Simply Savoie
Guided walking – snowshoeing – via ferrata in the French Alps with Mark Tennent
Bonjour mark
Super merci. Encore merci pr cette belle journée. J’ai appris pleins de choses et ce, dans une très bonne ambiance et avec bonne humeur ! Tu as contribué à cela. Je vais sûrement faire la suite des formations. On se croisera peut-être
23 janvier 2021
On the 27th of November I organised a day at Tignes in the French Alps with the avalanche expert Alain Duclos. He is also an IFMGA mountain guide and is involved in training France’s guides at ENSA (the French National Skiing & Mountaineering School) and is an expert witness at the Appeal Court in Chambery.
I’m a great believer in the phrase ?you never stop learning?. A group of eight of us met Alain at the ski resort of Tignes on a very cold but clear day. After sorting out a one-way ticket on the funiculaire (mountain railway) Alain gave us a copy of a new leaflet on avalanches that he and his team with Avalanche-Data.org have produced.
The leaflet highlights 6 criteria to take into account. These being:
The avalanche risk level given the avalanche forecast
Slopes steeper than 30 degrees.
Signs of recent avalanche activity
Rising temperature and thawing snow.
New overloading of snow: caused by wind, fresh snow falls or rain.
Alain and the team then propose 4 awareness levels.
Relaxed: when there are no danger signs, a normal level of awareness, avalanches are unlikely in this area.
Concerned: sign(s) of danger are identified, avoid the danger, avalanches may take place in the area.
Alert: sign(s) of danger identified, reduce the risk, avalanches are possible here.
Risky mode: sign(s) of danger identified, impossible to reduce the risk, avalanches possible here.
After a moment queuing we took the funiculaire to reach a height of 3000m. From here we headed off on skis into the wilds. Soon we stopped and Alain asked us to get out our probes and shovels. We excavated a huge trench digging down to ground level; here about 1.5m. A quick check of the hardness levels of the snow by running a snow saw down from the top identified some layers. Next a small column of snow was isolated from the surrounding snow. Alain used the blade of his shovel and started to tap with his hand with increasing force. A crack appeared about 20cm down and the block of snow slid off. Harder taps resulted in a crack appearing close to ground level. Next, starting at the level of the crack at ground level Alain started to saw along the remainder of the 2.5m long isolated block. After going about 50cm the whole block settled and slid forward. The crack had propagated along the weak layer and released the block of snow. This clearly demonstrated the slab avalanche release mechanism.
We then skied on to find another spot to play, as Alain calls it, ?Stability games?. We took a break for a picnic lunch in the sun before putting ?skins? on our skis to climb up the other side of the deserted valley. More slopes were examined before it was time to head back to Tignes. We enjoyed skiiing down with some good powder to enjoy between sections where the snow was last accommodating.
A great day with many ?nuggets? of information to take away.
Before you book your next guided walking holiday in the French Alps you may wish to consider the following questions.
Many walking holiday companies based outside France talk about the experience of their guides and talk of them as being ?local experts?. Really? The vast majority are certainly not ?local? and, arguably, far from ?experts?.
?Refers to facts and information acquired by a person which are relevant to a specific locale or have been elicited from a place-based context. It can also include specific skills or experiences made in a particular location.?
Can a walking guide who is ?parachuted in? for a few weeks have the same level of local knowledge as one who lives there all year? Simple logic would suggest, ?No?.
Communication is key. When you get off the beaten track English isn’t always spoken or understood.
Sustainable tourism is a phrase that appears in most brochures or on websites. What does it mean in practice? It is about reducing the impact of tourism in a variety of ways:
By choosing a French based and French speaking walking guide you truly contribute to the local economy.
Seeing wildlife and wild flowers is an important part of a walking or trekking holiday in the Alps. I can help you to spot ibex (bouquetin), chamois, bearded vultures not to mention the ubiquitous marmotte! Some are common and easy to spot, others can be more elusive. By knowing their favourite hang outs I can increase your chance of seeing them. Let me guide you in discovering the kaleidoscope of wild alpine flowers that never fails to inspire me; especially genepy!
France is world renowned for its gastronomy, great wine and fresh, local produce. It forms an essential part of any walking or trekking holiday in the Alps. A locally based walking guide can help you fully discover local specialities and not just the run-of-the-mill items on every menu.
I can take you to alpine farms where cheese making still happens ?sur place? (on site). Here you can watch this timeless tradition taking place. Huge copper cauldrons brimming with milk direct from the cows, their bells tinkling in the alpine pastures. You can taste the cheeses maturing in the farms cellar and may be buy some to take home with you.
You may know your French wines, Bordeaux, Cote de Rhones, Chablis, etc. However let me introduce you to the local Savoie wines. Savoie wines are comparatively little known due to the very small quantities produced and sometimes they are produce from grape varieties rarely grown elsewhere in France.
Is your potential walking guide legal to work in France? Does your guided walking holiday company only employ walking or hiking guides legally able to work in France? If not you run the risk that your guide is arrested and your holiday ruined. Find out more.
I’ve lived near Albertville, Savoie, in the French Alps since 2005. My home is in a small rural hamlet on the mountainside that forms part of the Chaine de la Lauziere between Albertville and the Col de la Madeleine.
I speak fluent French, albeit with a British accent, except when I’m working I rarely speak English. I’m currently applying for French citizenship.
All my neighbours are French. As I said to them, ?I didn’t move here to be part of an English speaking ?ghetto? like Chamonix or Meribel?. I now feel ?I belong? and several years ago I was touched by being introduced by my closest neighbour, a retired farmer, a Savoyard ?de souche? (born and bred) as a Villaret (someone from Le Villard). It was a milestone in being accepted into a tightly knit community where the local patois is still spoken.
Let me share my local knowledge with you. It’s an accumulation of my day-to-day life experience in France. So please allow me to bring your holiday ?alive?!
If you, or a friend, are still using an old (c. 10 years or over avalanche transceiver) it’s time to consign it to the bin! And no, don’t sell it on Ebay!
Really old transceivers worked on analogue technology. There were no visual direction or visual signal strength indicators. Your only guidance was by the volume of the ?beeps? emitted and adjusting the sensitivity of the device. It required experience and regular practice to become proficient. They almost certainly had only one antenna.
After that came two antenna transceivers to help give directional guidance and range to the victim. Now the majority of transceivers are all using three antennae; and some now even four.
Mixing the old with the new: old analogue transceivers transmit in such a way that they can mask the signals coming from a more modern receiver. So it’s not just you who may not be found you may also create problems for your friends!
If it’ over 3 years have it checked over. Why you ask? The antenna(e) of transceivers can get broken. You may not be aware unless you carry out a full group type check. Here you may discover a drastically reduced range; amongst other anomalies. Is there corrosion that you can’t see?
Make sure you are using the most up-to-date software for your transceiver.
Transceivers work on the 457 mhz frequency. Old transceivers are prone to drift too far from this frequency with the result they are impossible to find!
We see and potentially carry, more and more gadgets including: ?smartphones?, GPS devices, digital cameras with GPS built-in, GoPro’s, etc.
However the effects of ?Consumer Electronics? on Avalanche Transceivers is sobering. The long and short of it is ?turn it off?. (If carried they should be more stowed more than 30cm from the transceiver ? in a backpack).
The effect is most marked in the ?Search? (Receive) mode as the signal searched for is masked by the electronic ?noise? of the other device(s). This can make it very, very difficult to locate the victim and remember ? every second, minute counts.
Don’t forget that some digital cameras have a built-in GPS to location ?stamp? where photographs are taken. These too should be off and stowed at least 30cm from the transceiver.
The document in this link shows graphs clearly demonstrating ?The Effect of Consumer Electronics? on avalanche transceivers from ?Proceedings, International Snow Science Workshop, Banff, 2014? Link: http://arc.lib.montana.edu/snow-science/objects/ISSW14_paper_P4.13.pdf
Reading and interpreting the avalanche forecast is fundamental to reducing the risk of becoming a victim of an avalanche.
Despite daily avalanche forecasts available on-line and displayed in ski resorts there are still too many avoidable avalanche accidents.
Studies show that these incidents took place where predicted by the avalanche forecast. So, either people are not reading the forecast, or if they do they are not extracting the information in it.
The European avalanche risk scale runs from 1 to 5. Statistics (from France) for the last 15 years show that on 44% of days the risk was at level 2 (with 14% of fatal incidents) and 35% of days were level 3 (with 56% of fatal incidents).
One of the issues is the perception of Level 3. It is seen wrongly, by many as a ?medium? risk when in fact it is ?considerable?. If the avalanche risk scale e.g. 2 is the only element of the avalanche forecast being read incidents will clearly follow and the statistics would lend credence to this conclusion.
The avalanche bulletin itself contains a wealth of information.
Timescale ? at the top it gives the validity of the forecast and the level of risk. Sometimes it indicates an altitude with one risk level below and another above.
Compass ? here it shows which slopes are the most dangerous in terms of their orientation.
Type of avalanche(s) to expect ? This is divided into two types, natural releases and those caused by skiers.
Snowpack Stability ? Here a detailed description of the current stability of the snowpack. It may give information about recent weather patterns including wind direction and strength. There may also be more detailed information about altitudes where certain risks may be higher. This paragraph should be read carefully.
Depth of Snow (at a certain altitude) ? here it gives information on the quantity of recent snowfalls and what is predicted over the following 48 hours.
Weather forecast summary ? here it gives the altitude of when rain will turn to snow; the freezing level and wind speed at different altitudes along with the direction.
Snow depth off-piste ? here it gives the depth of snow at different altitudes on both north and south facing slopes. It also gives the altitude from which you can expect continuous snow.
State of the snow ? the state of the snow e.g. is it crusted, humid or powder.
Avalanche risk outlook ? here it shows whether the risk is staying the same, increasing or decreasing.
Time when the forecast was written ? here it gives the date and time that the forecast was prepared.
As you can see there’s a wealth of information that when read carefully substantially decreases the chance of becoming an avalanche victim.
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