I snapped a few pictures of the recent large
avalanche up at Cereise - reported by Brian Jones on Jan 6. You can see much of
the debris area. For reference, the hut is in 2 of the
pictures.
The start zone is pretty filled in now, but the
extensive crown is still evident - most of the east ridge of
Matier.
Of interest is that this avalanche runout was still
well under historical maximums. I have outlined in one of the pictures the
somewhat suttle lines in the forest on the other side of the
valley.
Red - Jan 5, 2008 avalanche
Orange - 30 - 50 years ago?
Yellow - 100+ year event? Possibly including water
from the morainal lake??
Without doing a vegitation analysis, these are only
estimates. But one should keep in mind that the climax event will be much bigger
than even this one. Something to ponder as you walk the 'regular route' up to
the cabin...
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