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

Snow report April 11

The skiing off-piste has been great lately despite totally unpredictable weather and days that you would think aren’t going to be good.. but then turn out to be great! Getting out early (despite wind, bad visibility etc.), going as high as possible and looking for slopes that are sheltered from the wind seems to be the trick [winds have been coming out of the Southwest to South most of the time up until the 11th – that will change on Saturday 12th as the winds turn to the North and Northwest for most of the time until Wednesday 16 April]. The little snowfalls of 5-10 cm that have been falling with each passing storm has helped to provide fresh tracks and lots of fun on a lot of days recently. Adding to the these little snowfalls is the wind, which has helped to make accumulations in sheltered areas build up to quite a bit more than what fell out of the sky - but not so much as to make it very unstable (so far anyway). It looks like this weather trend will continue for at least a week. So get out there and find the good snow!

Snowpack Quality & Stability

The light snowfalls and wind have been forming some surface slabs, mostly above 2500/2700 m. The wind, the sun, warming and precipitation will encourage some instability and avalanche activity on sufficiently steep slopes, a little at all altitudes. Below 2500/2700 a relatively small surface slab may turn into a larger wet snow avalanches; above, they could lead to bigger slab avalanche too as dry/cold snow slabs. The risk of these types of slabs will increase with each snowfall and I will be especially careful if we get 20 cm or more in one storm (or in a short amount of time like 48 hours) with wind, which can lead to twice the amount of snow that came out of the sky on sheltered slopes - the slopes that will have the best skiing..

Each day the Météo France avalanche forecast says that one skier is enough to trigger one of these surface slabs and that could even lead to a second slab releasing deeper into the snowpack below the first one. This scenario is what happened to my friend and colleague TJ last year – the conditions were not much different than now. TJ was lucky to get away with only severe knee injuries and is just getting back on skis now after several knee operations. So, even though things seem safe/stable in most places, there are areas of real instability out there. if you keep that in mind, you’re doing well.

Tip of the week:
I’m sticking to the higher and north’ish’ slopes for the best snow until we get some hot sunny days with good cold nights that will transform the snow on other slopes to nice smooth spring snow. I keep saying that I’ll do our annual spring snow write-up soon, but I’m going to have to put that off again until next week.. or until we actually start getting some good spring out there, but it looks like cold temperatures and more ‘mini snow storms’ through Wednesday 16 April. So I’m happy to stick with winter for now!

‘Ride Hard Ride Safe’!

Henry

PS We’re still 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 (wow!). Call Jamie on 06 23 05 75 09

Snow report April 3, 2008

We should have spring snow (melting & freezing) conditions by now but the temperatures remain cool & it just keeps snowing! The forecast is for continued snow off and on through Thursday. The temps look like they will remain fairly low too, at least until Wednesday. This is not typical April weather, but then again March was more like a typical February!

Snowpack Quality & Stability

In general the snowpack is stabilising - with the snow from March settling and becoming denser. However, within the newer top layers of new snow there is some instability and that instability will increase with more snow. True that lots of little snowfalls spread out in time allow the new snow to settle and stabilise much better than one big snowfall that comes down all at once, but once the sum total of new little snowfalls add up to a lot of snow, there can be some danger: especially due to wind loading and layers from the successive snowfalls that don’t bond well to each other. We’ve seen a medium sized avalanche triggered with a fracture estimated at 30/50 cm on a North slope on Wednesday 2 April. We believe this slab avalanche was due to the instability caused by snow transported by the Southerly winds (Foehn / Lombarde winds) on Sunday 30 March. Since then, the winds have been coming out of the North to West and are forecast to continue until Sunday/Monday 6&7 April when winds are forecast to start coming out of the Southwest (accompanied by continued snow showers). So there are currently a few surface slabs out there, usually at altitude (above 2200/2400 meters), which are not bonding all that well to new snow layers below them. These surface slabs will continue to grow with new snowfalls and wind (and the quality of skiing in those areas will probably increase too!). This situation will probably lead to some larger unstable slabs developing over the next week or so especially on leeward slopes (and any area protected from the wind).

Tip of the week:

While keeping in mind the risk of coming across unstable slabs on leeward slopes, for the best snow stick to northerly slopes (Northwest to Northeast). The difference between South’ish’ facing slopes and North’ish’ facing slopes is enormous at this time of year especially once the sun comes out. The South facing slopes get the sun’s heat even before the sun comes out which makes the snow heavier and more unstable. Plus the snow is not nice to ski in, ‘slushy powder’. AND you spoil the potential for good spring snow skiing (more on melt-freeze spring snow transformation next week!).

‘Ride Hard Ride Safe’!

Henry

PS We’re still 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

What a Talk is & Why go to a Talk

Why Go to an Off-piste Adventure Talk

Download a higher resolution 'Why Go to an Off-piste Adventure Talk' video here:

Download HAT_Why_go_to_a_talk.mpg

What is a Talk? Chick it out here: Download a higher resolution 'What is a Talk' video here:

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.

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

HAT Business and Marketing Update for October-December 2007 & Projections for 2008

I can confidently report that HAT events and media, has reached well over 40,000 people since early October through quality visibility  ('Talks', 'Local Printed Media' and 'Web Site' unique visitors... see below). HAT events and media will reach a total of just over 160,000 people by the end of the season - not including the tens of thousands of 'passing views' gained by 'Local Marketing & Publicity', 'Broad Media Relations and Reach' at places like the HAT stand at the London Ski Show.

TALKS (see HAT Talks)

- 1839 total attendance October-December 20th including events in the UK, Norway and France (Alpe d'Huez, Chamonix, Val d'Isère,Tignes, Méribel) 1000's more 'passing views' at The London Ski and Snowboard Show: see Events, Shows, Talks and Courses in Oct & Nov. 4,500 total attendance projected for all HAT Talks for 2007- 2008 season.

- HAT 'In-depth Talks' with Fab Jolly in Val d'Isère - 750 total attendance projected for season (included in above projections).

LOCAL PRINTED MEDIA

- "Weekly Snowpack Report in the 'Mountain Echo'" editorial see The Snowpack Report in the Mountain Echo which is distributed in VVal d'Isère, Tignes and now Méribell. Reaching a weekly readership of over 2,000 people per week (15 weeks) per resort (3 Resorts) or 90,000 'readership views' in these 3 key resorts during the season 2007-08.

WEB SITE

We are now up to a visitation of an average 3,000 unique visitors per month (36,000 per year). The web site and email marketing through our weekly 'E-zine' is an area that we are focusing on. Visitors to the site will increase significantly over the next year. The web site also provides several partners the opportunity to have a prominent logo on the home page of www.henrysavalanchetalk.com (we also use the URL www.skioffpiste.co.uk). The regularly updated HAT web site is playing a key role in fulfilling the HAT mission of increasing awareness for the public and visibility for our partners

 
RADIO

- Radio Val d'Isère, Co-Advertising HAT events.  I estimate that the RECCO/HAT spot in past seasons (30 seconds 6 times per week in Val d'Isère - 2 spots 3 days per week)  reaches approximately 30,000 of the 175,000 English speakers who visit or live in Val d'Isère each season (HAT will be relaunching ads on Radio Val very soon).  For the future, we are developing more radio opportunities in Tignes, Les Arcs, La Plagne, Courchevel and Méribel with R' Radio - for a sample click here

BROAD MEDIA RELATIONS AND REACH

- Large UK newspapers are now in regular contact with us as a source of information and newsworthy content. Most of the top winter sports publications in the UK are in regular contact with us too - as well as other broadcasting medium. Increased branding for partners is a natural outgrowth. For an example see Increased Awareness Press & Radio . Tens of thousands of 'passing views'

MORE LOCAL MARKETING & PUBLICITY (see HAT Poster)

- HAT has constant local marketing efforts going on in Val d'Isère, Tignes, Chamonix, Méribel and other resorts where we do one-off events including London Tens of thousands of 'passing views' see  Ambush Promo Tignes. Other branding and visibility include informal events and talks organised for ski clubs, schools and the local community.

'Safety is Freedom'

All the best for 2008, Henry

Increased Awareness Press & Radio

For the last few months one of our jobs has been finding more ways to increase awareness on how to, 'Have Fun & Be Safe' and provide our partners with the type of visibility they expect for their support. This quest has brought me in contact with some very interesting people. One is Daniel Elkan, shown here yesterday interviewing Fab Jolly who is a member of Team HAT and works as a pisteur (ski patrol) in Val d'Isère. Daniel has been commissioned to do an article on 'Fabulous Fab' for the Sunday Times. Daniel is also in the process of writing an article about off-piste awareness and HAT for Ski + Board Magazine.

On the radio side of things, Caroline Sayer from R' radio Méribel has been instrumental in helping HAT to educate people on what the definitions of the avalanche ratings (1 to 5) are. It's thank to Caroline and R' radio that we are on R' radio each morning in Méribel, Courchevel, La Plagne, Les Arcs and Tignes with avalanche rating info and off-piste tips. For a sample click here  Soon we will have each of these recorded avalanche rating definitions up on the HAT web site!

Mission Accomplished!

Just returned from a successful and enjoyable trip to Norway where I conducted an Avalanche Training session for the British Joint Services Mountain Training Centre (JSMTC ‘INDEFATIGABLE’) Combined Adventure Training Group - Winter Staff in Sjusjeon. The session included morning lectures and an afternoon in the field including avalanche transceiver training. The transceiver training was greatly enhanced by the assistance of Lt Col Dr. Peter Davis who also gave an excellent mountain medicine lecture at the end of the day.

A thank you to CSgt Uisdean MacDonald for recommending me for this role and for the whiskey during the staff social (probably why I look so blurry in the photo… but I’m not really that small it’s just that Uisdean is one of the biggest people I know!).

A big thank you also to Maj Kevin P Edwards, Col Paul Miller and Lt Col Simon Hall for being so accommodating upon my arrival and for being so precise with the logistics.

Kevin Edwards here discussing snow metamorphosis and avalanche science with others in the group.

I’m off now for our staff kick-off in Chamonix at the MBC at 6pm tomorrow the 16th and then through Méribel for a staff kick off at the Pub/Scotts at 7.30pm on the 19th. Not getting a huge amount of skiing in at the moment, but you can see what the HAT Team has been up to with Andreas’ and Janel’s most excellent off-piste up-dates over the last few days: click here!

Events, Shows, Talks and Courses in Oct & Nov

The HAT Team and I have been involved in a number of events, courses and talks in the UK and Germany over the last month. Some of the most noteworthy were: beeper training on the beaches of Suffolk and presenting to German corporates in Munich (where I was introduced to ‘real Bavarian knoodles’). But from the perspective of fulfilling our mission of providing insight on adventure skiing, riding off-piste and awareness in the backcountry, the London METRO SKI & SNOWBOARD SHOW (24 to the 28 October) had the most impact . Andreas, Jamie and I did 16 talks and hosted 4 viewings of our DVD - all in 5 days.

We put the presentations on in the 'Offpiste Adventure Zone' where we also had a stand to base ourselves from. 1000’s of the 40-50k visitors to the show passed by the HAT stand each day. In sum, we started on the first day with a very well attended press viewing of our DVD, Avalanche and Off-piste Awareness (for the DVD see avalancheawareness.co.uk), which was organised in conjuction with Ski Club of Great Britain and Snow and Rock. From there the HAT Team (which also included Chris, Stacey and Ruth) achieved:

• 16 HAT “Ride Hard, Ride Safe” presentations over 4 days
• attracted a total audience of just over 950 people to these 30-55minute talks
• 100's more peaked through the crowd to get a view of 'what was going on'
• people from 40+ other stands visited us and viewed the presentations
• several hundred more people signed up for the ezine www.hat.skioffpiste.co.uk/abouthat/freestuff.html

And our new, 'Skiing with HAT' or 'HATadventures' programmes were introduced to lots of interested people.  So, 'thank you' to the HAT Team, our partners and Piers from Greeneye for making this happen with the organisers of the Metro Ski & Board Show! 

Back to the Snow!

After a month traveling in the UK and Germany doing talks, courses and events, I was blessed with snow upon my arrival back in the Alps on Wednesday November 15th. Here shoveling snow (30-40 cm) at 900 metres at the HAT HQ in Longefoy France in Savoie (snow removal procedures directed by my two year old Goddaughter Ness Bjorklund who is waving at the camera).