The forecasters from Meteo France Bourg St Maurice have been out on the terrain with members of the CRS from Albertville.

With the first snows of autumn already on the summits and the start of the season just around the corner it is a good time to look back at last year’s avalanche incidents in France.

Snow clearing on the high alpine cols has started this week but don't expect them to be open soon.

Avalanche risk will be high this weekend in the Alps and in the western and central Pyrenees.

A weather whiplash is a series of rapid swings between extremes of weather. Cold and snowy one day, spring like weather with rain at altitude the next.

The avalanche forecasters from Météo-France have been out in the mountains the last week taking measurements and the bulletins are now available from the website.

The prefecture of the Haute-Savoie has appealed call for prudence in the mountains for Wednesday and Thursday, citing a “high” avalanche risk. The warning applies mainly to the Mont-Blanc massif.

Twenty-one people were killed in avalanches in Switzerland last season in 16 incidents.

High  avalanche risk this weekend on the Northern Alps and the northern Hautes Alpes.

With more than a meter of snow over the last five days Corsica is getting pounded at the moment.