 Poster: A snowHead
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I was flicking through Watts and Gill's tome the other day and was surprised to read of their reports on the ever-growing incidences of 'piste rage'. Do you think this is a growing problem in the mountains? Is it a symptom of over-crowding or some other structural defecit? Or is it simply because we have all become so much more ego-centric in our behaviour?
Whilst I did not come cross any incidents of 'piste rage' (firstly, how does one define this?) I was nonetheless shocked by the behaviour of people in Val D'Isere in late March/April this year which I certainly would class as ego-centric.
I don't think I've ever actually witnessed a puch up on the slopes or some other such altercation in over 25 years of skiing. However, what you do get in the Alps these days is a foreboding sense of tension; people cutting each other up, inappropriate stunts on piste, stopping for a fag and chat in the middle of a winding path and the general hooliganism in resort.
What's your evidence for piste rage? Are you a piste rager?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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kevin mcclean, The closest I have seen were a couple of instances in VT last year. One was a piste security guy who was IMHO justifiably lambasting a bloke who was out of control and who had to crash to avoid a bunch of kids that the pisty was escorting. Amazingly, the bloke who crashed could not see that he had done anything wrong.
The second occasion was when I was having a lesson and the instructor was video-ing me. It was to the side of a large wide piste and a boarder deliberately skidded across in front of the instructor, spraying him and the camera with snow. The instructor was Italian and just hit the roof. It came very close to blows. I hasten to point out that it was the boarder who was about to get punchy but obviously thought better of it when he realised there was an audience.
Personally, I don't piste rage.
BTW, I do believe there was another thread on this topic quite recently
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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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Frosty the Snowman, Thanks 
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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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I have to admit to having one "rage" episode. It was a few years back when I was still falling over a lot. On this particular day I seems to have spent more time picking myself and skis up than doing anything else. After what seemed to be the 100th time that day I had just got myself sorted when I was "cut up" by a lady, which resulted in me ending up in a heap again, minus skis. I lost it completely, much to the amusement of my friends and the crowd assembled at the lift about 100yrds away. I stood up, yelled as loud as I could and attempted to throw my poles at the lady. Problem was they were still attached to my wrist and all I suceeded in doing was to stab myself in the back and take a lump out of my head. 
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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If there are fights in the water between surfers over a wave or over local vs tourists arguments, is it any surprise? Things have changed on the mountain as well and not for the better.
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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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Only piste rage I've come across was a brit in Flaine who was out of control, speeding excessively cutting everyone up. Even our guide flipped, and 'buzzed him' in retaliation, with a VERY quick evasive turn to scare the s*** out of him. Rule 1... don't cut up a former instructor who's on his 17th season!
Other than that, it's just jerks in the lift queue on snowboards who keep both feet in bindings jumping up and down to balance waiting for their friends while blocking the queue and jumping on everyones skis/boards. Nothing against boarders... just inconsiderate jerks. If you're going to wait for all your friends, do it before the turnstiles, and never touch my skis! In the end 3 of us 'arranged' for us to lose balance and send 4 of them toppling like dominos after ignoring many displeased faces.
To be fair, in both cases the rage was us, but in general I think there is way too much inconsiderate behaviour, especially in places where you have to go with the flow, and not the pace you want to go at.
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To be fair Andy.. there are plenty of ski-ing jerks who hold up lift queues, and who ride over other peoples skis/boards as well... and yes I am Boarder....
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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I was with an american friend once in Tignes. The lift line had a sharp drop off to one side and just a couple of poles and some rope to contain the queue.
He got more and more irritated with a french guy who was treading all over his skis, even when asked to get off.
Eventually (and the french bloke was being a real a-hole) my friend just grabbed him by both shoulders, picked him up and threw him bodily over the rope and down the 6ft of so steep drop.
After a brief moment of silent awe from the queue everybody clapped and cheered!
My friend was an ex pro American Footballer....he really was not the best bloke to annoy!
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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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To be fair Andy.. there are plenty of ski-ing jerks who hold up lift queues, and who ride over other peoples skis/boards as well... and yes I am Boarder....
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Best for me (if piste rage can count as a good thing) was one year Oct/Nov time on the Tignes Glacier. The only open lift was the t-bar (can't remember the name as it is now a few years since I have been to my "spiritual" home ski town). This was being shared by racers from the US, France, general punters and lots of little kids doing race training. Suffice to say the queue was a bit of a problem, especially as all the kids were cutting the line by going under the ropes. The problem was fixed by one of my friends punching one of the kids on the helmet and sending him flying which was met by a huge round of applause from the rest of the queue. The rest of the kids joined the back of the line!
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You know it makes sense.
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Oisin Osh Kelly, it makes no difference whether the doofus is a skier or boarder. The problem is that no one gives a stuff anymore. Society's screwed.
It doesn't help when you see the "instructors" at the UK snowdomes lining their groms up across the piste, and no one's making any effort to shift people from stop areas. This behaviour is the taken to the mountains.
Stupidity is the most serious threat humanity faces, so perhaps the only answer is to remove safety notices and let the problem solve itself.
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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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Oisin Osh Kelly, yes this is true. If any snowsports person stands on my skis, then I can't balance properly, nor can I move. I think most boarders undo 1 foot, and have at least some control in the queue. The case I mentioned was just a bad one, with inconsiderate french teenage jerks that just happened to be boarders. I've been know to send skiers toppling too for careless ski control in the queues.
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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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The closest I've came to piste rage was with a cocky a'hole who was with the group I was skiing with. We were being filmed, so we were all kinda assembled in one place, and skied down individually. Well eventually, it's just me and him standing there, and he starts flicking snow off me with his pole. So I started (about twice as fast), and he got pee'd off and started threatening me. The real problem was that he was several years younger and several feet shorter than me. It was probably best for his health that he went before I got seriously annoyed.
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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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AxsMan, Skis an poles coul definitely count as a lethal weapon. We used to have groups of youngsters up from the Banlieus and once had a huge fight on the mountain at one chairlift. 13 people were airlifted off the mountain that day, some with very serious injuries. The rest of the group were escorted out of town that night.
I'm saying nothing more about this, having had a jolly good say on the other thread.
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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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kevin mcclean,
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Is it a symptom of over-crowding or some other structural defecit?
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How many times have you seen a reort boasting of faster bigger lifts to carry more skiers to the top or new hotels / appartments.
How many times has the announcement had details of piste improvements or new areas/runs opened to accommodate all these extra skiers 
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I lost my rag with a snowboarder in Tignes last week.
I had spent over an hour setting a slalom course with fairly big offsets when he decided to slide down it and put a big trench in it.
I had calmed down a bit by the time I caught up with him. He had been told off by the coaches of the three GS courses that he had cut across as well as been warned by his GF about how mad I was, so he was pretty apologetic.
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easiski,
No offence meant by my 'pretty funny' comment. I should have said that the guy with poles still had his skis on and the other guy only took one ski off. They were hopping and sliding about in a way which reminded me more of a scene out of Monty Python than a real fight. 
I do appreciate though that hitting or being hit with a pole or a ski is a potentially serious matter, and I probably would not have found it so funny if I hadn't been 20m away in a chairlift. The sad thing is, both these guys looked to be at least 30, they were certainly not kids. You'd think that adults would have more sense (at least you would if you hadn't met some pretty dumb adults).
I did read the other thread, and one note that struck a chord was the mention of people who 'hog the piste' either by stopping in the middle, or standing at congestion points (like just off the lifts). I've had a few close calls myself with people leaving no room to get by on a lift exit.
Another instance of this kind of thing (and it happened to me and my wife in her first season when she was not very confident) is when an instructor leads a 'crocodile' of students in a zigzag line right acros the line that a lone skier is trying to take down the hill. As a beginner herself my wife was quite unnerved to find herself being overtaken and then 'cut up' by a dozen or so teenagers in a line, that forced her to come to an abrupt halt. It wasn't 'dangerous' as no one was going very quickly, but it was at the very least discourteous. The kids were just following their leader so I have to say I felt the instructor was at fault. However he (and the kids) were italian, so there wasn't much point saying anything to him (in English).
With more experience and confidence (and maybe a bit more ability) we don't find these 'snakes' such a problem, and of course we are no-longer confined to the gentlests slopes where this is most prevalent, but in the first few weeks on the snow, they can be very intimidating. As an instructor yourself I wondered if you had any views on this? I suppose it is just another consequence of too many people trying to fit onto too few, too small pistes. (This was on the 'grimod' at Aosta/Pila).
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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've mentioned this before.
We were taking the very long drag out of Zermatt trying to make the last lift connection out of Champoluc valley to get us back to Gressoney. and our guide had to get back to Alagne..
This women skied passed us on the piste and then cut back and took us out. My friend was dragged up the hill as his harness got caught.
I was absolutley amazed this women could ski past us and then come back to hit us
Anyway we eventually caught up with our guide who went right off on one.. If he had been anywhere near the girl he probably would have punched her..well, you get the gist...!! Fuming fuming fuming...!!
We made our connections...just.. the guide had a beer in the valley and called in a helicopter to drop him into the alagne valley...!!!
Stay away from the pistes, I've heard they get quite ragged at times.. 
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This is apparently quite a serious problem from what people have been saying here. Clearly, piste design, confluence of runs into certain areas (never a bright idea in my view) and the ever increasing capacity of lifts to transport people all play their part. However, I simply see bad manners on the piste as merely a symptom of a broader problem; that is, an incapacity to empathise and recognise others in a culture that is becoming particularist. You see this behaviour all over the place now from supermarkets, to car parks, to train stations and even, famously, at Ikea!
Unfortunately, piste rage is not a disconnected phenomenon but is distinctly located into what we've chosen to become.
Very sad.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Never piste rage but definitely telecabine and lift line rage induced by garlic and gauloise and the total lack of respect for my personal space. Somehow, that's why USA and Canada are more relaxing places to ski.
kevin mcclean, I guess that makes me
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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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or perfect perhaps.
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Frosty the Snowman, Perfectularist. Like it.
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FAQ
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