I will be there in 12 days, hope things have settled down by then. I am staying in Les Brevieres and was looking forward to flying down the Sache!! may be not now.
What affect will the rain that is forcast for the weekend have on the snow pack? will it help it bind to the mountain?
12th December 2012 Another Tignes Avalanche
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16 people across various places in Switzerland were caught last weekend. Luckily no deaths.
Snow is least stable during or immediately after a snowfall or rainstorm. Large amounts of snow falling in a short time are a likely sign that the snowpack could slide. A heavy snowfall of especially wet or dense snow over lighter powder snow can set up layers of instability. Rain tends to percolate down through the snowpack and warm the deeper snow. It also provides lubrication between layers, making them more likely to slide.
http://www.rei.com/learn/expert-advice/avalanche-basics.html
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Started by Bandit in Avalanche Safety 12-Dec-2012 - 13 Replies
MattSki_score
reply to '12th December 2012 Another Tignes Avalanche' posted Dec-2012
Ian Wickham
reply to '12th December 2012 Another Tignes Avalanche' posted Dec-2012
A touch of rain does not hurt the pack ....... I even read some where it helps :shock:
Verbier_ski_bum
reply to '12th December 2012 Another Tignes Avalanche' posted Dec-2012
Silly thing to do in the early season. It's been snowing pretty much non-stop (4 weeks ago there was ZERO snow) so why don't people just give snowpack a chance to stabilise?
Verbier_ski_bum
reply to '12th December 2012 Another Tignes Avalanche' posted Dec-2012
SwingBeep wrote:AllyG, there are several off-piste routes down the Vallon de la Sache http://www.chaletchardons.com/off-piste.html
This morning 3 members of a group of 12 were caught in an avalanche at Samnaun, also this morning 3 members of a group of 8 were taken by one near Serfaus, one of the group is in a critical condition after being buried under 1.2 m of snow for 20 mins. On Saturday afternoon 2 members of a group of 3 were caught in one at Celerina and 3 snowboarders were caught in an avalanche at Solden last Friday. These together with the ones reported by PisteHors bring the total to 10 so far.
16 people across various places in Switzerland were caught last weekend. Luckily no deaths.
SwingBeep
reply to '12th December 2012 Another Tignes Avalanche' posted Dec-2012
MattSki_score wrote: What affect will the rain that is forcast for the weekend have on the snow pack? will it help it bind to the mountain?
Snow is least stable during or immediately after a snowfall or rainstorm. Large amounts of snow falling in a short time are a likely sign that the snowpack could slide. A heavy snowfall of especially wet or dense snow over lighter powder snow can set up layers of instability. Rain tends to percolate down through the snowpack and warm the deeper snow. It also provides lubrication between layers, making them more likely to slide.
http://www.rei.com/learn/expert-advice/avalanche-basics.html
AllyG
reply to '12th December 2012 Another Tignes Avalanche' posted Dec-2012
MattSki - I should think if the black Sache run is open it will be safe enough, so you'd be OK to go down it. I'm sure they will be very careful making sure the runs they've opened are safe for all of us :)
I want to go down it as well - let us know how bad it really is, after you've been down it :P
I want to go down it as well - let us know how bad it really is, after you've been down it :P
Topic last updated on 13-December-2012 at 11:45