row of avalanche rating 1.

I have managed to find some decent snow over the last few days, light unconsolidated snow (‘frisette’) in cold shaded areas where it is untracked, after a good walk of an hour or so. There is also some nice chalky snow around and some ‘pisted off-piste’ where people have skied a lot – mainly on the off-piste classics. All decent snow has been on north-facing slopes. Any moves towards south-facing slopes have resulted in unpleasant surprises. Although I’m sure that some untouched south-facing slopes have started to transform into a nice melt-freeze layer and are making for some good spring snow. It is certainly getting warm enough!

Last week I mentioned a concern I have for the next snowfall: the return and build-up of angular crystals, ‘frisette’ and depth hoar on flat and shaded slopes above 2500 due to the cold temps, mainly during the cold clear nights, over the last couple of weeks. The renewed growth of angular grains and depth hoar is not a problem now; in fact it has made for some very nice skiing in some places! But, with the next significant snowfall, it will be a source of instability on shaded slopes that are not subjected to much skier compaction. So that really means in places that are not ‘pisted off-piste’ and more on north-facing/shaded slopes (where most avalanche accidents take place) that have not been skied much. I have been out touring for the last few days looking for ‘frisette’ and there is definitely a lot of unconsolidated snow around on the types of slopes I just mentioned. It’s starting to make up the whole snowpack in some places.

Tip of the week: As I said last week, watch out for ‘whippers’ on smooth hard snow! A ‘whipper’ is when you fall and slide forever because you can’t stop yourself. When it doesn’t snow for a while the avalanche danger may go down, but falling and sliding becomes a real danger on steep smooth slopes especially if you slide into rocks or over cliffs. Keep your skis and boards on your feet.

Think snow; pray, pray pray for snow… maybe Tuesday or Wednesday!?

Some Fresh Tracks Off Piste in Courchevel & Val dIsère

We've had some nice skiing thanks to cold temps and less wind which is helping this old snow turn into 'frisette' (snow moving towards granular faceted crystals). This effect is loosening up the snow off piste and making for very nice skiing on north faces especially up high. This may not be so good for the stability of the snowpack after the next snowfall..but for now Duncan, Liz, Thomas, Alex and Fiona aren't complaining as we actually found nice snow, even some untracked, not too far from the lift in Val d'Isere and Courchevel over the last two days.

Happy people of the Le Ski clan in Val d'Isère on the 14th (below). Vids off-piste in Courchevel below and more photos in Skiing With HAT photo gallery

Vids (below) of nice snow in Vallée des Avals Courchevel yesterday!

More photos: Skiing With HAT photo gallery

Snow Report: current and next few days

The great fresh snows of just a few days ago seem a long way away now. There are very few options for fresh snow now unless you are willing to walk a good long way! The classic off-piste runs are becoming ‘pisted’ due to the multitude of people packing the snow down, the wind and the settling of the snow on its own (good skiing though). As a result, the snowpack is becoming very stable especially on the well traveled off-piste runs. I wouldn’t be surprised if Météo France will reduce the avalanche rating to 1 (low) this weekend for at least the first part of the day. For definitions of the avalanche danger ratings see: henrysavalanchetalk.com and then go to ‘Skiing with HAT’. I’ve posted it in the photo gallery until we find a more permanent and prominent home for this important information.

Snowpack stability:

Despite the overall stability of the snowpack, in the afternoon, watch out for heating on slopes oriented towards the sun - mainly south facing slopes at this time of year and altitudes lower than 2800 metres. The suns rays create quite a bit of warmth on steeper slopes since they face the suns rays more directly. This warming heats up the snowpack, can melt the top layers and generally makes it less stable (like any other solid when you heat it to its melting point). Evidence of this instability is the recent afternoon closures of pistes that have steep south facing slopes above them.

Instability is very localised at the moment and you can read more about where in translations of the daily avalanche bulletin on our blogs for Savoie and Haute Savoie as well as on pistehors.com

One concern I do have, as I look over the snowpit data that Jacques LAFFONT (Nivo Météo Val d’Isère) and Lionel NAVILLOD (Nivo Météo Tignes) have sent me, is the return and build-up of depth hoar on flat and shaded slopes above 2500 due to the recent cold temps. The renewed growth of depth hoar is not a problem now, but could be the next time it snows if the cold nights and cold on shaded slopes during the day continues - especially on slopes that are not subjected to much skier compaction.

Tip of the week: Watch out for ‘whippers’! A ‘whipper’ is when you fall and slide forever because you can’t stop yourself. When it doesn’t snow for a while the avalanche danger may go down, but falling and sliding becomes a real danger on steep slopes especially if you slide into rocks or over cliffs. Keep your skis and boards on your feet.

Think snow; pray for snow and ‘Ride Hard Ride Safe’!

Henry

Skiing with Andreas on N. Face of Bellecote Feb 9

HATadventures Feb 7 Ste Foy

In Ste Foy on the Foglietta on a big day with a snowboard possy during HATadventures course. These are all vids for photos see: Ste Foy and Skiing with HAT

It's snowing again!

Andreas today on an afternoon on-snow follow up to an introduction talk for the ICE group in Val d'Isère. Here he's talking about route selection and measuring slope angles

Body wins! Very windy yesterday and today

Here below is Body Miller on his way to victory on the downhill part of the super combined in Val d'Isère yesterday (see photo). He won the overall event after a smooth and impressive slalom run too. The downhill was cancelled on Saturday due to too much snow. Even though it was a beautiful day yesterday, it was very windy. Very windy today without sun - winds have been mostly coming out of the south for the last day or so, but are now turning to the west with 15-25 cm of new snow predicted to fall over the rest of the afternoon and evening. Interesting snow events for our on-snow courses with ICE and HATadventures this week!