Off-piste skiing #3 Advice from Henry's Avalanche Talk

How do you prepare your ski touring outings?

Henry: I start the day knowing that we have to distinguish between two zones when we’re skiing: the marked pistes, where the ski patrols are in charge of our safety, and the off-piste (even 2m from the pistes), where it’s our responsibility to manage the risks.

9 times out of 10, the victim triggers the avalanche. We only have (on average) 15 minutes to survive under an avalanche, so you need to have the right equipment with you (avalanche transceiver, shovel, probe). The advice I can give is:

• Know where the safe zones start and end(piste map).
• Apply risk-reduction points (managing the group and the terrain, studying the weather and avalanche bulletins, listening for signs of risk encountered during the outing, being equipped and knowing how to use it).
• Watch risk forecasts(Météo-France and Bulletin d’ Estimation du Risque d’Avalanche). Know the risk indexes (most accidents occur in indexes 2 and 3, so don’t underestimate them!). Look at recent avalanche activity, talk to the pisteurs. Prepare the day before, the day of and on the slope.
• Keep an eye on the slope of the off-piste terrain you’ll be using (an avalanche will rarely start on a slope of less than 30°C – which corresponds roughly to a red run).
• Take on an off-piste ski instructor

What do you like about ski touring in Val d’Isère?

Henry: Val d’Isère is an extraordinary resort for off-piste skiing, because you can ski on all the slopes (north, south, east and west faces). We can choose our outing according to the BERA forecasts, so we know which slopes to choose. I also like the Val d’Isère ski area for the quality of the snow and the safety.

Safety is freedom!