Chamonix Green & White » Websites

Avalanche warning with warm temperatures

autocontent — Wed, 09 May 2012 22:31:00 +0000

The rescue services have warned ski tourers to take care over the next few days with renewed warm temperatures in the mountains. There is a lot of snow at altitude in the mountains and there have been a couple of recent incidents with reports of slabs, particuarly in the Ecrins region.

Carnage in the Canyon

autocontent — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 13:05:00 +0000

On the 13th November 2011 two skiers traversed the mid-cirque of Peruvian Gulch at Snowbird to reach the Gad Valley ridgeline, remotely triggering a 60 cm deep, 200 meter wide avalanche that covered their boot tracks below. They may not have even seen this slide in the low cloud and poor visibility.

Clipping into skis and board they skied the ridgeline then stopped. The skiers were above the south chute, a steep, rocky and tree lined couloir that drops 350 meters into Gad Valley. The first skier made three turns then – game over.

Prosecutor wants 5 year ban for ESF instructors

autocontent — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 10:01:00 +0000

Two ski instructors from the Ecole du Ski Français are threatened with a 5 year ban and suspended prison sentences in a manslaughter trial at Albertville court this week. Readers of PisteHors will remember the avalanche on the 31st December 2009 in Orelle which cost the life of a client, buried for 15 minutes by an avalanche while skiing off piste.

photo: kees wolthoorn

Review of the 2011/2012 Snow and Avalanche Conditions

autocontent — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 17:27:00 +0000

Winter 2011/12 will be remembered as cold and snowy in France, at least in an arc stretching from the Vosges in the North to the Hautes-Alpes in the south. A two week freeze February saw the coldest temperatures since 1986. Strong northerly winds made the situation worse, freezing central heating pipes and diesel and leaving hundreds of motorists stranded. However the cold was bracketed by warm, but snowy, weather.

An avalanche on the Vallée Blanche

autocontent — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 12:32:00 +0000

When skiing the normal route of the Vallée Blanche we tend to focus on the high mountain dangers, a fall from the ridge or a crevasse, rather then avalanches. At 12h30 on Saturday the rail line that links Chamonix to the Mer de Glace was blocked by a slide. An inconvenience for 100 passengers who had to be airlifted from Montenvers but a drama was unfolding lower down for a number of skiers descending the classic Vallée Blanche route. An account of the events by Bruno and posted on his website

Avalanche on forest trail – library photo

Rowdy airbag save caught on film.

autocontent — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 03:55:00 +0000

A videographer at an unsanctioned snowboard freeride event captured some provocative footage last weekend of an avalanche airbag in action:

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. In this case, a one-minute video is worth nearly 250,000 views on Youtube. At an unsanctioned snowboard freeride contest in Colorado, competitor Meesh Hytner, was captured in a class 3 avalanche. She deployed her Backcoutnry Access (BCA) Float 30 avalanche airbag and remained on the surface for the duration of the slide, escaping with no injuries.

Videographer Tyler Malay was filming at the grassroots event, called the Coloradikal Backyard BBQ, and captured the entire incident. The resulting Youtube video has gone viral, gathering nearly 250,000 views as of Friday (Feb. 3).

BCA’s Float airbags have been available in North America for three years, but only recently have been approved for sale in Europe. The company introduced two new models at ISPO earlier this week: the Float 22 and the Float 32. For more info, see http://www.backcountryaccess.com/airbag .

Spain authorizes heliskiing

autocontent — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 08:49:00 +0000

If you enjoy the peace, quiet and savage beauty of the mountains then the Val d’Aran is somewhere to cross off you list this winter. However if you like shreddin’ the gnar and don’t care too much how then Spain could be a new destination. The Catalonian government has just authorized heliskiing in the area. Two companies will be running trips Pyrenees Heliskiing and TAF Helicopters.

Photo: Pyrenees Heliskiing

6 Deaths in a week in the French Pyrenees

autocontent — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 18:15:00 +0000

The avalanche conditions may be some of the most stable we’ve known in a generation but that’s not the only danger in the mountains in winter. As we mentioned in the snow conditions thread and as our friends at Kairn.com have reminded us the other side of the coin is frequently hard or icy snow. Indeed in the Pyrenees there have been 6 deaths in a week as winter sports enthusiasts have lost their footing in the mountains.

Best Christmas snow of the century

autocontent — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 21:56:00 +0000

The season may have started late in the French Northern Alps (the 7th of December to be exact) but Christmas looks like being the best since 1999 in terms of quality and quantity of snow. As we start the new year there are above average snow depths from the Vercors (1600 meters) in the south to the Bellecote (3000 meters) in the north of the Savoie. At Bourg St Maurice (900 meters) there was nearly a meter of snow on the ground on New Year’s eve. At the ski resort of Valloire (1400 meters) in the Maurienne there is 170cm at the bottom of the pistes.

Spring snow in the Chartreuse at 1600m

Christmas movies

autocontent — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 23:15:00 +0000

Here’s wishing everyone a happy and safe Christmas with a couple of films of how it used to be back in the 1970s. Long skis, spandex pants, and lots of facial hair.

Ski Sauvage – Les Grands Montets dans les 70s

Piste patroller killed by avalanche charge

autocontent — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 11:20:00 +0000

A 54 year old piste patroller has been killed in Klosters during avalanche control work. The patroller and his colleague had loaded an avalancheur with an 8.3cm rocket. The patroller was in the process of removing 2 safety devices when the charge exploded without warning. Standing behind the device the patroller was killed by the recoil and by shrapnel from the charge. The accident follows a similar incident on the 18th December at Flégère in the Haute-Savoie. The charge exploded inside the launcher injuring two piste patrollers.

Yodl – a new way to discover Chamonix

admin — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 11:37:40 +0000

It connects you to the best businesses in your favorite alpine villages.
Besides being the best directory for local businesses and services, we give you a voice: You can rate and review businesses, and tell others where you got great or not-so-great service.

As a business owner you can claim your business and have an access to edit its data and add photos. Also, we will give you 3 months free access to Deals.

Yodl for Business

Claiming your business is easy. Just find your business from Yodl business directory (use search or business menu on the left) and click “Claim This Business” underneath the logo.

Then you need to fill simple form and tell us your position with the business. We only approve you if you have relationship with the company and the business owner accepts you as Business Admin on Yodl.

Once you have filled the form, we will contact the Business Owner and get their approval and give you an admin rights to the business.

You can see the progress of your claim on “Manage Business”, which you can find from the top navigation by clicking your name.

Remember that you always need to be logged-in to Yodl before you can claim or review businesses.

Introducing Lovefeed

Every Business has a little Love-button next to its name, click that and Business becomes your favorite and you can then easily follow their Deal offers, etc. on your feed at the top navigation. You can also Love other users and see their reviews and other activities on a feed.