Avalanche Takes 3 in Fornet, Val d'Isère..

...one buried, all survived. Here is a brief summary (see all photos at the bottom of this post):

The avalanche triggered while 3 people were touring up to the slope known as the 'point pers' (see diagonal track going up from middle right side of photo below this one). They triggered the avalanche that released 200 metres above them (the crown is approximately 400 metres wide) all 3 skiers were taken.

The slope is West facing at an altitude of approximately 3500 metres. Below is a photo of the full avalanche (you may need to click on it and in large to see the fracture that is most clear on the far right, but the group was taken in the area to the centre left of this photo).

Eric Pinn Photos

Here below shows the area to the left of the top of the lift in above photo (left of top of T-bar on Fornet Glacier). It shows the fracture that ran just underneath the rocks all the way around to the left of the photo. The 3 skiers were spread out by a distance of about 50 metres; the first person was taken (and buried) about 75 metres under the rather large isolated rock that runs diagonally in the middle of the slope. The crown fracture measured an approximate average of 40 centimetres (click on photo to enlarge). It should be noted that all of the victims were wearing ABS airbags and the two that were not buried inflated thiers. The person who was buried did not release his. Witnesses of the incident said that clearly the victims with the airbags were kept on top because of the inflated airbags.

That little speck on bottom left is where Mark was buried (click on photo below and you can zoom in)

Here are some more photos of the avalanche:

        

Mark halfway out - impossible to move under that snow (unlike some BBC shows would lead you to believe!)

Phew!! Mark here below after just being buried (notice his airbag not blown up - why? He just doesn't know why he didn't pull the handle)

As a matter or general interest here is the HAT snow report that was printed for this past weekend in the Mountain Echo (Val d'Isère, Tignes and Méribel)

This Weeks HAT Snow Report (published April 10 for the following week)

 The past week was fairly typical for this time of year: after snowstorms in some parts of the French Alps near the border of Italy e.g. the Southeast part of Savoie (Val d’Isère, Tignes and especially Bonneval-sur-Arc), the temperatures became very, very warm. The warm temperatures created melt-freeze cycles immediately on east, south and west faces up to over 3000 metres; the melt-freeze cycles were strong enough to make for some great spring skiing but the new snow led to a couple tragic accidents in the areas that got a lot of snow. For a brief discussion on melt-freeze and how to get the best spring skiing, see last week’s Mountain Echo or my post on www.getoffpiste.com on Tuesday April 1 (there is also a summary of one of the recent accidents on this site).

 For this coming week, it looks like snowpack conditions will continue to be much the same as they have been: with some fresh snow on a couple of occasions combined with melting and freezing.

 Tip of the week:

 Most avalanche accidents happen on North facing slopes because the stability there is much less predictable than on sunny slopes (slopes of high altitudes can behave like North facing slopes as it is colder up there and it takes time for the snow to settle and bond even in spring time). At this time of year we know that when a sunny slope has been in the sun for a long time, it is unstable. When the snowpack on that same slope has frozen, it is very stable. But on North facing slopes (or any slopes) that have not been subjected to melting and freezing just after a snowstorm, the instability can linger for a while. This is because:

1.  Initial instability comes quickly on slopes that are subject to intense sunshine or high temperatures, but then these slopes become stable again once they have frozen.

2. However, slopes that don’t get a lot of sun right away after a snowfall (e.g. high north facing slopes) will stay cold and powdery for a day or two and they can remain unstable in steep areas for several days.

So after a fresh snowfall, apply the key points of off-piste safety:

A)   Think about your choice of slope and which direction it is facing (N,S,E,W)

B)   Go one at a time or keep good distances between each group member so you only expose one person at a time to any danger (like cliffs, trees, rocks or narrow valley bottoms bellow)

C)    Stop/regroup at islands of safety (places that are not exposed to avalanches above and/or not exposed to danger below).

 

 

Have Fun, Be Safe!

 

Henry and the HAT Team

See http://www.henrysavalanchetalk.com for events this week!

 

 

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