 Poster: A snowHead
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| Mike Pow wrote: |
Brecon Beacons
But the standard deviation is gigantic |
What - you and your mate 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Great vid 
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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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Anywhere where Brit and Russian numbers are low. Simple. 
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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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Nordkette. The only not good skiers are the 2 year olds about to become the next generation of brilliant.
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| Ski lots wrote: |
| Chamonix and Glencoe. |
Plus one. Might also add Raise.
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In Sweden and Norway I don’t see many ‘amazing’ skiers but the average level of competence is quite high, more so the further away you get from Stockholm and Oslo
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Having lived in Cham for a few years now I do find that the standard of skiing is better than some of the other big french resorts but this is entirely anecdotal. Courmayeur has some amazing on-piste racing types you don't get here and I haven't skied in Austria in years.
I think though that anyone who spends more time off piste than on is going to run into more confident skiers though, wherever you are, same as people who are just starting out on blues are going to run into a greater number of less confident skiers so your view will probably depend on what you ski the most.
To confirm though, you don't have to be an amazing skier to be clanking around in a harness and rope. When I'm heading up the Midi or Index with my harness looking gnarly (I look gnarly right? That's literally the only reason I do it...) I'm probably only going to be skiing down something about as steep as a red piste. I know some regular ski tourers who look pretty shonky when you put them on a piste. Think there's maybe just a misplaced air of mystique about it.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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In the Alps, (from what I have seen):
Grimentz/Val d’Annivers: Small, but excellent ski area with a lot of fun terrain. Guess a lot of the locals in Valais like to escape the tourists and head for the more quiet areas.
Disentis: those who head to this beautiful but small ski area seems all dedicated to skiing. Fantastic skiers all over the place, both on and off piste.
Nordkette: it is a strange but fantastic place to ski. Just a couple of short slopes , but it is the routes from the top that dedicated skiers come for. Last year, saw skiers in their mid 70 ski down 40 degrees ungroomed terrain. This year, saw 8 years old doing the same.Fantastic mountain with a lot of really good skiers.
Pyrenees:
Baqueira Beret: really surprised to see a place in Spain where the general level was very good. In addition, a huge number were seriously good. What a pleasant surprise and kudos to the southern French / northern Spanish regulars.
Scandinavia; as had been said before, the general level in Sweden and Norway is high and have to agree that the level is higher the further away you get from Stockholm and Oslo. The general level is highest in western and northern Norway and northern Sweden .
Last edited by You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net. on Sat 4-04-20 16:54; edited 3 times in total
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At the risk of statng the obvious, The Lecht.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Shropshire Hills.
Including some of the best snowboarding I've ever seen.
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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 can safely say that the best standard of skiing can be found in my imagination. Alone in the garage, waxing skis with a beer, I've crushed slalom courses, nailed big faces, the lot!
Reality is different of course!
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| AndAnotherThing.. wrote: |
| ... Including some of the best snowboarding I've ever seen. |
You need to get out more, I'd say.
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You know it makes sense.
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Based on inaccessibility, it is La Grave.
Based on the tourist masses, it is Chamonix and Verbier.
Based on Winter Olympic medals, it is Trysil, Norway.
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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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Difficult for me to say as I rarely go elsewhere now I live in Tignes.
But the skill level varies in Tignes over the season with lots og high performance courses. Pre Christmas it's high, it then dips, then it increases in Jan, but without the athleticism seen in December, as all the spending kids inheritance team of very good skiers arrive. Feb has the highest Muppet quotient. Interestingly, this year with the Parisians taking weeks 1 and 2 of the 4 the standard of skiing was low and the following of rules both on and off piste was woeful. The last 2 weeks were the locals, Lyon Grenoble etc, the skiing standard and etiquette was much higher, some even had kit off piste.
March and April generally good skiers, Easter accepted. After that very good as the pros go touring.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Ski areas with no onsite accomodation have the highest standard in my experience as this largely restricts it to locals and the dedicated with my best two examples being Nax Mont Noble and Raise. In Nax even the snowboarders were carving cleanly and I saw several off piste skiers who were impressive enough that they have stuck in my mind.
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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 guess some of it depends on how you are defining what good skiing is. A lot of people mention carving and pistes in their replies, which would not be my first instinct. I would think more of off-piste; steeps, tight chutes, tight trees, cliffs etc.. I would tend to think if you can handle that stuff a piste is relatively easy (of course I'm not saying you are going to ski it with the kind of technique and style of a top racer).
Take ozone at kicking horse (https://images.app.goo.gl/4y6uVfcUeQAqoZeQ7). It's used as a face for the freeride world tour, yet it's just "normal" in bounds terrain that people including little kids ski everyday there. Could the average piste skier at a euro resort handle 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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Chamonix is weird in that there are world class off piste athletes, world class racers, fantastic recreational off piste skiers and the great masses there for a week of pooteling about. Some of the worst 'English' skiing I've sen has been in les Houches last New Year, also Tignes this February half-term.
I've not skied many of the places mentioned. My two penyworth;
la Grave- everyone has to be good / competent.
In Chamonix; Anyone turning immediately left out of the ice tunnel or abseiling off the bridge at the Aiguille du Midi, anyone climbing over the fence at the top of the Bochard.
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I haven't skied much in Chamonix but it was amusing watching people try to ski Planards on fat skis after (I'm guessing) skiing down the Aiguille du Midi. The run under the Planards chair had been injected for some European Cup races.
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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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@rjs, in fairness, you do get lots of people skiing around Cham on fat skis who, errr, can't ski.
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| Quote: |
| Chamonix is *the* global mecca for list accessed ed steeps and touring. However it is also full of wannabes and holiday-skiers .... |
Sounds a lot like Whistler.
Although I'm not sure about the "steeps" thing - you can certainly kill yourself if you want, but I don't think there's the same macho willy-waving culture in BC. I'm sure the dicks are bigger in Cham.
That too is a mecca for pro types, many of whom are based there although that's of course not the only place they'll ride/ work. They mostly don't ride the resort most of the time, which is full of the US holiday skiers it's designed for. On average you'll find a better standard of piste skiing if you hang out with the locals at Cypress, or back in the day at Whitetooth.... because those guys ride every day the resort's open and the snow's good.
I've ridden easy piste with Olympic/ World Cup skiers/ snowboarders now and then, and they've all been significantly more impressive on easy slopes than anyone else there. I suppose you could be a super-star in a snow-dome and useless on piste, but if you can ski then you can ski, I think, and it shows.
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| philwig wrote: |
I've ridden easy piste with Olympic/ World Cup skiers/ snowboarders now and then, and they've all been significantly more impressive on easy slopes than anyone else there. I suppose you could be a super-star in a snow-dome and useless on piste, but if you can ski then you can ski, I think, and it shows. |
I don't think anyone's even seen Miki Schiffrin freeskiing on wider skis and I think she claims she's not very good but I bet when she loosens up and relaxes at the end of her technical career she'll be mind-blowing. I was lucky enough to ski with Rahlves once and while he's a lot smaller than you'd imagine a top downhiller to be he was pretty effortless and unbelievably fast in all sorts of chop, bumpd and crud.
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| Dave of the Marmottes wrote: |
| philwig wrote: |
I've ridden easy piste with Olympic/ World Cup skiers/ snowboarders now and then, and they've all been significantly more impressive on easy slopes than anyone else there. I suppose you could be a super-star in a snow-dome and useless on piste, but if you can ski then you can ski, I think, and it shows. |
I don't think anyone's even seen Miki Schiffrin freeskiing on wider skis and I think she claims she's not very good but I bet when she loosens up and relaxes at the end of her technical career she'll be mind-blowing. I was lucky enough to ski with Rahlves once and while he's a lot smaller than you'd imagine a top downhiller to be he was pretty effortless and unbelievably fast in all sorts of chop, bumpd and crud. |
Rahlves best Jeremie Heitz on this 12 years after retiring from the WC circuit!
https://www.tetongravity.com/video/ski/jeremie-heitz-and-daron-rahlves-face-off-in-gnarliest-ski-race-ever
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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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Really good question actually.
Clearly people who want to push themselves go for extreme resorts such as Cham, La Grave and Jackson's Hole.
Interestingly, I was once told by someone in the industry that the resorts with the overall average highest ability of skier tend to be the more expensive resorts with a lot of 'old' money where most people there will have skied pretty much every year of their live's. I noticed this in places like Lech and Cortina - a very high percentage of very competent skis, even if they spend a lot of time having long lunches.
I once joined a group of over 60s for a day in Lech. I was by far the worst skier there by some distance. It was clear they'd all been skiing since the age of 3. Whatever the mountains threw at us, they just glided about like they were posting a letter.
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Quite a few of the top freeride people started off as racers. I think the race kids really learn the fundamentals, so makes sense they would be able to translate that to skiing off piste.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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In my dreams.
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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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| cameronphillips2000 wrote: |
| ... Interestingly, I was once told by someone in the industry that the resorts with the overall average highest ability of skier tend to be the more expensive resorts with a lot of 'old' money where most people there will have skied pretty much every year of their live's. ... |
I'm sure in this as in all things inherited money helps a lot, if only in terms of time on the slope. On the other side of that, I could never understand why the British royal people weren't more competent, considering their privilege level. It seemed inexcusable to not be bothered to become respectable. But then I'd say the same about their language skills 
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| philwig wrote: |
| AndAnotherThing.. wrote: |
| ... Including some of the best snowboarding I've ever seen. |
You need to get out more, I'd say. |
It's an odd story. I was hiking up and noticed a boarder following me up. As I transitioned at the top he caught up and the had a gossip. Anyway it turned out he was an ex national racer for I think the Czech republic. Handy, especially given the 'indifferent' moss base underfoot.
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You know it makes sense.
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Silverton? Just throwing it into the hat... not quite chamonix as it is ‘inbounds’ and avalanche controlled, ’easiest’ run starts at 35 degrees.... not for the faint of heart... or skill...
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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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| adithorp wrote: |
Best average standard I've seen has been in Tignes at the begining of Dec as there are so many instructors and racers training and very few 1-2 week a year skiers.
And yes, I drag the average down considerably! |
Dunno, when I was out there we were joined by the uni societies which are a mixture of some decent skiers, drunkards and people who have never been skiing bu Jemima and Huxley convinced them it was easy and even their housekeeper totes could ski.
Any of the more well known holiday destinations are always going to have beginners bringing the average well down, but of the places I've visited it seems Austrian resorts do pretty well for a high number of decent skiers.
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Poster: A snowHead
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| Quote: |
On the other side of that, I could never understand why the British royal people weren't more competent, considering their privilege level. It seemed inexcusable to not be bothered to become respectable. But then I'd say the same about their language skills
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I think they did pretty well in learning English. I don't think any of them are native German speakers anymore
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| Nadenoodlee wrote: |
| St Anton but that was a while ago. Full of hulking great scandis and Germans towering above me in the Valluga cable car (and I’m not short). |
Probably a discussion for another thread but I've often wondered in skiing (other than perhaps downhill WC) whether size is important or even an advantage? (e.g. Doug Coombs wasn't a big guy.)
From what I have seen big guys often suffer at altitude (e.g. Messner was only 178 cm.)
Another example is Shiffrin vs Vonn, the skill / balance / technique of the former appears to outweigh the physical strength of the latter. Where soft snow / offpiste is concerned I'd have thought that technique was much more important than ultimate physical strength and size. Anybidy know if there a correlation between ultimate physical strength and success on the FWT?
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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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Sonnenkopf, Verbier, Grand Montets and Lech/ Zurs best standard of skiing I’ve seen. St Anton esp Albona, Rendl and Valluga too but away from the pistes.
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| DB wrote: |
| Nadenoodlee wrote: |
| St Anton but that was a while ago. Full of hulking great scandis and Germans towering above me in the Valluga cable car (and I’m not short). |
Probably a discussion for another thread but I've often wondered in skiing (other than perhaps downhill WC) whether size is important or even an advantage? (e.g. Doug Coombs wasn't a big guy.)
From what I have seen big guys often suffer at altitude (e.g. Messner was only 178 cm.)
Another example is Shiffrin vs Vonn, the skill / balance / technique of the former appears to outweigh the physical strength of the latter. Where soft snow / offpiste is concerned I'd have thought that technique was much more important than ultimate physical strength and size. Anybidy know if there a correlation between ultimate physical strength and success on the FWT? |
From recollection most of them are quite small eg J.Heitz, Leo Slemett, Carl Renval, Hank Bilous, Xavier de le Rue, E. Gerritzen, but there are also tall thin ones M. Eder, Y. Raussis and Hedvig Vessel is a pretty solid unit (think Vonn style). The Swiss men’s slalom champ D. Yule is a big unit. His brother is also big and a superb freerider.
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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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@DB, in freeride, I think the size of the skier is reflected in their skiing style - I've stood next to (or very near) Sage Cattabriga-Alosa, Eric Hjorliefson and Ian MacIntosh over the last few years (excuse name dropping). The latter is quite big guy and skis fast and aggressively - you could say he crushes lines and really looks like he is crushing them. The other two are much smaller, and while they ski super fast they manage to look a bit more light footed and playful.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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| Arno wrote: |
| @DB, in freeride, I think the size of the skier is reflected in their skiing style - I've stood next to (or very near) Sage Cattabriga-Alosa, Eric Hjorliefson and Ian MacIntosh over the last few years (excuse name dropping). The latter is quite big guy and skis fast and aggressively - you could say he crushes lines and really looks like he is crushing them. The other two are much smaller, and while they ski super fast they manage to look a bit more light footed and playful. |
Candide a great example of the light footed and playful style!
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Both Stefan Häusl and Bjorn Heregger are both very small. Lorraine Hüber also. Shared gondolas with them in Arlberg (and witnessed their skiing first hand) wow!
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Think it depends. Cody Townsend is something like 6'4" and skis fast and aggressive. But then his wife isn't really that huge and also skis fairly fast and aggressive. OTOH, Svindal is big and powerful but his big mountain lines are a bit more precise. Watch something like Supervention and arguably Asmund Thorsen (who seems fairly small) skis more aggressively.
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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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Freestylers are definitely small and slight - I've been close enough to the X games halfpipe to verify that. Candide, Kaj Zakrikson and Tanner Hall also not that big.
Wasn't there once a Snowheads bash where Eva Walkner turned up in connection with Whitedot and some blokes reluctantly agreed to let the tiny girl go out skiing with them if she could keep up?
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Surely size is only of any advantage in skiing when you are racing through gates when mass to wind drag is your friend?
I’d say being big is neutral to unhelpful in most skiing where low centre of gravity is likely helpful with balance
I’m 5’9 and skiing is one of the few sports when I haven’t felt I have a disadvantage over tall people
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