Going where the lifts don't go / Photo by Simon Hutton
There’s been a lot of talk here of this being one of the best seasons the Alps has seen in recent memory. Without wanting to gloat too much, we have had multiple powder days since the start of the season and it’s even snowing as I type.
This week I skied with a seven times seasonaire from Verbier – a guy that seriously knows his skiing. He couldn’t believe the amount of powder that remains untouched at Val Cenis, even late into the day. Often in the big resorts of the Alps any trace of fresh snow is thrashed by hoards of skiers long before the lifts close – another reason I love Val Cenis. Working a ski season is a bit like university – everyone involved seems to have a good time and a huge amount of pride in the place they’ve chosen to attend.
Avalanche training
This week we went out avalanche training. We split into pairs and buried transceivers for each other to locate and recover. Experts tell us that if an avalanche victim survives the initial slide, their chances of survival plummet after ten minutes. So we set ourselves a ten minute target and all managed to locate and recover the buried transceivers within this window. Having said this, we all learnt a huge amount from mistakes that we made on first attempts and were able to save invaluable minutes on our second efforts.
Ski safely
It’s all too easy to buy the appropriate safety equipment, be kitted out with all the latest gadgets and think that you’re safe, but there is no substitute for familiarisation and practice using your gear. Skiing powder is the zenith of many peoples’ skiing experience, including mine, and I would never discourage anyone from doing it, but it can be highly dangerous. There’s been a massive increase in inbound avalanches over the last few years.
- Be sensible
- Inform yourself of the risks
- Carry the essential triumvirate: Transceiver, Shovel, Probe and know how to use it.
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