Slabs Triggered from a distance today..
there were quite a few slabs triggered from a 10 metre distance observed by colleagues and me today. Also, natural, artificial & other accidental in Savoie & Haute Savoie mainly small for the moment. This slope under the Mt Blanc chair in Val d'Isère is facing North East. The wind has been mostly coming out of the North West (although is supposed to change to South briefly tomorrow then back to North West through West for Thursday on through the weekend). This slab, a direct result of very recent wind loading, exemplifies what is in store for the next few days (and so does the distance triggering). Only I think the instability will grow with the continued wind loading and new snow accumulations. The avalanche activity has been relatively calm over the last 10 days or so, but I think the instability could pick up with all this new snow and wind over the next few days. The slab in this photo and the way it was triggered is telling us something.

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