 Poster: A snowHead
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If this weeks holiday has taught me one thing it is that i will be looking to ski off piste much more in the future.
I have really started to detest the way the pistes get chewed up and moguled so heavily after lunch time. I love the early morning corduroy and being able to carve at speed down a beautifully groom run but once the bumps start to appear it just kills my legs and balance.
Maybe i need to learn to deal with it better but for this week i decided by 3pm i had just about had enough of dodging the crowds and having to travel so slowly...the flat light didn't help much either.
Next time i will be looking for a quiet resort and a quiet time.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Where are you?
I must admit I love nothing better than being one of the first up on a run in he morning, it is so quiet and lovely.
Same score I get a perverse pleasure from the churned up slopes, but don't like it when it is slush as well.
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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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| Quote: |
Next time i will be looking for a quiet resort and a quiet time
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 Times don't get much quieter than mid January. You were in the PdS I recall from the "we all die today" thread? The pistes have been deserted here since the New Year crowds went home. Even more so than I remember in previous years - and even though the lower altitude resorts in the Arly Valley are not worth bothering with, so everyone is up here. I have had entire pistes to myself on several occasions and there isn't even a whiff of a lift queue. You need to go somewhere off the tour operators lists.
I am doing an off piste week (beginners intro) this coming week and having skied a very chopped up, ungroomed, black run a couple of days ago - which certainly killed my legs though I just about got down it - I've been wondering if I have made a mistake and over-reached myself. so your comments about off-piste are comforting!
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pam w, Yes, Avoriaz. I found the slopes yesterday down to Lindarets particularly messy.
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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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pam w, don't worry, you'll be fine under easiski's tutelage I'm sure.
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The warmer the weather the worse the mounding. If you are well balanced, nicely relaxled in the leg joints and not too knackered or passive then zipping straight down the crud can be huge fun.
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Crowds and flat light you'll get no argument with, but mounded and chopped up snow can be a lot of fun.
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Corduroy, have you ever skied in North America? I think it may be your nirvana.
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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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Corduroy, Most of all I like slushy bumps. Firm bumps are ok too, but slush in general ticks all the right boxes for me.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Corduroy, Snow = fun Does not matter what type.
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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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Oddly, while it's nice when the slopes are pisted and empty, I find the feeling of skiing on morning corduroy is strangely unnatural.
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| Quote: |
Avoriaz. I found the slopes yesterday down to Lindarets particularly messy.
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ah yes.
the n00bs equate high with difficult, so the won't go near Arare, Fornet etc. where the snow can be stunning. So they'll suffer on the run in to Lindarets.
That's exactly what happened the year it rained over new yr, so that Lindarets run was wet cement moguls and skiers that just couldn't cope. At least the heli vac is only at the bottom
If it;s warm... high = easy.
If you struggle, take a lesson, then you enjoy them  (only bit I don't enjoy is when they're narrow and too many bodies in the way all waiting for people to get out of the way so they can put in 1 turn).
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You know it makes sense.
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Corduroy, it's just a matter of attitude.
Smooth clear rippled pistes are ok, but really rather boring.
Pistes all cut up with bumps and crowds provide so much more interesting time.
You have to choose your path and avoid the idiots.
More taxing maybe, but much more fun.
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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 the light has dawned, DoneCorduroy 
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Poster: A snowHead
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First run on soft corduroy, blue skies and sun ticks boxes for me, but there is a certain satisfaction factor in coping with more challenging conditions.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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The same conditions all the time would get boring.
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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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Corduroy, we have been in PDS all week - but I don't recall that we have been in Avoriaz - other than passing through one day on the say to Switzerland - we have had blissfully empty slopes in Les Gets, on Mt Chery a couple of times, quiet on the Chatel Linga side, and Roc d'Enfer was just like having a Robert Redford 'own ski area' yesterday. I am like you in that I enjoy the slopes first thing in the morning and don't enjoy the chopped up stuff either, but skiing down to the Ardent car park about 4 the other day it was not chopped up at all.
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| Corduroy wrote: |
| If this weeks holiday has taught me one thing it is that i will be looking to ski off piste much more in the future. |
Is that so you will get better at skiing variable conditions? One of the best places to learn offpiste is in the chopped up end of day mushfeast.
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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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Mind you, I can see where the OP is coming from, I know I haven't been skiing long, but I am of the opinion that hero pisted snow is as rare as pure, light, fluffy crystaline virgin powder.
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N.B. In fact if I rarely get on the hero pisted stuff I sometimes wonder just what to do on it - the obvious places to put in turns vanish, because you can do them anywhere so then its a question of how best to enjoy it, big turns, little turns, straight line it.....? 
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Chewed up snow that's been in the sun and turned into slushy moguls is horrid. It's even worse after an overnight freeze. Chewed up slopes where the corduroy has been stripped into to patches of polished ice is equally horrid. But nice, soft piles of fluffy powder scraped into appealing moguls by generous skiers is a true delight. How is it possibly to dislike it?
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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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Avoriaz is full of narrow pistes so they get chopped up (and crowded) in no time. The best thing you can do to have more fun in these conditions is to switch to some wider and stiffer skis as they deal with the mank much better. Most accessible off-piste more than a morning after a snowfall won't be all that different I'm afraid.
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I enjoy slopes. The clue is in the word 'slopes'. I'm not so good at dodgy conditions, but it's all good fun.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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I think I do better than I expect to on less than ideal slopes because I've skied more than my fair share of iffyconditions. Maybe surprisingly I'm not overboard on the 0830 frozen slush corduroy - the stuff you don't even leave a mark in purely because it is rather teeth jangling, but is it a consistent surface which is helpful the totally worse bits are the patches where the basher tracks went over it when the slush was not quite re-frozen and it leaves behind an undentable surface resembling the giants causeway. Those vids were interesting, esp. the 'up; action (yes, I know it was exaggerated, but it's worth trying). Also, the speed aspect - I tend to be wary of iffy conditions and don't attack it, but those videos suggest that attacking it and speed were useful to deploy. Maybe a rethink on how I approach that sort of snow is in order.
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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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When my legs are feeling full of life, I quite enjoy the challenge of chopped up pistes and the need to constantly adjust the angle of my board, allowing my feet to move independently. By the end of a week, I'm tired and need the piste to be nice and predictable; sudden switches from topside to heelside edge have been known to send me flying...
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You know it makes sense.
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You obviously got some nice off-piste conditions, sometimes the chopped up version of the snow is much more preferable to the original stuff!
I think most kinds of snow are fun and present different challenges.
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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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Depends how hard you want to work imv. As I've become older I want it easier i.e. blue sky, no wind, no crowds, early morning fresh pisted run often blue, sometimes red. The occasional more difficult piste adds variety I guess, but I don't want too much. To each his own.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Meh +1
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| kieranm wrote: |
| mounded and chopped up snow can be a lot of fun. |
Come on! While the OP could use better technique to deal with such condition, "fun" isn't what I would term such conditions. It's one of those that you "get through" on your way to better, more consistant surfaces!
I much prefer more defined moguls over randomly cut up snow as far as "fun" goes. Soft cut-up snow isn't too difficult to ski but there's no "fun" involved.
| Corduroy wrote: |
once the bumps start to appear it just kills my legs and balance.
Maybe i need to learn to deal with it better but for this week i decided by 3pm i had just about had enough of dodging the crowds and having to travel so slowly...the flat light didn't help much either.
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Irregular bumps, if soft, you can simply ignore and speed right through! As others mentioned, keep your lower body relaxed to react to the ups and downs (you don't need to see it, just feel it) and ski it as if it's smooth corduroy.
As an off-piste skier, you'll just need to get used to ski all sort of un-expected surfaces. Off-piste, you could have ridges form by wind you need to get through which is similar. So might as well "enjoy" the learning opportunity!
There're snow surfaces that are "good to ski", which this is not. There're snow surfaces that are "good for you" to practice on, embrace 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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I love skiing on freshly prepared pistes, but I also love skiing when it's been tracked out on piste, but still flat everywhere and not moguled .
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Its better to use bumps of snow as slalom poles rather than beginners, at least they don't move!
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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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Skiing on piste (bumpy or flat) is like dancing on a solid concrete floor. It gives nothing back to you and just drains energy.
Skiing off piste is like dancing on a sprung wooden floor. All the energy you put in keeps coming back and you just want to keep going.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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altis, +1
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Corduroy, what makes you think off piste won't be any easier??
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Better to have a day in bad snow than a good day in the office.
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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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I need to practise skiing with my legs and core rather than eyes and head, if you get my meaning, so choppy, cruddy stuff and even poor vis is great practise, and +1 to rob@rar 's comment too.[/b]
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Corduroy, Strangely enough I really enjoy it and relish the bit of challenge it presents, I like the corduroy early morning grip aswell but battling the chop in mid afternoon gets me smiling ! I've yet to get good enough in the pow to really appreciate it but intend to rectify that over the next month or so 
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