Off Piste Snow Report (N French Alps) : Spring conditions moving into April
After a few snow flurries on Saturday, next week is looking sunny in the N French Alps, with GREAT spring conditions!
Higher altitudes, 2300 m and above, are the best places to ski at the moment. The snow has been melting at quite a pace lately in above average temperatures for the time of season, and also partly to the drying effects of a persistent Foehn wind (see below). Natural snow depths above 2300 m or so are still OK for the time of year, while at altitudes below 1900 m they’re pretty scrappy, and almost non-existent below 1600 m, even on N facing slopes.
Forecasters have recently been having a difficult time predicting the weather in the Northern French Alps and surrounding areas, largely due to the influence of the Foehn wind.
In the last couple of weeks, some days which were supposed to have been sunny, ended up snowy. Then others which were supposed to have been cloudy ended up with glorious sunshine. All this said, snow conditions above 2500 m have been fantastic over the last week : with some cold winter powder on sheltered high-altitude N facing slopes, and smooth spring snow conditions coming into place on more S facing slopes.
See this great description of the Foehn wind and how it affects weather in the Alps from our friends at Weathertoski.co.uk…. The Foehn will be back!
Foehn cloud backed up behind the French/Italian mountain border at la Source de l'Isère. Photo by Henry Schniewind
…. Now, we don’t want to speak too soon, but it really does look as if Spring has now arrived in the N French Alps (for next week at least!!).
Spring snow conditions coming into place. Photo by Wayne Watson
It’s time to start working with slope exposures: East, South, West & North to enjoy smooth spring skiing, beginning with the E facing ones, moving to the more S facing ones, then W round to N facing, following the direction of the rising sun. See our blog Skiing the Smooth for top tips on this.
Avalanche Bulletin
Of all avalanche accidents (i.e. avalanches where skiers are involved), only a tiny percentage are due to natural wet avalanches. The vast majority of avalanche accidents involve cold, dry slab avalanches. They’re almost always triggered by the victim, or someone in their group, on N’ish facing slopes (in the Northern Hemisphere) in the colder winter months.
Wet snow avalanche danger, on the other hand, is predictable – which is why skiers are not usually involved. Last week, however, saw a very sad case of a ski tourer being killed. It appears that the group were traversing a long way below a glide crack, when it released. It was a ‘moderate’ risk 2/5 day. See description on Data Avalanche website.
This is an extremely rare occurrence (perhaps the first tragic accident on record due to a glide crack release) and a sombre reminder that off-piste skiers and tourers need try to avoid steep slopes that have been subjected to rapid warming, especially the first day there’s not a good refreeze up to much higher altitudes than usual.
For more information about wet snow avalanches see our blog here.
Avalanche bulletin for the N French Alps. Sat 29 March by Météo-France.
‘Moderate’ 2/5 above 2500 m and ‘low’ 1/5 below that altitude. See here for avalanche danger scale definitions from the European Avalanche Warning Services.
Weather forecast : Sun 30th March to Thurs 3rd April c/o Météo Alpes
SUN 30th: Return of sunny weather to the N French Alps. Temperatures getting much milder in the afternoon. 0° C at 2400 m. Moderate N wind.
MON 31st: A sunny ‘bluebird’ day, much warmer in the afternoon. 0° C at 3000 m.
TUES 1st: Spring-like conditions, with a sunny morning and a very mild afternoon with cumulus clouds developing over the high mountains, possibly bringing isolated showers later in the day.
WED 2nd & THURS 3rd: Remaining spring-like with plenty of sunshine (possibly cloud building up late Wed afternoon).
NEXT FEW DAYS: Remaining sunny and mild.
7 day weather forecast for Val d'Isère by Météo-France
Tip of the Week
Check out our article ‘Spring skiing tips, Skiing the Smooth’ to see how the current unseasonably high temperatures will affect the snowpack and how to make the most of skiing these conditions.
And here’s a video on how to make the most of spring snow, by ‘skiing the smooth’!…..
Safety is Freedom!
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