ANENA, the "Association Nationale pour l'Etude de la Neige et des Avalanches," is the national association for snow and avalanche studies. Recently ANENA has been going through a restructuring. Currently the organisation consists of three parts: a scientific and technical council, a group representing industry partners which fabricate avalanche protection materials, and a group representing mountain professionals and elected officials. Yesterday ANENA's scientific and technical council met in Chamonix, presided by the Haute-Savoyarde expert, Richard Lambert. ANENA provides educational information on snow structure,avalanches, snow stability factors, as well as avalanche accident statistics and accident prevention. For the year, October 1st 2007 to September 30th 2008 in France, ANENA reports 37 accidents involving avalanches, 15 of which were fatal. The total number of avalanche deaths last year was 29. This, in comparison to the year before in which ANENA reported 53 accidents, 16 of which were fatal, resulting in 20 deaths. For more information go to the ANENA website: www.anena.org
