The forecasters from Meteo France Bourg St Maurice have been out on the terrain with members of the CRS from Albertville. They were touring the slopes above Val Cenis in the Haute-Maurienne, in particular the Combe de Cléry. There was nice snow from 1800 meters but above 2200 meters things were "less welcoming, not much snow, grass was visible on all the ridges and even at the bottom of the valley there wasn't much depth. A contrasting situation typical of this start to winter 2024-25. Slopes in the less of the prevailing North-West winds were relatively snow covered."
More worrying was their analysis of the snow pack. A wide North-West sector is entirely composed of depth hoar with a layer of fresh snow that is more or less cohesive. There were a number of whoumpf above 2400m at the layers collapsed. There is no doubt that there is a terrifying Persistent Weak Layer in place. Their observations concur with those of pisteurs and guides in the sector and these slopes are really dangerous to ski. Slopes with deeper cover also feature this PWL - see the image with a weak layer at 50cm from the ground, however they are somewhat buried by the snow and less reactive but may be triggered where there is less depth or via a secondary slide. Below 2200 meters the repeated freeze thaw cycle has humidified these PWL.