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<\/a><\/p>\nThe first news of this was on the BBC and Sky News websites. The BBC coverage at\u00a0http:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/world-europe-38954628<\/a> has been updated to reflect the later\u00a0news that the group, which included a 48-year-old man, his 15-year-old son and the son’s 19-year-old half-brother, as well as the experienced and well-known instructor, 59, were only a few dozen metres from the ski lift. It would\u00a0seem they had been walking, carrying their snowboards, possibly towards a nearby lift. Since they were swept 400m down the slope, this must have been higher up, perhaps the Combe Folle draglift up to just below the top of the Lavachet Wall.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n These screenshots from the excellent ski navigation app FatMap (https:\/\/fatmap.com<\/a>) show the area concerned. In the lower centre of the right hand picture, we can clearly see the large ridge that protects the Tignes village of Le Lavachet, with a smaller similar feature protecting Val Claret\u00a0pictured at the centre of the wider shot on the left.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n This extract from the Tigne piste map shows the specific area concerned and the ridge clearly visible to the left\u00a0of Le Lavachet. Note that the red piste Combe Folle, and the black runs Crocus and Trolles\u00a0finish at the\u00a0Tignes Lac and Le Lavachet side.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Henry “Avalanche Talk” Schniewind was\u00a0interviewed this morning about yesterday’s avalanche in Tignes down from the Lavachet wall. This is clearly an historically avalanche-prone slope, so much so\u00a0that the man-made ridge and trough seen above had been constructed to protect houses in Tignes Le Lavachet\u00a0from avalanches, and the party were thus caught in even deeper snow in the trough or gully\u00a0between the slope itself and the ridge. Estimates of the accumulated avalanche depth there range from Henry’s 2-3 metres to 8 metres in the BBC report. Not a great place to be skiing (or even walking, as this party were thought to have been, carrying their snowboards towards a nearby lift) between a steep slope above and a snow trap below. It is to be remembered that once the avalanche snow stops moving, it has the consistency of concrete, rendering it vital to somehow stay on top of – or float on – the avalanche as it is moving down the slope, before it comes to a stop.<\/p>\n Here is the weblink for this morning’s ITV interview with Henry\u00a0Schniewind:<\/p>\n http:\/\/www.itv.com\/goodmorningbritain\/news\/safety-concerns-after-four-killed-at-tignes-ski-resort<\/a><\/p>\n Henry talks about the vital, minimum equipment necessary when skiing off-piste – an avalanche transceiver, a probe and a shovel. To this many would nowadays add a flotation air-bag rucksack, although opinions are divided on this. Opinion is also divided on\u00a0which type to choose – a mechanically triggered RAS system (e.g. Mammut), an electronically triggered ABS system (e.g. Ortovox) or an electric fan-based inflation system (such as the Black Diamond Jetforce system), which obviates any (compressed air cylinder) issues for\u00a0air travel with such rucksacks, but which might not be so quick or effective for inflation. All types are triggered by the wearer\u00a0using a T-handle, stored in the rucksack shoulder strap when not required.<\/p>\n Update from\u00a0http:\/\/echomag.co.uk\/features\/2017\/tignes-avalanche-update<\/a><\/p>\n There was a lot of confusion on the scene of the Lavachet Wall avalanche yesterday but clear details have finally emerged. <\/p>\n The risk of avalanche at the time of the avalanche\u00a0was 3 on the scale of 5 and this incident, on a North-West facing slope, came on a relatively warm morning\u00a0after several days of strong winds. M\u00e9t\u00e9o France\u2019s official avalanche report noted the risk of rising temperatures and the presence of wind slabs on North, West, and Southerly aspects.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n An avalanche risk rating of 3 is hardly unusual through the season; it highlights the need to be very aware of the weather reports and resort assessments, noting that there is always some<\/em> risk. Here is that morning’s Met\u00e9o France report:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The following article by Henry Schniewind and Hugh Morris has some useful hints and tips on what to keep in mind when skiing off-piste:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n<\/a>The Sky report, that hasn’t been updated,\u00a0 said the avalanche had been in the Tovi\u00e8re area. I well remember the run Mur de Paquerettes (https:\/\/m.youtube.com\/watch?v=QuwFfN6ESqo<\/a>) (PS not me skiing in this video) underneath the Tovi\u00e8re mountain restaurant, where there is live music and where the hang gliders take off. Mur de\u00a0Paquerettes is a pretty steep mogul run we have skied a lot, but it isn’t in the pictures here; we\u00a0don’t see the Tovi\u00e8re Gondola bubble lift which provides a spectator view of the mogul antics from right over the run. It is further to the right as we look here; the off-piste run in this avalanche area is down from the Lavachet Wall, and we see part of \u00a0Tignes le Lavachet\u00a0in the foreground.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a>
\nThe group taken by the slide was a group of 4, and not of 9 as previously reported. It is currently not clear why authorities were looking for 9 victims – it sounds as if the family party of four were all double booked.
\nThe instructor was a very high-level ESF snowboard instructor, aged 59, with years of experience. His clients were a family from the South of France: a father, 48; his son, 15; and his step-son, 19 – all strong snowboarders, all wearing avalanche kit. One member of the family escaped having descended earlier with an equipment issue.
\nThe slide took them while they were boot-packing across the face which cut in to the snowpack, weakening it, and causing the slide to release. 40m wide at its release point, the avalanche took the victims over 400m down the slope burying them underneath 7m of snow in a man-made gully built for the express purpose of protecting the houses behind it from avalanche debris.
\nWith M\u00e9t\u00e9o France’s avalanche bulletin warning of windslabs and instability on slopes of this aspect an investigation will follow. Jean-Christophe Vitale, the mayor of Tignes, has gone on record to say: “He was a very experienced professional who knew the area well. I’m sure he took every precaution while taking his clients to this place, but off-piste zero risk does not exist.”
\nOne bright-side to the incident is that one 16-year-old who was with the group when they did the same run earlier in the morning wasn’t with them on the second run. Either experiencing problems with his equipment or after a fall the instructor sent him down the pistes for the day. It wasn’t until the afternoon that he learnt the group he was with were caught in the slide.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a>