Through 2016-1-12 Storm-skiing

...and then it snowed. Jan 2nd it arrived. As the holiday crowd checked out, Mother Nature checked in with storm #3 and stayed for 10 days and delivered 3m of snow, rain, sleet and more snow, and then snow and wind, lots of it.

Arming collu de la Trappe from Mariposa Productions on Vimeo.

We are blessed to have La Flégère as our sister resort. Jean-Francois Bellin, or Jeannot as the entire valley knows him, is our chef des Pistes. He is the perfect pick for the job. Full of gentleman like politesse which reflects in his bedside manner when running wrecks. His leadership in interacting with kindness to every department of the skiing company. The first to arrive on the job as a testimony to his energy, filled with history of the ski area, knowledge able in weather, topography and avalanche control. As skillful as he drives snow cats, so is he one of the finest ski area managers in the business.

Ski cuts Index from Mariposa Productions on Vimeo.

The avalanche danger is rated by the French Met office around 17:00 the day prior. If it goes 5 or the 'drapeau noir' (black flag) for the forecast area, then by default the resorts close. Other than that it's pretty much up to the chef des pistes' discretion.

After a month and a half of static weather the snowpack just evolved. With an emphasis on too warm for the season. After 60-80cm of new snow through Jan 4th. A new front moved in, back to back, this time with less snow but this time all the to valley floor. On Jan 7th the rain/snow line then crept up to well above treeline into the 2500m range on the. Sustained rain for a 24hr spell on. On the 8th and 9th that same snow/ rain line jojo-ed some more but never came that far below treeline. I am still compiling data. In the evening of Jan 10th it started snowing in all earnest at all elevations and winds at tree line sustained in the 55kph range. Toward the end of this 10 day storm cycle we totalled about 3m. And on Jan 12 things wound down with a morning tally 17" of new overnight.

The snowpack this leaves you "très compliqué"

Setting up Chavanne from Mariposa Productions on Vimeo.

As this barrage of snow kept hammering the higher terrain has remained closed to the public (above tree line.) With the exception of Jan 11th, patrol has been able to get to the top of the Index lift just to maintain access and pepper big paths threatening infrastructure with the avalauncher. We tried our damnedest that day.

Some of the paths can go from the highest part of the area to the very valley floor, some paths threaten pistes, some infrastructure or sometimes they risk grooming work.

I estimate one fifth of all the terrain is above the lift serviced area. About a third of the terrain is above tree line.

Tram cabin arriving la Praz from Mariposa Productions on Vimeo.

PIDA is the acronym that is associated with early mornings of control work, most of the time the entire crew, around 8-9 sets of hands a day.
Thousands of acreage, above tree line hanging steeps

Visibility in storm-skiing is redefined in ones vocabulary.
Jeannot and the team has given me a lot of leeway where to assist to my best ability. They give me work to do but most of the time I get to chose between details.

Trail maintenance Les Pylones from Mariposa Productions on Vimeo.

Free water perculation from Mariposa Productions on Vimeo.

Haut Index avalauncher barrel assembly from Mariposa Productions on Vimeo.

The strategy this past storm cycle has been to fire the Gazex to shake the high peaks lose of the major threats. Then head on up to the low avalauncher and pepper the paths endangering access to the higher lifts from there, whilst at the same time dropping hand charges to protect the terrain below. 

This allows opening of the lower pistes. Usually we have some coffee after the first 'attaque' and follow up with another round of having a go at it, with part of the crew doing weather, pisteuring or head on up by lift, scoot or snowcat to the high avalauncher and rock whatever makes sense that isn't controlled by Gazex.

Loading avalauncher from Mariposa Productions on Vimeo.

After a hard days work from Mariposa Productions on Vimeo.