PA #7: Powder in the Vercors!

They had around 25-35 centimeters of freshies in the Vercors and the Chartreuse the past 24 hours just and there is another 20 cm expected the next two days. Nice powder days in this pre-Alps of France. And it wasn’t only in those regions where they had a lot of snow.

They also had 20 centimeters of freshies in the pre-Alps of the Haute Savoie, Savoie and Isère. Just as in the Champsaur, Pelvoux and Embrunnais south and west of the Ecrins. It’s beginning to look more and more like winter in France. Especially because another 10 centimeters will come down in the pre-Alps the next two days. But there will be no precipitation in other areas. Today and Thursday are powder days in:

• Western Alps North (pre-Alps of the Haute Savoie)

• Western Alps central (pre-Alps of the Isère)

• Western Alps south (west and south of the Hautes Alpes)

Le Retour d’Est: finetuning

In the night from Wednesday to Thursday the front will move to the Po Valley. It will initially snow around Valberg and Isola 2000 and later in the complete Piemonte and west and south of Lombardia. Because of the eastern current you can expect the most snow between Alagna and the Piz Bernina. You can expect an average of 10-25 centimeters of freshies in the Piemonte and Lombardia. In the eastern stau (especially the eastern stau) of the Monte Rosa and Simplon (Alagna, Macugnaga, San Domenico and Bosco Gurin) you can expect 30-50, locally 70 centimeters of freshies. You’ll have to go somewhere between Alagna and Airolo. There are plenty of nice resorts and they had about 50-80 centimeters already last weekend.

Thursday, Friday and Saturday will be powder days in:

• Western Alps south

• Southern Alps central (especially between the Monte Rosa and the Ortler)

First north, later northwest

There will be light snowfall in the north during the weekends. In the Stau areas at lower altitudes (read: the pre-Alps) of the northern Alps this may result in 15 cm of freshies. This will become less the further you’ll go south. So I recommend you to go to the pre-Alps or the French Alps, or towards the southern Alps central. From the middle of next week the northwest will get some snow. This would then be PowderAlert #8. But first, enjoy PowderAlert #7. There is a base south of the Gotthard and with the snow the next couple of days the riding will be great.

But … unstable snowcover

There were as many as seven victims again last week due to avalanches in the Alps. We studied the snow cover the last couple of days and it still is very unstable. In many places there are weak layers deep in the snowcover and those can’t be seen by the layman. We have seen avalanches of which the crown sometimes was over two meters high. And yes, that’s pretty intimidating.

We made the decision last weekend to ride not steeper than 30 degrees above the tree line and sometimes below 35 degrees. Instead, we mainly rode powder in the dense forests of Livigno where there were no steep slopes above us. Because of this we were able to reduce the risks. But just because there was plenty of snow to have fun in the trees. We avoided even the more open parts in the forest as much as possible and when there was no other option we descended one by one in which it is important to wait until the person before you has arrived at a safe spot.

Off-piste is still dangerous at the moment . If you go the Alps the next couple of days, be alert. Choose resorts with trees and especially ride powder between the trees. Check your local daily avalanche bulletin, make sure you have the right gear with you and that you have the right knowledge. No knowledge? Are you not sure? Say no to off-piste and wait for conditions to improve.

Stay stoked

Morris