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

Avalanche Accident & Death on Risk 2

From pistehors.com (thank you for the update David)

Ski tourer killed by Pyrenees avalanche

A 35 year old ski tourer has been killed by an avalanche in the Hautes-Pyrénées close to the ski resort of Val Louron. The deceased was named as Stéphane Sabathé. Originally from Tarbes and a resident of Toulouse was accompanied by a his wife and a friend. They were able to remain on top of the slide and were slightly hurt and in a state of shock.

The pisteurs from the resort witnessed the avalanche and went to the aid of the skiers. They found Mr. Sabathé thanks to his avalanche beacon and with the help of another witness, a doctor from Toulouse, attempted to resuccitate him but in vain. A team from High Mountain Police (PGHM) stationed at Pierrefitte Nestalas were also despatched by helicopter. The avalanche occurred a little after 1pm on the Pic de Sarrouyes (2,667 meters) close to the border with Spain. The party were properly equipped and said to be experienced mountaineers.

The website Kairn.com warned that a number of easy routes in the area can present danger, including the climbs to the Pic de Sarrouyes and Pic d’Estos. Meteo France had given the avalanche risk as 2 (Moderate) for the Haute-Bigorre border area today. The bulletin said snow levels were good to normal at low altitude, below average above 2000 meters. The report said that the last major snowfalls, dating from the 9-10 December, were generally well stabilized with little risk of accidental avalanche and just some small slabs on northern slopes in the frontier zones.

pistehors.com reports an avalanche accident

The only comment that I would add to this report from David George atpistehors.com and the one from the Ski CLub of GB that I posted today is that I think that the weak layer of older snow (angular crystals and depth hoar) is what the avalanche slid on and what is contributing to at least some of the fairly acute instability that we are now experiencing in the Alps. This instability will increase with further accumulations that are predicted over the next few days especially above 2300 metres where there has not been enough humidity to settle the the weaker elements of the snowpack . Henry

'Backcountry boarders killed by avalanche in Southern France'

We have a report that two Italian backcountry snowboarders have been killed in France by an avalanche on the border with the Cuneo region. The climbers were Riccardo Dutto, 60 years and Marco Fabbri, 38 years, both residents of Cuneo and were well known through the specialist Italian website Le Fioca Ven Mola.

The slab avalanche occurred in the Gypière de l’Oronaye sector close to the Colle della Maddalena (Col de Larche) just inside France. The slide occurred at 2700 meters altitude on the Bec Du Lievre situated in the commune of San Dalmazzo. According to the rescue services the men were climbing with snowshoes with snowboards attached to their rucksacks with the aim of descending from the summit. Recent wind and fresh snow had formed fresh snow slabs. The alarm was raised when the men failed to return home on Monday night. Specialist rescue workers attached to the Gendarmerie in Digne were scrambled at 19h45. Marco Fabbri’s car was found on the French side of the col de Larche by police.

Rescue workers were able to find the missing men by following their tracks in the snow then signals from their Avalanche Beacons. The bodies were located at midnight buried under a two meters of snow. However the recovery was not possible until the following morning due to the risk of a secondary slide. This is the first fatal accident of the season in France and a reminder that conditions remain difficult across the Alps. The Police in Fribourg (CH) have confirmed that a ski tourer killed by an avalanche on the Tsermon (4/12/2007) was a French national.

An accident reported from the Ski Club of Great Britain web page.

I wouldn't be surprised if this avalanche slid on the weak layer of angular crystals and depth hoar that I speak about in my Ski diary report today (see below). Henry

An accident reported from the Ski Club of Great Britain web page:

First Swiss avalanche death
Wednesday 5 December 2007
A man was killed on Tuesday near Fribourg after being carried 200m down the mountain. It followed large snowfalls in the area.

Switzerland today
The Swiss man, aged between 30 – 40, was out skinning with friends. It's believed they triggered the avalanche themselves.
There had been around 40cm of fresh snow, but also some very strong winds that had built up large accumulations of snow.

Rescue workers arrived on the scene but the man was found dead some time later buried under 1 metre of snow.

The accident happened at 14.15 and the man was wearing a transceiver.

There is considerable risk across large parts of the Alps following all the recent snowfall and people are asked to be extremely cautious until the snow stabilises. The wind is reported to have been gusting up to 75km per hour in places making conditions difficult to read.

Henry's Avalanche Talk - chill out and enjoy the ride

On these pages, Henry will keep a diary of his skiing experiences and you will see exactly how the season evolves.  This will also give Henry the chance to share any other thoughts and observations on events, news and avalanche accidents as the season progresses.  This will all get going once the season starts.