Weather and Snowpack

Early season conditions often bring unsettled spells of weather and a notoriously unstable snowpack. This winter has shown us exactly this again. Steep skier and UIAGM mountain guide Tom Grant reported that “some early season week layers became evident in the snowpack originating from the substantial October snowfall we had followed by a prolonged dry spell.”

“Snowpack conditions have varied from valley to valley, let alone the entire Alps”

Snowpack conditions have varied from valley to valley, let alone the entire Alps, over the past few months, so we’re going to deliberately keep snowpack conditions vague. What we do know, however, is that an extremely weak layer of depth hoar was formed following this prolonged period of calm weather.

Essentially a fancy name for sugary or faceted snow, depth hoar grows within the snowpack due to a large temperature gradient between the warm ground below the snow and the cooler air above the snow. Based on Canadian and Swiss statistics, buried hoar crystals account for more human-triggered avalanches than any other weak layer.

As avalanche expert Bruce Temper says, “Today’s surface hoar is tomorrow’s weak layer”. Similar to a deck of cards holding up the snowpack that falls on top of it, when depth hoar is formed in the middle of the snowpack, all it takes is the weight of a rider, or a rider’s turn to ‘snap’ the energy contained within that weak layer. Classically identified as a “whomph” sound, this weak layer results in the bond between the two snowpack layers releasing, resulting in an avalanche.

“Buried hoar crystals account for more human-triggered avalanches than any other weak layer”

Depth hoar was observed within the snowpack local to Tignes after taking a look at the bed surface of many of the large avalanches observed in resort. While we must stress that factors look to be varying from valley to valley, this can be seen as a key contributor to the high level of avalanche activity in recent weeks. Tom highlighted that “large snowfalls have overloaded some of these slopes making them sensitive to skier triggering. There have also been large natural avalanches.”

‘Expert Effect’ vs. ‘Backcountry Beginners’

This season’s shift in consumer trends towards backcountry and touring equipment has been pretty staggering. Jones Snowboards are reportedly completely sold out of their splitboard stock. Splitboard specific brands, like Spark R&D, have also seen a surge in their global sales.

It’s not surprising, though. With social distancing being the new norm and many resorts remaining closed for the season, the draw towards earning your turns and riding empty resorts is surely something we can all see the attraction in. 

But with the increasing numbers of people going into the backcountry (or in many cases, riding untracked snow within resort boundaries), there has been growing concern of more people getting into a dangerous situation and out their depth. 

It’s important not to assign blame, though. In our recent interview with Jeremy Jones, he talked about growing attitudes towards beginners and the so-called ‘expert effect’. “Stop pointing all those fingers at beginners,” he said, “because the so-called experts or people who’ve taken an avalanche course and are now feeling empowered are often the most dangerous, quite frankly.”

“The so-called experts or people who’ve taken an avalanche course and are now feeling empowered are often the most dangerous”

Many avalanches continue to be triggered by those who, whether from a lapse in judgement, or disregard of the warnings, have put a foot wrong in the backcountry. Equipping yourself with the knowledge is only half the battle, applying that knowledge effectively is what counts. And with so many people eager capitalise on untouched lines, another factor comes into play.

Powder Fever

Dragon Lodge’s Will Hughes, a man with no shortage of knowledge and experience of backcountry snowboarding, shared his thoughts on the recent avalanche dangers in Tignes: “When it all went bonkers the other day the risk was four out of five, so people shouldn’t have been venturing off too far,” he said. “The controlled areas were epic and made it so hard to understand why you would go somewhere sketchy.” 

For some, you could simply put it down to lack of experience; for others, it might be a simple case of ‘powder fever’. At some point, we’ve all been guilty of it – even the pros. Swiss rider Mat Schaer recently opened up about a lucky escape last season, when he was caught out in this huge avalanche. In sharing his lessons from the day, he cited “being too fired up” as the first. 

 

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It’s a case of ‘easier said than done’, but being able to keep your emotions in check and your mental game sharp in the mountains is arguably as important as any form of pre-planning before you head out the door. It’s rarely a case of staying indoors until the risk drops, but rather adopting tactics that allow you to ride safely every day. “The increased avi risk hasn’t stopped us riding,” says Rhys Jones, a snowboard coach and backcountry guide based in Tignes, “it has just dictated where we go. When it has been high risk we’ve just been sticking to mellow slopes and the pistes.”