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avalanche ratings
Do they really mean anything?
Last week I was in Arc 2000. The previous weeks had been cold with light precipitation so it was quite reasonable that the start of the week the avalanche risk was set at 2. Then the cold departed and the zero degree isotherm ascended above 2500m. Friday I was skiing down Comborciere a black run in a small steep valley. The heat of the day had caused some of the edge of the valley to slide down leaving avalanche debris across half the piste. I just skied past it. Saturday arrives it is now raining 2500m. When the weather had cleared a bit I skied dowm Muguet and Comborciere. A dirty area of snow where piste basher had flattened the debris and a spot of bare hillside was all that remained of previous days fall. As I rode up Pre Saint Esprit my brother pointed out a snow plough clearing snow that had slipped onto the road. We continued up Arcabulle then headed towards Arc1850 on Grand Renard. There was a Piste worker setting up a fence to direct skiers around some more fallen snow from the Aguille Grive. Not too serious it would hurt if it had hit someone but was only an inconvenient snow pile. After lunch I am skiing along Grand Renard but decide against going into 1850 and turn down Dents du Peigne (Blue) followed by Lac (Red) and inevitably onto Edelweiss (Blue) . Here we encountered avalanche debris right across the piste only stopped by the high bank on the other side. There was a scar all the way up to Arpette. I was able to ski offpiste around it. At this point I decided snow conditions were terrible and the light was flat so I stopped skiing early and went for a shower and clean clothes then wait for the train home. We saw numerous minor snow slips around the resort and two sizeable avalanches onto the piste. As we were leaving we noticed that the avalanche risk had risen to 3. I would think that where many actual avalanches had been occuring the risk should be more than that. |
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