With desperately sad news of 7 deaths in Switzerland since Christmas, it's worth re-iterating the current high avalanche risk. It's a frequently under-estimated "only" Category 3, but I've been seeing lots of avalanche activity, feeling lots of "whoomphs" and seeing plenty of surface cracking, even yesterday in theVallon de Rechy in Grimentz (a popular, easy access tour) Generally, I've had the feeling that the risk is very high, and this article suggests the only reason the SLF can't say Cat 4 is the lack of large spontaneous avalanches, otherwise we currently have Cat 4 instability .
http://www.air-glaciers.ch/sion/index.php/fr/news/391
That article and the SLF website (in English) say the risk won't decrease for a long time, and SLF say it will increase again tomorrow.
http://www.slf.ch/lawinenbulletin/schneedecke_wetter/index_EN
