The low snowfall this season has led to an increase in crowds in high mountain resorts, some of which are seeing an increase in the number of injuries, also caused by harder snow.
Global warming and its consequences, the sequel. Some ski resorts are seeing an increase in injuries for this season compared to previous ones, in particular due to the low amount of snow. This is for example the case of that of Avoriaz, in Haute-Savoie. Located at 1800 meters above sea level, it has benefited from the “report of mid-mountain resorts”, which have experienced less snow cover this year, according to Maud Baud, of the Avoriaz ski lift company.
To date, 75% of the slopes of the French massifs are open: the lowest was reached at the end of December, when only 50% of the slopes were open, according to figures communicated by the Ski areas of France to BFMTV.com. This union of ski area operators confirms that “low mountain resorts have been the most impacted” by this phenomenon due to a snow deficit.
In Avoriaz, the additional crowd is estimated at 17%. It is therefore normal that the number of injured people in the station is also increasing. But with 30% more injuries than the previous year in Avoriaz, according to the National Mountain Safety Observation System, we can see that the increase in the number of skiers does not explain everything.
Harder snow
Another parameter has an impact on injuries: the quality of the snow. As of February 22, it had not snowed “significantly” for more than a month in the Alps and the Pyrenees, then noted Météo France on its site.
However, less snow also means a more “compact” coat, describes Maud Baud and conversely, “when the snow has just fallen, it is softer, softer”.
Harder snow therefore leads to more painful falls, but it is also more slippery, which makes it difficult to control your speed on skis. Result: Major Benjamin Valla of the mountain rescue services of the CRS Alpes told BFMTV that he had been called for a few weeks for “numerous head injuries”.
A “slight increase” in the number of injuries at all stations
The situations are however very different depending on the resorts, according to the National Mountain Safety Observation System (Snosm), a system under the Ministries of the Interior and Sport. The low altitude stations which “have been closed for three weeks or more” logically see a drop in their number of injured. This affects the higher stations, such as La Plagne, Megève, and Avoriaz, explains to BFMTV.com Ludovic Richard, head of Snosm.
Thus, if it is “too early to draw conclusions on this season”, the Snosm anticipates a “slight increase” in the number of injuries in French resorts at the end of the season, of the order of 1 to 5%.
These injuries come rather from “solitary falls, favored in particular by hard snow, with injuries to the knees, wrists or shoulders”, relates Ludovic Richard.
The new standard for skiing?
Is this type of phenomenon destined to recur in the future due to global warming linked to human activities? Météo-France explains in an article on its site that it causes in winter sports resorts “a reduction in natural snow cover, both in terms of quantity and duration, especially at low and medium altitudes” and “affects the air temperature and therefore the possibility of producing artificial snow”.
For Ludovic Richard, if it is “difficult to say” today that we are going towards more accidents, “it is a risk” to consider.