Snow report Briancon, 03/14/2019

Snow condition

We set up camp for four days in the hospitable and palate-friendly Gite de la Decouverte in Nevache, inspired by the beautiful memories of last spring in Nevache and the Vallee de la Claree. 1600m of snow lies in the village, but the southern slopes are only passable above 2000m. It is better in the north: From there it is possible to ski down without taking off your skis.

Snow quality

The wind is consistently strong from Thursday (picture 1) to Saturday and has led to slush in the north, northwest (picture 2) and northeast slopes. Beautiful descents are only possible below the tree line (picture 3 on Friday & picture 5 on Sunday). However, the ascent above the tree line is very worthwhile: The view of the Ecrins Park with Barre+Dome des Ecrins and Meije is overwhelming (picture 4: descent from Pic du lac Blanc with Lake Laramon in the foreground, picture 6: Grand Area with a track in the eastern couloir not visible due to the poor picture quality, to the right of it, in the background, the Meije).

It snowed 20cm from Thursday to Friday; the temperatures rose steadily until Saturday, so that there were many wet snow avalanches on Friday afternoon.

Overall impression

Excellent four days with the CAFGI in the Vallee de la Claree. This valley is beautiful and offers beautiful descents in the forest above Nevache even in difficult snow conditions.