From the vantage point of our helicopter above the Alps, you can make out scars and dimples from recent avalanches.
More than 100 people have died across the mountains this season so far, according to the European Avalanche Warning Services – a ballpark figure not seen for eight years.
As our pilot throws his rescue helicopter over one of the jagged ridges below us, we see ant-like skiers queueing at lifts or weaving down various pistes.
There is an enthralling beauty about the dense snow that sits atop the Tarentaise, an imposing network of valleys here in the heart of the French Alps.
"As with all around the world, the climate is changing," says Frédéric Bonnevie, our guide and a mountain patroller for 32 years.
