After enjoying some fantastic powder skiing over the past week, and with another 10–15 cm of fresh snow just fallen, conditions are about to shift. With sunny days and clear nights in the forecast, this powder will quickly transform into classic spring snow – at least by the end of the week.
Current cold temperatures will slow the process, but at this time of year the sun’s rays are more direct and therefore stronger. As a result, melting will still occur even without prolonged periods above freezing. These initial melts won’t immediately create the supportive base needed for skiing, and south-facing slopes may develop a thin, unpleasant crust at first. However, conditions should come together by around Friday. This is all part of the process discussed in the article below.
Spring snow is one of the true highlights of the Northern French Alps and surrounding regions, and if you’re heading this way in the next few days, you’re in for a treat! Spring offers great quality snow and a more stable, predictable snowpack, (avalanche danger level down to 2/5 from tomorrow, maybe even lower) meaning less danger if you understand the basics.
My colleagues and I have developed strong expertise in finding and understanding the best spring snow conditions, and I’ve shared more about it in the article below.
Spring Skiing Tips: How to Enjoy Safe, Smooth Off-Piste Adventures:
Learn how melt-freeze cycles work so you can make the most of spring conditions. Here’s a quick, essential guide to help you stay safe and have fun off-piste and in the backcountry this spring!
Melt-freeze Cycles
A melt freeze cycle is when cold dry snow melts in the sun/heat during the day and then freezes at night. Once that occurs several times in succession, the top snow layer begins to form a crust that gets deeper and stronger after each melt allows free water to drip down and re-freeze during the night. Any given ‘melt-freeze’ layer becomes stronger with each cycle of melting and freezing due to the deeper penetration of each melt during the day, which then adds more depth to the potential frozen layer at night.
If untouched, the top of this frozen layer is smooth and solid first thing in the morning. It then becomes progressively softer as the warm sun and increased temperatures melt it as the day goes on. This process starts on East facing slopes because they get the sun first thing in the morning, then South facing slopes, then West faces. (North faces at/above 2500 in the metres in the Alps don’t normally get a melt freeze layer on them until late April due to lack of heating from the sun. But once they do, you can ski well into the afternoon after a good freeze at night).
For a short 3 min overview on how to find these East, South, West & North facing slopes by using the shadow from your ski pole, see our YouTube video here.
For good spring skiing
The trick is that, after a couple of good melt-freeze cycles have created a solid layer on a slope, you need to get on that slope when the snow surface is smooth and solid with only 2 or 3 cm’s of soft melted snow on top. (These are generally slopes that have been in the direct sunlight only for an hour or 2 e.g. an east facing slope at 9 or 10 am).
Then you need to get off those slopes when the snow surface begins to get too soft and mushy or you’ll start breaking through, which is dangerous for your knees. AND the slope may be unstable due to all the melting – then avalanches can be a problem on these sunny slopes from the lack of stability due to melting of the bonds between snow crystals and snow layers.
Applying it!
After a solid melt-freeze layer has formed and there’s been a good melt during the day, it needs to freeze well the next night in order for it to be right for the next day. The ideal is a cool clear night, e.g. minimum of –2° C or lower at 2000 m if you’re going to be skiing at 2000m and above. This will allow the melted parts of the layer to freeze solid again from that altitude up, and that will pretty much guarantee it will support your weight the next day.
In the morning, you need to look at getting on the east facing slopes first thing, 9 am, because the sun rises in the east so those slopes get the sun first. Then you need to move to south facing slopes, then west. Do this right and get some of the best skiing of the season.
Aside from a night that isn’t cool enough, the only thing that gets in the way of great spring skiing is the nasty ruts in the snow that people leave behind because they either ski spring snow slopes* too soon (before the melt-freeze layer has formed), or they ski them too late, when the slopes are too soft and soupy.
*slopes that get lots of sun in spring (east, south and west facing… then late in spring the more northerly aspects).
For a more detailed overview, see: ‘Ski the Smooth, Tips on Safe Spring Skiing Off-Piste (video version)’ !
Safety is Freedom!
To be safe and have more fun when you’re off-piste, check out our 12 minute overview of the HAT Framework method and the Essentials Talk entitled “Safety is Freedom Pocket Guide” on Video. It contains the key points that you need to know and to apply in order to keep things acceptably safe off-piste and ski touring, and to have more fun with or without a professional!
By Henry’s Avalanche Talk in partnership with
