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Ever wondered what's involved in grooming pistes? Here are some facts

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
This interesting article, by Mary Loudon for The Independent, takes a look at the piste grooming 'industry' above Courchevel.

She wonders what the overnight grooming of her favourite run - the Creux - involves, so she hops into the cab of a 'chenillette'* and finds out.
Quote:
At the front of each chenillette is an array of heavy-duty attachments. The most frequently used is the wide scoop, which works like a giant shovel, gathering loose snow from the piste edge and pushing it back on to the slopes in enormous mounds. The process is called remonter la neige, which translates as pushing the snow back uphill. You don't think about why until Jean points out that when skiers ski, they bring all the snow downhill with them, or push it to the sides of the piste.

Lots more interesting facts ... and figures ... here's the article.
Quote:
The numbers are staggering. Each hour of preparation in the Courchevel area (during which time 42 hectares will be groomed) uses £3.5m worth of machinery and consumes 577 litres of fuel - enough to drive a Land Rover from the UK to East Africa.


* French for Pistenbully/piste-basher/snow-bison apparently.

Any comments on this article?
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Yep. Still want to drive one!
The figures are staggering though. The machines are ace, and look really fun to drive!
www.pistenbully.com
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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?
In VT (I'm sure its the same in other resorts), they are attached by chains to do some of the pistes, not sure if I'd like a go on those trips!
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 You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
For anyone wanting their own groomer, http://www.resortboneyard.com may be a good place to enquire. They have lots of other ski related bits for your back garden.
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Let me get in there before Stanton: Stop The Brutal Grooming! Very Happy
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 You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
When I began skiing in the 18th century [actually at the threshold of the 1950s into the 1960s] there was no grooming - brutal or otherwise.

A schuss was usually a big gamble (especially with sloppy leather boots and clattery skis on), because the skis tended to get locked into 'tram lines'. T-bar tracks (and a great deal of uplift was T-bars) were a nightmare of frozen ruts and grooves!
1970s was like a death cookie-fest!

You can, of course, enjoy the raw pleasures of ungroomed runs at various locations like La Grave ... if you want these 'hardening experiences'. Scottish skiing in the
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