| What percentage of your time is spent on piste whilst ski-ing? |
| 95% On-piste |
|
50% |
[ 69 ] |
| 75% On-piste |
|
24% |
[ 33 ] |
| 50% On-piste |
|
14% |
[ 20 ] |
| 25% On-piste |
|
5% |
[ 7 ] |
| 5% On-piste |
|
4% |
[ 6 ] |
| Option for people who don't really want to commit themselves to anything but want to see the result |
|
1% |
[ 2 ] |
|
| Voted : 137 |
| Total Votes : 137 |
|
|
|
 Poster: A snowHead
|
Tim Brown, we'll agree to differ then. I'm not out to get bogged down in a game of tennis 
|
|
|
|
|
|
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
|
rich, that's find. But if you were paying for lessons from easiski, would you agree to differ with her as well? 
|
|
|
|
|
|
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?
|
Tim Brown, wouln't be the first time 
|
|
|
|
|
|
You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
|
|
|
|
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
|
achilles, Or stupid, still not clear on that one myself, doesn't seem to stop me though 
|
|
|
|
|
|
You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Is it safe to assume that all resorts/mountains now have groomed pistes? Speaking to my better half's father, when he learnt to ski in Canada and Pau in France in the 70s he had never heard of a piste basher or groomed pistes. Does this mean there might be a generation gap thing, where older skiers have learnt to ski off-piste from the start and more recent learners rarely feel the need to leave the piste?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
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.
|
Depends where I am / who I'm with.
When I ski with my buddy in Austria, he knows his local mountains well so maybe 75 - 80% is off piste.
I'm in Switzerland for Christmas and New Year where I won't know the terrain, won't have the inclination to hire a guide, so I will be 80% on piste and 20% into the trees (is that off?)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
There is off-piste and off-piste. You can spend all day chopping off bits and pieces and making detours through here and there or you can be gone all day and not see a soul... In the first instance you'll have fun and can just play around with what works. Its a good intro with a bit of security, ie, never too far away from assistance, hopefully. In the second instance you really should have a bombproof turn that will get you round in anything as you just do not know what you will come across. Of course, you hope the guide has set up the day to suit your standard but you must have a techique you can trust. It doesn't matter how pretty - or not - it is, IMO, its about how safe you are.
|
|
|
|
|
|
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
|
|
|
|
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.
|
|
25% piste, 50% bed, 25% bar
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
You know it makes sense.
|
|
|
|
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
|
95% for me. Still a confident beginner.....LOL
This will be my fourth time skiing, going to Whistler in Jan 07. Can't Wait.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Poster: A snowHead
|
|
The lowest one should be more like 10%. Even if you intend to ski entirely off-piste you often have to ski pistes to get to or from the off-piste you are aiming for (unless touring). I checked 5% anyway (the only person)- but I reckon you'd have had many more takers at 10 or 15%.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
|
|
|
|
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?
|
|
|
|
You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
|
Hoppo, yes OK I realise I didn't read the question properly  Now, where's that 95% plastic option?
|
|
|
|
|
|
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
|
|
What's the other 5% Yoda? Wood
|
|
|
|
|
|
You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
|
|
Looks an interesting "discussion". I'll read all the posts in a mo' but I have to confess, I'm a wuss. Done VB and a few closed pistes part from that the extent of my off-piste corresponds to the occasional cut corner when following a track or 20 - 30 metere stretches between adjacent pistes. Would like to do more but don't feel competent and need more lessons.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
halfhand, delete the VB and closed pistes and you've just described me as well.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I've put down 25% on-piste, although Yoda raises an interesting question - how should you count time on plastic? . For the last year and a half I think I've actually spent about 3 weeks equivalent a year on the bristles, which redresses the balance of on-snow time quite a bit. But I'm only counting that at about 50% equivalent time, because it's really only half the real skiing experience . This year I will probably actually be even closer to 50% on-off, as I'm having an extra piste-only week, in addition to the PSB, which balances up the 2+ weeks which will be 100% off piste (there being no pistes at all at those destinations) and another one or two that will be about 90% off piste.
|
|
|
|
|
|
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.
|
Ok, I've read all posts so far. I think I agree with Tim Brown, and easiski, in that poor technique will see you ok on-piste but will truly find you out when you venture off-piste.
For example when I did VB (yes with a guide), I'd heard that it was just like a red run which when pisted I smugly admit reds don't usually present a problem. However, I did find myself falling more often than normal. Watching the guide and a couple of my mates snaking through the powder on the upper level of the glacier did piWW me off. I could manage a couple of turns but thought it was hard work and then would often fall over or simply grind to a halt. Bad technique I'm convinced.
Another thing which gets me wondering is the definition of off-piste. I know there has been some discussion on this forum before but when we talk of off-piste do we mean the kind of thing seen in the extreme skiing videos which are always being played in the bars of ski resorts, hurtling down Corbets Couloir etc.. or do we simply mean the un-pisted areas which separate adjacent pistes, or even itinaires (sp?) which I think are like the patrolled but un-pisted areas of parts of the 4 valleys which i seem to remember struggling down one year?
Just random thoughts on the subject.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
halfhand, I would tend to call off piste anything that isn't a prepared piste - as the main discriminator to me is the variability in snow conditions that you get when away from the prepared areas: the terrain, and irregularities therein, controls where or how you put in your turns rather than you having a completely free choice. I agree that this leaves unpisted blacks and "natural" mogul runs in a bit of a limbo area, but I wouldn't necessarily count them as "on-piste" either - they certainly bear more resemblance to itinerary routes than prepared pistes, and there's no difference in skiing conditions between an itinerary and an route just picked out from a map. (I think competition mogul runs do count as "prepared areas" though, and I would put them on the piste side of the border as they are way more regular in layout.) The major difference between an itinerary/unpisted-black and genuine back-country is the level of commitment and self-reliance required rather than the nature of the skiing per se.
|
|
|
|
|
|
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
|
halfhand 95% of off-piste skiing is not like the extreme videos. (Perhaps 99%, it depends on the video). It's just natural snow which is....not on a piste.
I'm not especially strong or fit. Its mostly timing and confidence. New, light powder isn't much harder than a good piste when you get used to it - in some circumstances it is easier- and easier than ice by a long way IMHO. I hate ice but have a perverse liking for porridge. The really hard one is breakable crust
|
|
|
|
|
|
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.
|
GrahamN, snowball, I guess on these points i may raise my %age to around 80% on 20% off.
I too like porridge - but hot, in a bowl with sugar and milk
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
FAQ
Never had the chance to try and wondered what all the excitement is about. I did come off a long drag lift once and tried to get back on piste through deep snow but it was all rather hard work. Can anyone tell me what the attraction and the buzz about unpisted snow is.
