ISSUE 1511 | FEB 7, 2020
THE
ECHO
FREE WEEKLY GUIDE TO VAL D’ISÈRE TIGNES
M A G A Z I N E
PIONEERING SPEED-RIDING
REMEMBERING THE UCPA AVALANCHE
VIABLE VALENTINES
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THE FOLIE DOUCE ART PROJECT COVER ART: KIRI SNELL Last year, we launched the Folie Douce Art Project, with the aim of adorning the front cover of the Echo with local artists’ creations. It worked! We ended up with 21 stunning magazines and got to meet some thoroughly fascinating individuals over a spot of lunch at La Folie Douce. The famous mountain restaurant, bar and cabaret extravaganza generously support this project and we’re thrilled to announce their continuing sponsorship this winter. We’re now on the hunt for more creative talent. If you would like to see your work on the front of Val d’Isère’s finest English language publication, and featured on the screens at La Folie Douce, get in touch with us now. Whatever your medium, we can almost certainly accommodate it.
To find out more about how to be involved, email: contact@valecho.co.uk. Also you can check out last year’s covers and buy prints of your favourite at www.valecho.co.uk/ folie-douce-art-project We can’t wait to see what the Echo will look like this year.
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22 EVENT LISTINGS
CONT ENTS The Val Echo CCK Intergalactic Ltd www.valecho.co.uk contact@valecho.co.uk
What’s on this week: - Town events - Bar nights - Sporting competitions
27 VIABLE VALENTINES How to find a valentine to share a mortgage and have one and a half kids + a dog with
30 HENRY’S AVALANCHE TALK An in depth look at the snow conditions and up-coming weather for off pisters
Please recycle the magazine once you have read it. Or, better still, hand it on to someone else.
35 UCPA AVALANCHE
Contributors: Sam Box, Ben Pryor, Caitlin Kennedy
On the 50th anniversary of the catastrophic avalanche that tore through the UCPA building, we look back at what happened
06 RESORT GUIDE The down-low on everything from the best restaurants to the numbers to call in an emergency
NEW STYLE
10 SPOTLIGHT ON THE ARTIST We chat to Kiri Snell the designer of this week’s cover art. The Echo’s cover is generously sponsored by La Folie Douce
We interview absolute legend and world record holder for the biggest vertical drop by a speedrider in a day, Maxence Cavalade
Coiffure & Massage Sur rendez-vous à partir de 14h
design www.athoms.fr
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Hairdresser & Massage By appointment From 2PM
20 OUTSIDE THE BUBBLE A satirical spin on the week’s events from our man on the outside, Ben Pryor
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+33(0)4 79 06 02 00 info@avancher.com Arrêt de navette UCPA / www.avancher.com
Remise Carte Vie Val d’Is
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SPOTLIGHT ON THE ARTIST Artist: Kiri Snell
Tell us about your cover- did you ever study anatomy? Yes I did Equine Sports Science at University. So we would have to study massive horse hearts and huge lungs (that you can stand in). I’ve always liked drawing anatomical things like skulls. I like the contrast of them. Last year I did a similar drawing of a heart with ocean waves so I thought for this one I would try doing one with mountains. Do the berries and foliage represent anything in particular? I started off just drawing leaves and then realised that it looked like a Eucalyptus leaf so that’s what it ended up being. Also I’m half Australian, so it tied in nicely with that. What medium do you tend to draw in? Normally pencil and pen. I never used to like working with pen because I would freak out about going wrong. But I like quite clean
lines and then doing the shading with pencil, building it and going darker and darker. I do a lot of neo-traditional tattoo style drawings, which require clear lines. Do you tend to draw for tattoos? I have done a few bits and pieces for people, for instance friends who have wanted a tattoo design. I design all my own tattoos and then give the drawing to the tattoo artist to tweak. But for friends who aren’t that artistically minded, often if they vaguely know what they want but don’t want to go in to a tattoo studio empty handed, I’ll do some preliminary sketches for them. Was there anything you were obsessed with drawing when you were little? I don’t think so. I write more than I drawthat’s my go to creative outlet. But every now and then I get writer’s block and I’d rather draw. I used to find it really hard in art classes at school when they would just present you with a brief and there was very little room for lateral thinking. But in my own time I draw anything and everything really, a lot of floral motifs, things like that. Generally, quite nature inspired drawings. Does where you are inspire your art? Sometimes. I’m in the mountains all the time now so I’m sure it impacts me somehow. But generally, I’ll just spot a detail of something I find interesting and that will inspire me. Like the back of a T shirt or a plant. I quite like mashing ideas and merging concepts. Sam’s obligatory dog question- what is your favourite dog? I have 2 rescue huskies and a terrier, so it’s got to be them. The terrier is the fittest dog you’ve ever seen because he runs around with the huskies all the time. We have a little scooter thing that they pull around. One is a Siberian husky and one is a Malamute Cross (proceeds to melt our hearts with photos of huskies). I was out on holiday in Norway recently and we went dog sledding. I got
talking to one of the mushers and almost got convinced into doing a season training huskies for dog sledding. Maybe in the future. We have to ask, what’s with the “Fuck You Buddy” on your hat? It was actually given to me by Holly (who did a cover two weeks ago) for secret Santa. Jo Falconer once described me as 3 foot of pure anger so it’s quite appropriate. Just the other day, some punter was bashing into the side of my board and I just turned to them, lifted up my helmet and pointed at the “Fuck You Buddy”! Fair enough. Any upcoming projects? I usually just draw on white out days when I’m stuck in the cube (our flat) so nothing planned as such. Thanks Kiri!
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PIONEERING SPEED-RIDING
Maxence Cavalade is not only one of France’s top speed-riders, he’s also a boss at skiing, snow-boarding, telemarking, diving, sky-diving and judo amongst many other things. We caught up with him on his down time. How did you get into speed-riding? The first time was 2003. I went to Les Arcs and Jerome Baud (a paragliding and
ski instructor) said to me “Max, I have something that you have to try”. This was really at the beginning of speed-riding, because the sport began in 2001. He already had the canopy ready and I tried it with him for half a day. In Les Arcs, there is a huge area which is perfect for beginners because it is very open, with nothing to crash into. And just skiing straight with the canopy overhead was the most amazing feeling. So when I came back to Val d’Isère, I had a friend who had an old parachute and I borrowed it to try speed-riding on Super L, Banane, places like that. I was a beginner and I probably did way too much too soon. But we didn’t know yet how to learn speed-riding because the sport was so new. If I’d known how dangerous it could be, I wouldn’t have learnt the way I did. There was a lot of trial and error early on- I crashed every time and although I never injured myself, I definitely could have done. That was a really enjoyable experience, testing it out
by myself. At this point there were maybe only 10 or so speed-riders in France. After that I met another guy called François Bon, one of the pioneers of speed-riding, as well as a World Champion of acro-paragliding. I met him at a skydiving centre and we started riding together. It must have been amazing to have been there at the inception of a new sport. Actually, I wasn’t really conscious of that at the time. I just knew that it was so new and exciting for me. But at the beginning when I practiced it in Val d’Isère, I was the only one doing it here and it was quite funny because every time I did it someone would call the Securité des Pistes. From the old Solaise chairlift, I could ride all the way down to UCPA where I was working and when I did this run, I disappeared behind a cliff and people on the chairlift always thought I had fallen to my death. So I would get back home and immediately get a call from the Ski Patrol who would wearily ask “Max, was it you again?”. Where’s your favourite place to ride? Val d’Isère is the best spot, probably in the world. Of course we haven’t tried it everywhere but of all the places I’ve been, here is the best. There are amazing links that have big vertical gains. And the off piste areas where we can go are amazing, long and quite easily accessible. There’s a lot of variety with big steep slopes, couloirs and a few forests. So you never get bored. Do you think your parachuting/sky diving background helped you with learning to speed-ride? Honestly, no. Firstly, when I was a beginner at speed-riding, I’d only just started learning to skydive, with around 80 jumps under my belt. But the other thing that I noticed when teaching speed-riding courses with UCPA was that those who come from a skydiving background tend to be harder to teach and they have more problems. They think that they know how to control a canopy. But the thing is, they only spend a few seconds just before
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landing gliding close to the ground, so really they have no experience piloting a canopy. They don’t have an understanding of the 3D movement of the canopy which is such a vital component of speed-riding. Paragliders and especially acro-paragliders come from a much better starting point to learn the sport.
Tell me about the film Ride-and-Fly 3D come about? In the 2000s at the epoch of speed-riding, film-makers got in contact with François, Jerome and I to ask if we could feature in ski films. So we did some segments in those, but after a while we thought it would be cool to have a film exclusively devoted to speed-riding so people could learn what it was. We had a few sponsors who gave us some money, about 500,000€, to make a short film. My girlfriend at the time asked me, “OK Max, what is it that makes Speed-Riding special?”. And I realised that it was the way we move in three dimensions within the terrain. So that flourished into the idea of making the film in 3D. I happened to have a drink with a friend I hadn’t see in 10 years who was in the film industry, and he serendipitously told me that his specialty was 3D movies! There were many more steps; in fact I worked on the film for 3 years. The process was such an amazing experience- we really did the whole thing on a shoestring and I made the soundtrack with some friends. Eventually we emerged with a 51 minute 3D documentary about the birth of speedriding and how we were practicing it. We won the European award for the best 3D documentary and it was bought by Universal. Was competing ever an interest for you? No, I never competed in speed-riding. I was riding with the guys that pioneered the sport so I never felt the need to compare myself with anyone else. I did a lot of competition in Judo when I was youngerthat is my main sport originally. But with speed-riding, I preferred to just discover
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and explore with my friends. Also, if you do a competition, you have to pay a lot of money to go to another resort for the weekend and do maybe two runs. I could do 50 runs in that amount of time.
Ski team and they told me about the physiotherapists that work with them, so I decided I wanted to be the Physio of the French Ski Team, or maybe the French Judo team.
Or lap the Bellevarde! How did your world record attempt, when you dropped 47,768m in a day (amounting to 56 laps of the Olympic bubble), come about? Originally it was just an idea for fun. I like to have projects and to try something new. One day about 5 years ago, I was speedriding and the conditions were so perfect that I just kept lapping the Bellevarde all day without stopping for food or anything. And when I looked at how much vertical descent I had done at the end of the day, it was more than 30,000m, which was insane. I thought of Felix Baumgartner, the world record holder for greatest vertical fall in a sky dive with 39,000 meters (about 24 miles) and wondered if I could do the same distance speed-riding in a day. Also, I want to be part of a World Record Attempt to create the biggest aerial star ever done by 200 skydivers that will take place in Chicago in 2021. But to be selected, I have to do plenty of training and jumps, which costs a lot of money. So the other aim with the Speed Riding Record was to raise money from sponsors to allow me to do that. I tried to do the attempt 5 years ago with Radio Val but the conditions weren’t right. And then the last few years I have been studying so it wasn’t possible to try again until last year.
What do you think drives people towards extreme sports? People talk about ‘extreme’ sports but from my perspective, they can be practiced in a way that is not extreme. It all depends on how you do them. I used to call them environmental sports. You are in an environment, which is changing and you evaluate your surroundings with the goal of adapting your way of doing that particular sport to the conditions. I am someone who is quite cautious so have never felt that I was in danger because I am always assessing what is around me and whether I should be doing something or not. I think people that get into extreme conditions are trying to do something beyond their capabilities because they aren’t prepared for the length of time it takes to practice. Using speed-riding as an example, people feel comfortable very quickly because the initial stages of learning are not difficult and then they believe themselves to be more capable than they are.
What were you studying and why was academia important to you? Physiotherapy and Osteopathy. I did a 4 year Masters course in Belgium. I probably won’t want to teach skiing until I’m 60. So the idea is to have an alternative career to fall back on, but one that is within the snowsports world. The other option is to become a coach, but I’m not very good at racing- I only started skiing when I was 20. I knew some racers from the French
Doing my first barrel took me 5 or 6 years, riding every week, all season. Plus I was already a ski instructor, with a good knowledge of off-piste conditions. But people expect to be able to advance more quickly than that. So they might get a barrel right the first time but to land it safely every time, takes a lot more practice and requires greater understanding of the conditions. What makes teaching so fulfilling to you? Teaching and passing on knowledge is really my calling. I have 4 qualifications to teach in skiing, judo, sky-diving and scubadiving. Sharing these experiences with people is really something I love and I like to do it in different environments. But even more than that, I love learning. I love being a beginner and I always need to discover new things.
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OUT OF THE BUBBLE
consequences and might be best avoided; can we call it the Rihanna principle?
Talking of mass panic and hysteria, the race for second place in the US election kicked off at the Iowa Caucus and descended By Ben Pryor into the kind of acrimony that makes the Donald’s Twitter finger twitchy. Due to The coronavirus continues to wreak havoc, a coding error, the results app declared with reported cases and deaths continuing almost everyone the victor. In the end to rise as it spreads to other Asian countries Bernie Sanders and Pete Buttigieg and the world. Medical science is reporting (pronounced Boot-edge-edge rather progress towards a vaccine, but the than the butt gag we’re all trying to avoid timeline is months. Thankfully, the fatality making) tied with 11 delegates each. rate remains small and the disease broadly Elizabeth ‘Pocahontas’ Warren finished survivable, if highly unpleasant. With third and Sleepy Joe came fourth, which the preponderance of recent pandemics is only a good result if a five-a-side team crossing to the human population from the is playing soggy biscuit. The Donald animal kingdom, at some point we might was busy making the State of the Union conclude a policy of eating anything that’s speech (which Nancy Pelosi tore up when been born, irrespective of how exotic or he finished) and being acquitted at his where it’s been since, comes with unwanted impeachment trial. A two-thirds majority
would have required 20 Republican senators to convict him, with only Mitt Romney voting to do so… as he sat there chewing on the sourest of grapes.
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Scotland’s finance secretary Derek Mackay, long tipped to succeed Nicola Sturgeon, has resigned hours before delivering the Scottish budget, after admitting messaging a 16-year-old boy on social media over a period of six months and telling him he was ‘cute’; with Alex Salmond and Jimmy Krankie as his role models, there was only one way this was headed.
justice reform and promote her SKIMS brand of shapewear; no thought that hocking the latter might cheapen your currency a smidge when opining about the former? The wife of the former head of the International Bank of Azerbaijan, currently serving 15 years for fraud and embezzlement, has lost her appeal against an order to provide proof of where the £11.5m a company registered in the US Virgin Islands used to buy her house in Knightsbridge came from; don’t think we need Sherlock Holmes on this one.
A woman dressed as Minnie Mouse punched a security guard on the Las Vegas strip before two others – dressed as Mickey and Goofy – intervened to break it up; real housewives of Disneyland is off to a cracking start. Kim Kardashian appeared on Good Morning America to talk criminal
And finally, a jilted husband hacked off his love rival’s penis and stabbed him to death for having an affair with his fortune teller wife in Thailand; you’d think that’s the kind of thing she could’ve foreseen and warned him about. Until next week, I’m off to play ‘I am Spartacus’.
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SATURDAY 8 SALOON Beer-pong specials VICTOR’S Seasonaire Saturday. 5€ beer, 4€ wine, 6€ cocktails 21-23 10% discount on food PETIT DANOIS DJ James French 10pm THE FALL LINE Super Seasonaire Saturday 6 NATIONS See page 46 LE LODGE DJ K2
EVENTS LISTINGS SUNDAY 9 PETIT DANOIS Live Music with Ali and Tchai 5pm. DJ Jack Igglesden 10pm SALOON Live Music Big Mountain 17.30 BANANAS Drum and Bass with DJ BigKez HIBOU Sunday Funday! Happy Hour all day & Live Music w/ DJ KOMMISSAR 6 NATIONS See page 46
TIGNES SALOON Beer pong specials
CINEMA Just Mercy in English 8.30pm FOLIE DOUCE Two Many Left Hands
WEDNESDAY 12 BONNE SANTÉ Power Flow Yoga with Rose 10.30am at Le Hibou PONT ST CHARLES Wildlife Walk BANANAS Après-après party with DJ from 8.30-11.30pm FOLIE DOUCE WTF! Party SALOON 3€ JOSS!! PETIT DANOIS Live Music The Mardy Johnny Depps 17h. DJ James French 22h HIBOU Wings Wednesday BONNE SANTÉ Hilltop Candlelit Yin. Refuge de Solaise 7.30pm CINEMA JoJo Rabbit in English 8.30pm FALL LINE Live DJ on the decks TIGNES SALOON DJ RAZE spinning some D’n’B from 22h & 3€ JOSS!!
TIGNES SALOON Beer pong specials
THURSDAY 13 BACKSTAGE VISIT Discover how the Olympic Cable Car and Snow making facilities work. Sign up @Tourist Office. LE LODGE DJ Valentin 11pm-2am
SALOON DTF-Party, wear green, free shots! PETIT DANOIS Live Music: The Blazin’ Strings 5pm. DJ Jack Iggelsden 10pm IN TOWN Festilight- Street Party on the Main Road with performers & live music. VICTORS Hip Hop Night with Live DJ BANANAS Live DJ on the decks BONNE SANTÉ Hilltop Candlelit Flow. Refuge de Solaise 11am SO BAR Karaoke Night
T-SALOON DTF-Party, wear green, free shots!
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MONDAY 10 BONNE SANTÉ Mountain Flow Yoga with Rose 10.30am at Le Hibou SALOON Messy Monday 15€ Headf*cker LA FOLIE DOUCE Apero Spritz Piazza PETIT DANOIS Live Music Mullit & the Machine 5pm. DJ Jack Igglesden 10pm AVALANCHE SAFETY TALK Free talk at 5.30pm in English on the Snowfront
THE MARMOT ARMS BASS STATION with DJ Komissar and friends TIGNES SALOON Messy Monday – the wall 15€
FRIDAY 14 PETIT DANOIS Live music with Karen & Andreas 5pm. DJ Jack Igglesden 22h SALOON 3€ J-Bombs SAVONETTE Yooner sledging 6pm FOLIE DOUCE Hedegaard CINEMA Birds of Prey in English 8.30pm SAVONETTE Floodlit Parallel Night Slalom with Dynastar
TUESDAY 11 FOLIE DOUCE Martin Baltzer SALOON Our no.1 Bulgarian Filip’s B-DAY! LE FACE Ladies Night Tour. France’s top female racers take to the Face for a night slalom. Torchlight descent afterwards by instructors & firework display. FALL LINE Live DJ on the decks
PETIT DANOIS Live Music The Revolverlites 5pm. DJ Jack Igglesden 22h
VICTOR’S Retro Night! All your favourite tunes from the 70s, 80s and 90s TIGNES SALOON DJ PSD spinning a SCANDI-NIGHT!
ALL WEEK BANANAS Happy Hour 6.30-7.30pm and 10.30-11.30pm HIBOU Happy Hour 4-7pm. Kitchen open from 12pm for lunch SALOON (VAL) Happy Hour 8-10pm: Jugs 15€ + 3€ Joss. 2-4-1, 4-6pm. Can you beat the highscore on the boxing machine? LA FOLIE DOUCE Seasonaire Meal Deal 12€ @ Petite Cuisine VICTOR’S Cocktail Hour 10-11pm. Cocktails 6€ Restaurant booking 0479060652
TIGNES SALOON 3€ J-bombs
THE FALL LINE Happy hour everyday 3-5pm4.50€ pints. Beer Pong every day 12€ a jug. BLUE NOTE Happy Hour everyday 3-6pm, Hot Sloe Gin & Tonic and complimentary nibbles. T-SALOON 2-4-1 @ après (4-6pm). Happy Hour 20-22h: jugs 15€ + 3€ Joss. All sport shown SO BAR Open 4pm everyday with free Aprés pizza & a fab new cocktail menu
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VIABLE VALENTINES We all know that the real reason everyone comes here is to look for true love. However, I don’t hear the church bells ringing that often so clearly, not all is bon. Here are some tips on how to fall in love and live happily every after. Firstly, better hope you are dank on the mountain. Multiple studies have shown that straight lining a couloir is the most attractive thing a potential mate can do and stomping a 720 causes a mass expulsion of very desirable pheromones. When you see people shredding in the park without a helmet, they are not just being careless fools, they are actually desperate for a partner and are trying to release their sendy scent into the air.
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The best tip we have for finding your soul mate is to make moves in the daylight. No matter what they say, the person you just met in the middle of the dance floor at 2am does not want to raise four children and two cats with you. To get a genuine reciprocation of devotion from another human, your best bet is to converse with them in the day. We don’t mean après, we mean before beverages have been consumed as this is the best time to meet a potential spouse and find out what kind of shared mortgage they would be happy with. Another pro tip is to up your cooking game. You are hardly going to be desirable if you are cooking pasta six times a week, no matter how well you can ‘salt bae’. A variety of sensual eating experiences are needed to secure a significant other for the long run. Sushi is an automatic winner - you come across cultured and the shared rolling experience can bring out that eternal desire we all hope for. Being able to slow cook a
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dish is also recommended as it shows you are willing to be patient in the name of tenderness. The one time pasta can be advised is when you are cooking really, really long spaghetti - we have all seen Lady and the Tramp.
Getting a dog is a very wise move in finding a life long human companion. It shows that you can commit to a long term relationship and that you are financially stable enough to provide for another if necessary. The hound will also draw in potential partners of either sex for you to screen with casual dog
questions that are actually thinly veiled to hide the info you are really after. Example “Do you like my dog and are your parents likely to pay for your wedding?�. Most of us have at least heard of Tinder, and I bet, like me, most people are also wondering why nobody displays their life insurance coverage on their profile. Personally, I find nothing more attractive than knowing if my partner were to befall a terrible fate, I wouldn’t be left out of pocket by the funeral costs. Make the most of online dating services by flaunting your assets. If you have tried all of the above but are still not married and saving for your first-born to go to Uni, best try Gondalove. What is Gondalove, you ask? Starting this week, we are pairing up singles from Tignes and Val to go for a ski date followed by free lunch. All you have to do is spill the beans to us afterwards!
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OFF PISTE SNOW REPORT Brought to you by Henry’s Avalanche Talk www. henrysavalanchetalk. com A bizarre three days of weather this week will be followed by a calmer weekend and fresh snowfall at the start of next week. In three days we had drenching rain up to 2700m, followed by a very mild grey and flat light day with slushy snow, followed by a very cold day of monster winds (217km/ hr) that blew the authors shutter off its hinges.
Shiny crust and water affected snow Tignes 6th Feb – photo Mike Crompton
This left us with a weird snowpack. Look at this image taken on 6th Feb of the refrozen shiny crust, also showing rivers of water that had flowed under the snowpack during the warm weather (2500m in Tignes). There was cold dry snow that had fallen at the end of the storm, but it had been blown away by the wind
But at the same time in shady sheltered spots, the powder that fell remained and offered real powder skiing on Wednesday 5th Feb. Fortuntately the weather should settle down this weekend.
It looks like becoming a little more stormy again from Monday to Wednesday with further snowfall expected in the mountains of the Northern French Alps. The quality of off-piste snow is very varied at the moment. Wind and rain have really affected the surface snow, making it very crusted and difficult to ski in places. In more sheltered spots in the lee and in gullies, there are some excellent strips of powdery off-piste skiing to be found. Because the snow surface varies so much, we really need to keep our concentration as we ski, keeping our eyes open for what’s ahead. After recent storms, there’s also some serious rough avalanche debris out there that is difficult to traverse through. Recent history of the snowpack Recent high winds, maximum speeds of 217 km/hr on the Pissaillas glacier (above Val d’Isère/Bonneval), have been blowing the snow around (and sometimes off) the mountain. These winds were accompanied by persistent precipitation, mainly in the form of rain, drenching the snowpack, particularly at 2700 m and below. The wind and rain have caused a lot of the steeper slopes to purge themselves of snow, making for a more stable situation after the initial instability. Snowpack stability below 2700 m-ish has now vastly improved on all sides of the mountain thanks to this deeply humidified snowpack, followed by consolidation and refreezing during sub-zero temperatures on Tuesday night into Wednesday. Things have now really firmed up, making for a much safer situation as far as avalanches go. The snowpack, at least below 2700/2500 m, is now a lot more stable than it was before the recent episode of persistent rain. Even after the next expected snowfall on
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Monday/Tuesday, although the top layer of fresh snow may be unstable in the shortterm, the deeper layers will remain solid due to all this week’s humidification and subsequent refreezing/consolidation. Higher altitudes above 2700 m, which recently received snowfall instead of rain, are not currently so stable because they haven’t been as saturated and consolidated as the lower ones.
How does the forecast look for the coming week?
What is the current avalanche risk in the Northern French Alps/Savoie? As we write (Thursday 6th Feb) the avalanche risk is a 3/5. We expect it to decrease to 2/5 over the next few days, rising again with any significant amount of fresh snowfall at the beginning of next week.
SUNDAY 9:Sun then clouds. Sun in the morning, becoming cloudy in the afternoon. Maximum temperatures: +3°C at 2000m, -5°C at 3000m. Isotherm 0°C: 1800 then 2300m. Wind at 2000 m: SW 20 then 30/50 km/h. Wind at 3000 m: SW 30 then 50/70 km/h. Night from Sunday to Monday: short rainy period, light snow above 2000/2200m. Stormy W wind in the mountains.
Check out what the avalanche danger ratings mean. For any specific points about snow stability, you need to check the daily avalanche bulletins, particularly when the fresh snow comes next week. What does this mean for off-piste skiers and snowboarders? The snowpack, at least below 2500/2700m, has currently become a lot more stable after recent episodes of prolonged rain. Be more wary of the colder higher altitudes where the snowpack has not consolidated as well, and where it has been more windblown. Consult the daily avalanche bulletins for any specific points about snow stability, particularly when the fresh snow comes next week. Where is most at risk at the moment? Steep slopes with fresh snow on them and terrain traps beneath them are always going to be particularly at risk. Particularly beware of slopes above 2500/2700m, which didn’t benefit from the solidifying effect of the rain’s humidification and subsequent refreezing.
SATURDAY 8: Fairly sunny in the mountains. A few cloud banks of altitude around 4000/6000m. Calm, bright atmosphere. Maximum temperatures: +2°C at 2000m, -3°C at 3000m. Isotherm 0°C: 2400m. Wind at 2000m: calm. Wind at 3000m: SW 10/30 km/h.
MONDAY 10: A disturbance with grey and rainy weather, rain/snow limit around 2000 then 1500m. Strong W wind at high altitude. TUESDAY 11: Overcast with snow in the mountains above 1200/1500m. Strong W wind in the mountains. WEDNESDAY12: Continuation of the disturbed current from the west, rain-snow limit decreasing towards 1000m. THURSDAY 13: Still cool and unstable, with frequent showers and snow in the mountains from 800/1000m. Tip of the week Be careful of finding yourself on hard crust that is icy with no grip. There is a lot about. Look for the pockets of soft snow on leeward slopes (SE, E and NE). There is also a lot of avalanche debris from spontaneous avalanches that came down during the changing temperatures and storms. Plan your routes, know where you are going.
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N E W F I N E F O O D S D E L I C AT E S S E N IN THE TOURIST OFFICE SQUARE. O R D E R O N L I N E AT l m d l m . c o m O R VISIT THE STORE
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UCPA AVALANCHE Remembering a tragedy 50 years on.
Photo Credit to Le Dauphiné
50 years ago this week, on 10th February 1970, Mother Nature struck Val d’Isère causing one of the most deadly avalanches the Alps had seen in recent history. The extremely heavy snowfall from the preceding week had accumulated two meters of fresh snow on the South facing slopes of Le Grand Gorge at the top of town. At 8am, the slope released its burden at an altitude of 2,960 meters from the Pointe du Front, causing a colossal avalanche that rampaged down into the valley, across the Isère river, and into the UCPA building. The breakfast room, where over a hundred young people were eating, was instantaneously filled with snow as the windows smashed, unable to withstand the gigantic force. Some people were thrown down hallways and through windows. Others were buried so deep that they could not move at all. Outside, the snow pushed cars right off the road and blocked access to the hotel. The snow was almost 10m high in some places. 39 people couldn’t escape the grips of the snow and lost their
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lives. A further 40 were badly injured. Approximately 75,000 cubic meters of snow had come down the mountain and three trail workers up on the hill, were also swept away and killed.
The first to arrive onsite back in 1970 was Jean-Lou Costerg, a young ski instructor, who went on to become head of the Val Pisteurs. This week in an interview with Radio Val d’Isère, he pensively remembered the moment when he first saw the devastation. “Even as a mountain-patroller, when you arrive at the site of the avalanche (...) when you hear the screaming, the calls for help in all directions, there is a moment of disbelief. It is traumatic. We could see the snow coming out of windows, doors, everywhere (...) it was hard to react. It’s an emotion that is very strong. These are images that come back” he concludes. French President Georges Pompidou declared it a national tragedy, and authorities ordered evacuations of other resorts in the region. This proved to be a wise move, as other avalanches followed in the next few days. In fact, the abandoned hotel in Val was struck again two days later. A huge landslide and consequent avalanche occurred just two weeks later in Plateau d’Assy, killing 76 people. The shockwave of these two natural disasters led to the formation of ANENA, the National Research Association for Snow and Avalanche Studies to try and prevent such a tremendous loss of life occurring in the mountains again. It is to this organisation and the research it has carried out that we owe the huge amounts of protection in place to keep the town safe. Obviously it is impossible to prevent all avalanches but spare a thought on Monday for the security services and all the work they do.
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SEASONAIRE OF THE WEEK Kat Hellier Season Count? Second, did one in Morzine. What is the best part of the Blue Note nibbles? How garlic-y the hummus is. What would you name your dog? Cooper. What’s the best utensil in the kitchen? A guzunder. It goes under, kinda like a spatula.
What are you scared of? Being less funny than Phil Packham. Best pizza toppings? Hawaiian. I love the pineapple, it is the sexiest fruit out there. Worst way to spend a day? Any time spent with Bert Bender. Describe the feeling of shredding pow in three words? Better than sex. What’s the most dangerous place you have been? The Cotswold Water Park. You have to change your name to Sharon or Barbara, which and why? Sharon because it is a great name to shout. Shazzaaaaa. What was the last thing you lost? My switch virginity... What would you do for a talent show? I would back myself in a dance off, I can get pretty low to Flo-rida. What/who were you in a former life? A little shrimp. What has been the most embarrassing moment of your life? I wet myself while working behind the bar once. I then had to work the rest of the night without changing. What’s the coolest thing you have seen
recently? A Jerry skiing down Le Face with a tray of 20 shots - he hadn’t spilt any of them and gave me two - legend. On a scale of 1-fierce how fierce is my new haircut from Antoine? Terrifying. You are too kind. If you could kill one Disney princess, which one would it be? Preferably all of them, but if I had to pick one, then Snow White - who needs 7 minions?! What motto do you live by? Always pack a spare pair of pants. “Seasonaire of the Week” is sponsored by Le Petit Salon d’Antoine who offers our featured seasonaire a free haircut!
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TALK OF THE TOWN JERRY OF THE WEEK
G’DAY ANNABELLE
Fairwell goes out to Annabelle who has returned home to the land down under. Annabelle was well known around town for being overtly Australian, very loud and extremely enthusiastic about life. She was also a frequent Echo contributor and will be thoroughly missed.
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Earlier in the week, a barman arrived at work to find that the bar had been broken into. However, nothing had been taken, in fact, a gift had been left in the back room. NOT AGAIN Unfortunately, said gift belonged in a toilet. James and Jack are such frequent Echo JOTW is for this weird creature of a human. offenders that we are now giving them their own dedicated section. This week, was DJing when another member HAIRIEST DRINK IN TOWN James of staff walked past the DJ booth. A bit too A correction is issued for a previous keen to impress, James was a little heavy edition of The Echo stating that Jamie is handed on the smoke machine button and the doorman at Saloon when, of course, managed to give the poor girl a second Reuben is the doorman. Speaking of degree burn on her boob through her Reuben, he is known for his supportive jumper, T-shirt and bra. hugs and was behind the bar with Hope sharing a quick snuggle earlier this week. Hope then took a woman’s drink order who MUMPY KEZ simply asked for “what you are having”. We talked to MUMPY KEZ (occasionally Hope made the drinks and passed them known as DJBIGKEZ) to ask him about his over the bar, only for the confused woman time with the mumps and how it changed to declare that she didn’t want those him. Here is his harrowing report of the drinks, and she had actually been referring experience: to Reuben. “I felt like an outcast. I snuck from bed to the chip shop once a day with a ski mask to cover my face - it was my only glimpse of sunlight. I didn’t really move much, other than that. I lived on chips, approx 10-12 cups of tea an hour, and Haribo. The doctor loved it. He brought all his mates in to look/poke and to ask how my balls were. I think I’m going to loose 300 quid from my pay this month for being ill but I got bare uni work done and I seem to have got the Big Kez name out and about. So overall, probably worth it.”
(Recreation of the event)
We are glad to say that Kez has now made a full recovery. He wants his fans to know that for his upcoming big performance he will, this time, actually be making an appearance.
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SPORT 6 NATIONS Shown at Le Petit Danois (Guinness on Draught, sound on for all matches), Blue Note, The Fall Line (BBQ), Hibou Live Commentary for all matches): Saturday 8th February 15:15 Ireland v Wales 17:45 Scotland v England Sunday 9th February 16:00 France v Italy
Sunday 9th February 15:00 Sheffield Utd v Bournemouth, 17:30 Man City v West Ham
PREMIER LEAGUE FOOTBALL Shown at Le Petit Danois:
Friday 14th February 21:00 Wolves v Leicester
Saturday 8th February 13:30 Everton v Crystal Palace 18:30 Brighton v Watford
All Football and Rugby shown at The Fall Line. Sport also shown at Blue Note and Le Hibou.
SEPARATED AT BIRTH
JACK-JACK, THE INCREDIBLES
OLIE BEATTIE, THE SHOWER
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WOoF OF THE WEEK Name: Gump Breed: Border Collie Age: 5 Months Dietary Requirements: Dry biscuits and likes a bit of cheese Relationship status: Single and soon to get the snip Favourite Activity: Sunbathing Habitat: Snowberry/Home Fun Fact: Rescue dog, used to be terrified of people and is now the most sociable dog about town
