Val d'Isere Snow Report: 30th December 2013

"With the busy holiday crowds chopping up the pistes and causing lift queues we headed to the back side of Le Fornet to avoid the crowds. There has been some fresh snow but only about 25 cm, but it made for some great skiing. We're still very aware of the weak layer under this new snow off-piste.

So we've been going for the simple and safe options, like slope angles below 30°

The snow was fresh and as it was cold, -15 this morning we can expect it to stay fresh for some time to come."

Although Henry and his friends have been skiing off piste safely there are a number of hazards in the back country just now. The tragic accident that occured in Meribel to Michael Schumaker highlights the dangers of a shallow snow pack that conceals but doesn't fully cover rocks and other obstacles.

The depth hoar layer that was mention a few weeks ago has also reared it's ugly head in the form of avalanches across the northern French Alps. A number of slabs have been accidentally triggered in the Espace Killy that resemble the ones on the Face de Charvet, shown here in our photos. No one was hurt at the time of this writing luckily.

Here are some brief details on the Face du Charvet avalanche, it is typical type of slab being triggered in Val d'Isere at the moment

Alt: 2600m
Aspect: E/NE
Slope Angle (approx): 35°
Depth: approx 50-80 cm
Width: 40-50 metres (approx)

Keep up to date with Val d'Isere conditions from Henry here on SeeValdIsere.com and through his Avalanche Blog