Screening - conference. Meeting with Alain Duclos, snow expert

Alain Duclos, high mountain guide, avalanche snow expert, invites you to a meeting - conference on avalanche risk management.
Alain Duclos is one of France's leading specialists in avalanche accidents. He is a court expert, a snow expert, and is also in charge of training professionals at the Chamonix National Ski School. He has been asked by the CRS Pyrénées Montagne to speak on avalanche risk management, in the presence of the PGHM first aid gendarmes, the Samu doctors and the ski patrol teams of the resorts.

Interview with Alain Duclos by La Dépêche
How many people are killed by avalanches each year?
Between 20 and 30 people die in France because of avalanches. A peak of 57 deaths was even recorded for the winter of 2005-2006. In Savoie and Haute-Savoie, there are more deaths in the mountains, particularly due to avalanches, than on the roads. But I want to show that avalanche accidents are not inevitable.


How can you predict an avalanche?
In my presentation I explain the limits of forecasting and the illusion of being able to predict. But based on some simple criteria, one can determine whether or not an avalanche is possible. For example, if the slope is less than 30°, the probability of an avalanche occurring is zero. This leaves no room for personal judgement. On the other hand, if you cross this famous 30° threshold, it becomes complicated. It depends on the complex alchemy of the superposition of the different layers of snow. But we know that the more fresh snow on the surface, the more risk there is. A recently fallen layer of snow is an additional load that will alter a more or less stable balance, depending on the sub-layers.

Do rescue workers take risks in their work?
They can put themselves in danger in the exercise of their mission, in their training but also in their amateur practice. One must always be wary of mountain habits. Last year, in the Alps, two avalanche accidents involved mountain guides.

Many accidents
It was because the CRS Pyrénées Montagne has seen a number of accidents in recent years that it decided to ask Alain Duclos for advice. "Over the last ten years, we have noticed that there have been 20 people from our region involved in avalanche accidents, 11 buried and one death.