Off Piste Snow Report – Northern French Alps & surrounding areas – 12 March 2026 and next few days

Spring snowpack (almost) with fresh snowfall on Saturday. Much more stabilised snowpack, although persistent weak layers remain….

Last weekend, after several days of wall-to-wall sunshine and clear nights, we were enjoying excellent spring snow conditions, with smooth snow developing from mid to late morning on East to South facing slopes and nice sort-of-powder ‘frisette’ on North facing slopes (like that in our featured image, taken by Chris Souillac). We’d considered republishing our spring skiing blog this week, but with a short change in the weather over the next few days – a few cloudier days, with light snowfall tonight (Wednesday) and more on Saturday (possibly extending into Sunday and Monday) we’ve decided to hold off for now!

Météo France’s latest avalanche bulletin reads as follows :

Typical avalanche situation: Persistent weak layer

Human-triggered avalanches: Persistent weak layers (faceted grains) are buried within the snowpack (on all aspects, including high-altitude south-facing slopes). Triggering them is unlikely most of the time but remains possible in certain situations, for example:

• On NW/N/NE aspects above 2000 m, particularly in areas with thinner snow cover (near ridgelines, passes, or wind-scoured slopes) where an isolated hard slab may still exist. Avalanche Size 1–2* (small to medium).

• On sunny high-altitude slopes, during the day when the surface snow softens, which can make it easier to trigger a buried weak layer (a less likely scenario than in previous days due to cloud cover). Avalanche Size 2*, more rarely size 3 (large).

Natural avalanches: Unlikely. Exceptionally, a glide avalanche may occur on steep terrain.

(Méteo France Avalanche Risk Bulletin for 11 March, translated by ChatGPT)

*For avalanche size scale see www.avalanches.org/standards/avalanche-size/

Recent sunny weather and milder temperatures, bringing melt–freeze cycles, have allowed the snowpack to stabilise considerably compared with the very unstable and dangerous conditions seen only a month ago, or less.

Just keep the avalanche forecast warnings above in mind though. Persistent weak layer(s) are still lurking around in the snowpack, and the rare “predictable surprises” should be always at the forefront of our thinking. Applying the key safety principles in our HAT framework & Pocket Guides remains the best way to avoid the serious consequences such surprises can bring.

Weather forecast : Thurs 12th to Mon 16th March

THURSDAY 12th: After some welcome light snowfall (2–10 cm) overnight on Wednesday, any remaining cloud will quickly clear to leave a bright, sunny day. Light N/NW winds. Freezing level around 1500 m, rising to 2200 m.

FRIDAY 13th: Spring-like conditions. Sunny weather with unseasonably mild temperatures in the afternoon, with possible thin high cloud. Cloud cover will increase into the evening. Freezing level around 2400 m. Light to moderate S/SW wind.

SATURDAY 14th: Back to winter! Persistent snowfall all day, with 15–25 cm of snow expected in the mountains (potential snowfall even down to 600 m).

SUNDAY 15th & MONDAY 16th: Mixed conditions on Sunday, with cool temperatures in the morning, followed by milder conditions returning in the afternoon. Monday is likely to feel spring-like, with sunshine and mild temperatures.

FOLLOWING FEW DAYS: Expected to be spring-like.

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Check out the HAT Prevention Card with a ‘quick reference’ of the key accident reduction points. It contains a score card scale to help you reference the potential danger for a given slope on a given day, and more info like definitions of the danger scale.

Watch the FREE Pocket Prevention Guide on Video for a step-by-step explanation of how to use it.

Enjoy your off-piste skiing everyone. Safety is Freedom!!