In reply to philipjardine:
> Apart from a curfew and closed lifts France didn't have any significant restrictions until the 10km travel limit which was introduced a few weeks ago (and is now lifted).
Risky mountain behaviour (parapenting, ski touring etc) was variously banned or discouraged during the first lockdown. This season my local resorts only had lifts running for the pro teams for training as competitive athletes/coaches had exceptions.
One of the XC ski areas near to me (Villard-de-Lans) saw a 400% rise in skiers based on last year according to a recent media report.
Anecdotally, the car park at the ski area near me closest to Grenoble (Lans-en-Vercors) was usually more full than when skiing was allowed as people suffering lockdown fever drove up from town to go snow-shoeing/sledging etc.
Back to the OP - it was clear to everyone that the avalanche conditions where poor and this was made clear on Friday through official channels - we'd had a long sustained period of warm weather, followed by heavy snow, then about 10 days of continuous rain (now we've got 75kph winds!).
I noticed on my Instagram and Strava feed that a few high profile people were out skiing in those conditions which probably doesn't help many people's perception of the risk when they see that kind of activity.