Live from the Alps: storm Eleanor

Live from the Alps: storm Eleanor

Storm Eleanor is dominating the weather in the Alps right now. And it has some consequences for the ski areas: lifts are closed, the avalanche danger is HIGH to EXTREME and there’s even more snow in the forecast. Wind speeds up to 209 km/h were measured near the Konkordia Hütte in Switzerland! The measuring station on top of the Galzig (2079 meter) in St. Anton am Arlberg measured a wind speed of 155,9 km/h. Hereby some live updates from the Alps.

Thursday 15:07 St. Valentin - Haider Alm

Very, very sad news coming in from Italy. A mother and her 11-year old daughter died in an avalanche. You can read more about this tragic accident here.

Thursday 13:49 Height of avalanche in Val d’Isère

Check out the height of the avalanche that came down between Val d’Isère and Le Fornet yesterday. That’s quite impressive!

Thursday 12:02 - Skier killed by falling tree

Tragic news out of the French Alps. A 21-year-old skier was killed by a falling tree at the slopes of Morillon, which is part of the ski area of Le Grand Massif. The man was skiing on the slopes. RIP… (source)

Thursday 12:00 - Valfréjus is closed today

Valfréjus will remain closed today! The current weather conditions and the avalanche danger are too dangerous to open the lifts.

Thursday 11:59 - Closed roads in the French Alps

The roads to Arc 1950 and Arc 2000 are closed. The roads between Tignes 1800 and Tignes Le Lac will be closed all day. The lifts in the ski area of Tignes will be closed all day as well.

Thursday 11:58 - Montgenèvre

Some decent snowfall in Montgenèvre. And there’s even more snow in the forecast!

Thursday 11:12 - Gaschurn (Montafon, AT)

It wasn’t really a pleasure to take a ride in this chairlift in Gaschurn yesterday…

Thursday 10:24 - Val Thorens

Val Thorens looks like a fairytale this morning, but the avalanche danger is EXTREME (5 on a scale of 5). They are planning to open the chairlift Cascade and Plein Sud in the morning. Don’t even think about skiing off-piste.

Thursday 9:35 - Val d’Isère

Hurricane winds on the top of the Bellevarde in Val d’Isère yesterday. If you wonder how people got up their in the first place, there’s a train running through the mountain from La Daille to the top of the Bellevarde.

Thursday 9:40 - Livigno

A chair came down from the Monte Sponda lift in Livigno yesterday.

Wednesday 10:00 - Val Thorens

Most of the lifts were closed in Val Thorens today. The advice was to stay inside.

Wednesday 14:35 - Lech am Arlberg

They shut down the lifts in Lech am Arlberg. It’s snowing heavily and there’s still a lot of snow in the forecast.

Wednesday 11:43 - Alpe d’Huez

The lifts were shut down in Alpe d’Huez as well.

Wednesday 12:00 - Val d’Isère

A bit more than a breeze in Val d’Isère today.

A huge avalanche closed the road between Val d’Isère and Le Fornet

Wednesday 12:45 - Les 4 Vallées

Most of the lifts were closed in the resorts of Verbier, Nendaz and Veysonnaz today.

Wednesday 15:30 - From HIGH to EXTREME avalanche danger

The avalanche danger was HIGH (4 on a scale of 5) in parts of the French Alps this morning, but now is EXTREME (5 on a scale of 5) above 2500 meters
Avi danger in the Savoie this morning
Avi danger in the Savoie this afternoon

The avalanche danger in Chamonix is now EXTREME as well above 2100 meters (that’s 5 on a scale of 5). Check out the more detailled information on the site of MétéoFrance.

Wednesday 16:00- EXTREME avalanche danger in Valfréjus

The avalanche danger even was EXTREME (5 on a scale of 5) in the French resort of Valfréjus.
(c) Koen Speleman

Wednesday 17:30 - Zermatt

The views of the Matterhorn weren’t perfect today in Zermatt

Wednesday 18:30 - Davos-Klosters

The lifts in Parsenn, Gotschna and Pischa will remain closed on Thursday the 4th of January.

Arjen
was born with maps of ski areas in the cradle and has visited almost all of them. His great passion is freeriding.

Replies

Advanced
Chester_TartsnatcherAuthor3 January 2018 · 17:35

Wow! Amazing forces.

What are other WePowder fiends seeing out there?

EuroBBI2024 Rueras, CH March 1-9, 2024
Advanced
ArjenproadminAuthor3 January 2018 · 19:17
One day, they'll invent synthetic powder, ban all kinds of work and give you a free liftpass...
Advanced
ArjenproadminAuthor3 January 2018 · 19:18

20 people evacuated from the Hornbahn in Kitzbühel (AT): http://www.salzburg24.at/sturm-burglind-seilbahn-in-kitzbuehel-wird-evakuiert/5171758

One day, they'll invent synthetic powder, ban all kinds of work and give you a free liftpass...
Tourist
Brock22Author3 January 2018 · 19:34

Some pretty high winds in Switzerland. Gütsch ob Andermatt/UR 201 km/h
Pilatus 195 km/h Rekord
Zermatt/VS 145 km/h Rekord
The defeat speed is measured in the valley not up the hill.

Advanced
rossymcgAuthor3 January 2018 · 22:40

fuck a duck I’m going to be out in VDI this weekend. what’s happening with the wind will it be calming down? 5 out of 5 is don’t even look off piste

Advanced
BazsaAuthor3 January 2018 · 23:06

fuck a duck I’m going to be out in VDI this weekend. what’s happening with the wind will it be calming down? 5 out of 5 is don’t even look off piste

rossymcg op 3 Jan 2018 22:40


at avalanche danger level 4 you can expect almost all lifts closed situation. so it is a no go issue.

Advanced
Chester_TartsnatcherAuthor3 January 2018 · 23:12

fuck a duck I’m going to be out in VDI this weekend. what’s happening with the wind will it be calming down? 5 out of 5 is don’t even look off piste

rossymcg op 3 Jan 2018 22:40

Post more on TGnaR instead?

EuroBBI2024 Rueras, CH March 1-9, 2024
Beginner
mhilbertsAuthor4 January 2018 · 05:37

Exciting to watch!
Good idea to pick up Snowkiting I guess. ?
Never waste a good blizzard!

But seriously Concerned about the amount of avalanche problems in the next weeks though. Hopefully there will be some rain in the next day or two to put some natural load on the snowpack to trigger some of this naturally before skiers trigger it.

Reply
Never miss a PowderAlert!

Get updates on the latest news, PowderAlerts and more!