Avalanche risk management in Winter 2012/13 in Monterosa ski resort - Aosta Valley (IT)

Monterosa Ski is one of the most important resorts in the North/West Italian Alps. Ex- tending through three valleys in two regions (Aosta Valley and Piedmont - IT), Monterosa Ski begins at 1.332m in Brusson, crosses Champoluc-Frachey, rises up to the 2.727m of Colle Bettaforca, embrac- es Gressoney-La-Trinite and Gressoney-Saint-Jean (1.818m), climbs up to the 2.971m of Passo dei Salati, reaches the 3.275m of Punta Indren and backs down to 1.212m of Alagna Valsesia (Piedmont), in the shadow of many 4000m peaks of Castore (4.226m), Lyskamm (4.532m), P.ta Gnifetti (4559m) and Punta Dufour (4633m) with 180km in 67 ski runs served by 37 lifts (capacity is over 50000 peo- ple/hour) and 150 km linked by 35 lifts in the Aosta Valley (IT). Presenting the actors (qualification, know-how and expertise of the staff and its management), the available devices and the planning of avalanche risk management, the paper shows, beyond the deci- sions taken, how fundamental is the analysis of the critical snow and weather conditions of the two valleys leading the decision-making on the avalanche artificial release solutions (gas-based fixed, gas/explosives mobile systems, etc … ) and, subsequently, when to re-open the ski runs. As an example, the paper presents some critical snowpack stability situations solved by using artificial avalanche release including episodes induced by wind and wet snowpack.