On 01 Apr 2010 11:03:31 GMT, Ollie Clark
wrote:

Ian Blake wrote:
Do they really mean anything?

I guess they're fairly meaningless in the grand scheme of things. They
are given for an entire resort AFAIK so they can't accurately reflect the
risk in any given part of the resort.

Generally they're done at a wider level than the resort - certainly in
Switzerland. And they go into a lot of detail about which slopes,
orientation and gradient, will be most likely to slip, and at what
time of day depending on the weather.

As such, they're incredibly useful as guidance of where to not go,
particularly at this time of year as the warmer weather starts to
shift a season's worth of snowpack.

So the number ratings should be taken only as a first high-level
guide; if it's 3 or more you really should read the full report,
unless you're staying entirely withing controlled areas.

The rating was 3 in Tignes last week for the whole week but I saw one
small slide and one huge slide happen before my eyes and there
was evidence of avalanches on almost every slope. Several pistes had
been hit.

Generally the pistes are not opened until they've been made safe,
although clearly it's not always the case.

I've never seen so much avalanche debris! Certainly focussed the mind
on the tranceiver training.

Heh. It's often like that at this time of year.
--
Ace
Ski Club of Great Britain http://www.skiclub.co.uk/
All opinions expressed are those of the poster and in no way reflect those of the Ski Club or its members