 Poster: A snowHead
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Slushy on-piste conditions are the bane of many intermediate skiers. But I have to say that I love ski-ing on slushy runs. I love the sense of confidence you get from knowing your edges won't break away if you apply too much pressure, and I love the way slushy dumps are so forgiving, also.
I spent a wonderful week in Tignes at the end of April, beginning of May this year, in what I can only describe as the best spring conditions I've every encountered. Following the sun as it arced across the sky, each day, I carved up some of the best slush I've every skied on.
So, as we seem destined for shorter winters and earlier springs, can I urge you all to give slush a chance. It's great then you get the hang of it.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Tim Brown, you should have said! You could have skied with admin and numerous other  who were there that week on and off, nipping up from Bourg! You could even have taken part in the SNAFU Cup!
Yes slush is fun, not quite so much so in the early days of skiing, but when you get the hang of it...
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Just so long as the slush doesn't turn into puddles of water I also like skiing very soft, slushy snow. As you say, you can great grip by edging a good part of the ski (not just the edge itself) into the slushy snow.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Sign up another slush-hound - Yes, even off-piste where it is harder work and only for those with good technique (unless you like being snapped-off at the ankles) but so rewarding.
Mind you, you can have too much of a good thing. One hot spring afternoon at Argentierre I straight-lined the lower half of the Lavancher face and never managed to get up any speed!
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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Don't you get all wet??
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Yes, particularly if you're skiing in swimming trunks and leaky boots.
On a serious note, a little roll of gaffer tape can be quite handy for sealing leaky ski boots at the beginning of the day. It's around 35 years since plastic ski boots hit the market, but many still leave a lot to be desired in terms of waterproofness. Rear-entry boots were often better on that score.
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Is this a wind-up Tim?. I'am on troll alert today
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Well I actually did take to just wearing swiming shorts hehehe. Have to agree though, slush can be great fun.
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| hibernia wrote: |
| Is this a wind-up Tim?. I'am on troll alert today |
Oh how we yearn for the days of Mr and Mrs Sticks.............................................
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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I think that we've covered this in another thread. Funnily enough I remember a lot of people being anti slush then 
I love the slush, skiing on a nice warm day, just mucking around in the nice weather, and carving fantastic turns.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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I too like the slush, but not when its 2 foot deep and in impenatrable mounds.
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I can manage on slush but I can't stand it, I remember the bad experience I had at the end of March last year when I decided to ski all the way down to the resort of Sauze d'Oulx, never again! 
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You know it makes sense.
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I've never been able to work out why slush polarises opinions so much. A normal group where everyone keeps together suddenly stretches out for miles.
Personally I love it. It lets you practice more of an off piste piste technique with the security of being on familiar territory. Huge carving turns and big grins.
A couple of reasons why some struggle - wax and speed.
Wax cos if the water formed under the ski clings life starts to get very hard indeed.
Speed, a bit more pace works wonders but needs some confidence.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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I think that a lot of people struggle in slush because they skid rather than carve their turns.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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I had a wonderful day in Sierra Nevada in Spain and it was Hot Hot Hot. The slushy snow was wonderfully soft and so very forgiving, the snow was almost running down the hill, but there were no bumps and even on steep blacks you got tonnes of grip. Also what bumps that formed were soft and forgiving. It was fantastic, but whenever I tell anybody this they look at me like I am mad. I find that at the end of a powder day you can get lots of lumpy bumpy stuff on blue runs that is very hard to ski. Powder conditions at the beginning of a day are great but at the end of the day they can be a lot less fun. So perhaps I'm odd!
So in summary, slush can be great fun, so can ice (well skiing on ice is better than being at work isn't it!) and powder is also fun. Add to that cordrouy flat pistes, blizzards, white outs....... So all skiing is fun
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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I love slush as it gives you total control. Things are much better now than back in the 70's, before piste bashers were on the scene, when the slush would feeze overnight into solid lumps and icy ruts by the next morning. And all that on 2 metre planks!
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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I've learnt to love slush too, you have to really if you like skiing late in the season when the sun's hot. But only if I've got the right skis. B2s are perfect for me, but when I swopped skis with ElizabethB's hired women's skis at the EOSB I just couldn't ski it. Maybe it's a confidence thing.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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RachelQ, or maybe they were just cr*p skis!!
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Elizabeth B, yes, they certainly were! Did you go to Castleford Xscape recently and try the new B2 and B3s? I'm looking forward to trying the B3s at Milton Keynes next Saturday. If they're as good as the current B2s, I might just have to buy some, even though I love travelling without skis.
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| Elizabeth B wrote: |
| RachelQ, or maybe they were just cr*p skis!! |
my slalom skis were doing OK  albeit slightly hard work
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Tignes is open, loads of snow, but soft from quite early on, just not enough of a frost overnight. Nearly four months now, wonder if I'm off the doctor's leash and can go skiing again? Can't wait to try out the new skis properly in these conditions.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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PG, how busy it at Tigne this time of year?
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| rich wrote: |
| I've never been able to work out why slush polarises opinions so much. ... |
I've had some amusing incidents because of this.
One that comes to mind happened a couple of years ago on an extremely warm spring day when I was skiing with my daughter (probably around 10 y.o. at the time) at Killington (not the mountain I teach at). A hot, sweaty, exhausted-looking stranger comes up to me outside the base lodge around lunchtime, and with the best of intentions proceeds to caution me about how bad the snow is, suggest that "you'd do better to take your daughter to the movies today", etc. He obviously thought we were just starting out for the day.
At this point, my daughter, who had been a few feet away getting on her equipment, comes over, and with obvious enthusiasm says something like, "Hey Dad, can we do Vertigo again?". The expression on this guy's face was one of sheer astonishment.
I tried to make this fellow feel better by telling him that I was an instructor, "my kid has been skiing since she was 3 y.o.", "slush this thick can tire anyone out but there are techniques that can make it much easier (ie, take a lesson)", etc. etc.
If I had to select just three bits of advice to give to lower level skiers for skiing slush, they would be:
a) Learn to carve on groomed good snow. This skill is exactly what is needed in slush.
b) When your skis feel like they are stuck deep in the slush, and seem like they just won't turn, don't try to force your skis around by pivoting. Instead, rely on the carving that you perfected in "better" snow conditions.
c) Fat short skis aren't necessary for slush, but they make it a lot more fun, especially when when you are learning.
Tom / PM
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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rob@rar.org.uk, virtually nothing but teams training, pretty quiet, no queues. Physicsman, good, simple advice.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Does Leisse manage to stay open thru the summer?
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Has been known, but with rain to 2800m last week conditions are poor at lower altitude. Pretty sure it's not open at the moment.
Take a look at the following link to see the conditions on the Sarennes glacier (Alpe d'Huez) a couple of days back, scroll down to the photos.
http://www.skipass.com/forums/enmontagne/direct/sujet-51592.html
Thread says that the pros were only training to 10.30am. I'm not surprised.
(edit: apparently Leisse was open, closing at 11am)...
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You know it makes sense.
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Some photos from yesterday at Tignes at the bottom of this thread...
http://www.skipass.com/forums/enmontagne/direct/sujet-51620.html
Here's a translation of the most detailed post in that thread, concerning conditions over the weekend.
| Quote: |
Double Plan, Vanoise and Champagny shut.
Leisse always closed at 11 am.
Last funicular at 13.30, this being the timetable until next weekend.
Barely possible to get down to Tignes Val Claret, lots of walking.
Very light overnight frosts, hardly froze even at 3450m!
Sticky snow on Leisse.
Best snow between 3500 and the glacier proper.
Ice patches already visible above 3000 off piste, even on the route across to 3500, as well as beside the snowpark.
Rocks very visible beside the Rosolin.
Two years since my last visit to Tignes, the glacier has suffered hugely. 5-6 years back not a single rock visible beside Rosolin, just to the right of 3500.
The snowpark was prepared.
Would have stayed a day longer but with high temps forecast there will be a very light frost. Not much to ski on after 11am.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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RachelQ, didn't get a chance to try any skis at Castleford as EB close at tea time and we went in the evening. Was hoping to make it down to MK this Sat, but work is getting in the way. Hopefully I can make the snowHeads Castleford ski test
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Poster: A snowHead
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I'm going against the general concensus in this thread but I'm not a fan of slush. If there's better snow further up, that's where I'll go.
I've had one good experience of slush, at Alpe d'Huez (guided off-piste) where we skied this incredible stuff. Really easy to ski, felt like you were skimming across the surface of water, which is exactly what it looked like at the instant you skied over it.
I was at Jackson Hole late March this year and the lower part of the mtn (Hobacks bit) were awful slush after lunch. We did it twice, just to be sure and we were just about the only people on them. There were a lot of very good skiers choosing not to ski that slush and I think that's fairly representative of most skiers' view of slush. If there's better snow elsewhere, that's where they'll go, it's simply more fun.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| PG wrote: |
(edit: apparently Leisse was open, closing at 11am)... |
It's usually open in my experience.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Any news on Les Diablerets? It was raining pretty hard up to 3000m again, last night, here.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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No, it was never going to have a summer opening longer than a month anyway and it'll not happen this year. Closest now is Titlis but they're closed right now (actually the freestyle area's open). I'm getting a bit cold turkey really...
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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| NickW wrote: |
| ...If there's better snow elsewhere, that's where they'll go, it's simply more fun. |
No argument from me on this, however, better snow often isn't available for one reason or another, so, as the old song goes, you've got to "love the one you're with". 
A very reasonable goal that many recreational skiers state is that they want to be able to have fun even on not-quite-up-to-snuff snow conditions. For pros, we have no choice, we have to be out no matter what.
Tom / PM
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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NickW,
Agree... I wouldn't seek it out but if its there you cope with it.
Same as it ever was...!!!
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There's "slush" and there's "slush" - to my mind a number of comments have referred to spring/corn snow - which can be just sublime. And slushy bumps have to be one of the best things ever.
However, if it hasn't frozen overnight in a couple of days and is getting to 20C during the day, it can get a bit heavy on south facing/low slopes.
But surely that's what Rose wine and lunch on big sun terraces were invented for!!
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David Murdoch, you're right, corn snow is great, but so is "slush".
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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DM, to me, corn is corn, and slush is slush.
When I think about real slush, I have in mind a milkshake-like consistency such that if you take a step without your skis, you posthole in by at least 5 or 6 inches with each step, and often, you will sink in right up to the top of your boots. Then, when you try to lift your foot back out, you hear a sucking noise.
The worst kind of slush that I have encountered is when the snow pack is isothermal (ie, heat coming up out of the ground melts the snowpack from the bottom, while radiative and convective heating melts it from the top). In such conditions, you can posthole in right up to your crotch.
When I say slush I'm also thinking that if my boot goes down by more than a few inches, I better be worried since it will immediately start to take on water, just like you would if you stepped into a several inch deep puddle.
OTOH, if you only sink in an inch or two with each step, and then hit a more firm sub-layer, to me, that only deserves being called something like "a soft top layer".
Tom / PM
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Physicsman,
| Quote: |
| OTOH, if you only sink in an inch or two with each step, and then hit a more firm sub-layer, to me, that only deserves being called something like "a soft top layer". |
In German that's called 'Firn' and skiing on it is called 'Firngleiten', which roughly translated means 'slush-gliding'. I think gliding is a good description of what you do on that kind of snow. Maybe the word Firngleiten should be added to English ski speak?
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FAQ
