Sunday, 04 January, 2009
Record snowfall in the Southern Alps
The twin apocalypse of global warming and credit crunch have spared the Southern Alps, at least for this Christmas but it could all have been so different. Before Christmas villages in the Queyras region were cut off as avalanches rained down. Road passes such as the important Col du Montgenevre were cut. There was no power or phone lines, residents had to be moved out to temporary accommodation, it seemed like a repeat of 1999.
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Saturday, 03 January, 2009
Getting fit for ski touring
A review of Climbing, training for peak performance by Clyde Soles ISBN-13: 978-1594850981. 2nd edition, published October 2008 by Mountaineers Books
It is the same every year. Despite cycling to work, an occasional run and hill walking every ski season starts with those agonizing first few trips in which I’m left in the tracks of younger and fitter ski buddies. “Getting the rough off” is what we used to call it when I cycle raced. The only problem, every year there seems to be more rough to get off.
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Sunday, 21 December, 2008
Mountain guide killed by avalanche in the Pyrenees
A 26 year old High Mountain Guide has been killed by an avalanche close to the ski resort of Eyne in the Western Pyrenees. He had set out for a ski tour with a friend who suffered leg injuries in the slide.
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Sunday, 14 December, 2008
Snowshoer killed by avalanche in the Jura
A Swiss snowshoer has been killed by an avalanche in the French Jura at 15h00, the slide seriously injured his wife. The avalanche occurred near the ski resort of the col de la Faucille on steep slopes under the Petit Montrond at around 1200 meters. The couple were apparently following the steep vie de Chaux trail in the wooded Pailly sector. It appears the man was killed instantly after colliding with a tree.
Jura from the Petit Montrond(archive photo)
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No room at the ski lodge for bargain hunters
With the Pound fetching less than a Euro at Travelex airport counters today you would think there would be some real real bargains to be had in ski resorts this Christmas as skiers stay at home to beat the credit crunch. French crooner Alan Bashung once sang “Ma petite entreprise ne connait pas la crise(1)” and it seems that French ski resorts are singing the same tune. Initial figures just released by Savoie Mont-Blanc, the organisation that is responsible for marketing the two Savoie departments shows that ski resorts are 89% full over the Christmas and New Year period. 14% up on the same period last year. Phoning around some of the resorts shows that there really is no room at the inn.
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Monday, 08 December, 2008
Off piste snowboarder injured by avalanche at l’Alpe d’Huez
A snowboarder has been seriously injured off piste in the ski resort of l’Alpe d’Huez. The man was alone at the time. He had originally planned to board with a friend but he had turned back, worried about the avalanche risk. The accident occurred in the early afternoon at 2500 meters in the Côtes Rivet / Sarenne sector. The large avalanche carried boarder 800 meters into a terrain trap close to the Sarenne road.
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Snow Reports Round-up
Getting accurate information about ski conditions that hasn’t been run through the Skibizz filter has got considerably easier with the Internet. Apart from our own subforum, oriented towards backcountry ski and avalanche conditions in the French Alps there are some other sources of information. One such are the eclectic Snowhead’s Snow Reports.
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Sunday, 07 December, 2008
Police launch appeal after grim series of avalanche fatalities
The High Mountain Police (PGHM) have called for skiers to be “more prudent” after a grim series of avalanches took the lives of three skiers in the Alps. The avalanches follow a warning issued on on Friday by the French Weather service. A warning repeated by the Préfecture of the Alpes-Maritimes on Saturday morning.
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Saturday, 06 December, 2008
Serious avalanche at Arêches-Beaufort
An off piste skier has been killed by an avalanche this morning in the ski domain of d’Arêches in the Beaufort range. Part of a group of five skiers the slide occured at around 10h30 in the Grand-Mont sector at 1500 meters altitude.
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Friday, 05 December, 2008
Météo France warns of avalanche risk this weekend
French weather service Météo France has warned winter sports enthusiasts of the risk of avalanche in the Alps over the coming days due to a very active weather system currently traversing the region. With many ski resorts in the region now currently open the worry is that off piste skiers will be tempted by the fresh snow, particularly on Sunday and Monday with fine, sunny weather conditions.
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