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Help...skiing in Europe that's like Canada???

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
@under a new name, There is alot of reading to be done on the subject of Italian offpist regulations. I myself have been told that I could loose my lift pass while visiting The Dolomites (Italian region obviously) and Marileva if I simply skied between the slopes, beneath the lifts etc. Furthermore I have heard similar stories from other skiers. It is definitely not due to protection of the nature outside of the slopes. It is simply a matter of not wanting recreational skiers (or others??) to ski anywere that is not the slopes.

As I said, this is the reputation of Italian ski areas in general. Other rulesets might apply to different areas, but one should investigate beforehand. For instance I dont know of a single area in Austria or France that have similar strict regulations on 'offpist skiing' right beside the slopes.

Most of the people I talk to about such things are skiinstructors in the alps, and its a general rule of thumb not to bring your students into the sidecountry in most Italian areas because you can face legal complications (even though excellent teaching opportunities might be found here depending on the situation). Much like you shouldn't teach in France unless you are actually hired by the area that you ski in, since this can have legal complications too Smile


Last edited by Poster: A snowHead on Thu 6-10-16 9:03; edited 1 time in total
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
adithorp wrote:
Mike Pow wrote:
KernowRed wrote:
I would skip Europe and head to Japan, more powder per year than Canada and fairly flat mountains. Loads of off piste next to piste

Result!


That's been my experience on Hokkaido, Japan.

More knee deep and deeper powder days per season than my seasons in Austria, Italy, USA and Canada.

Hell more powder days per week in January than @Old Man of Lech has seen in a decade!


But hardly an answer to "Where in Europe has in-bounds off-piste like Canada?" rolling eyes


Scroll up to see my earlier post about San Martino Di Castrozza in the Dolomites.

Had 3 powder days out of 4 days skiing on an early March 2016 trip and 1 powder day out of 1 later in the same Month (see vid above). Would have had more, but had to make my way to Innsbruck. Did have great powder at Trafoi on the way Smile

San Martino has close to 1000 vertical metres of tree skiing off the Tognola lift, open bowls above that, and a wild off-piste area the other side of the valley.

Closest I've skied to the likes of Kicking Horse in BC.

Here are some vids from early March


http://youtube.com/v/6zi__yV99VI


http://youtube.com/v/fBZDcrkCazA
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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?
Nope, can't think of any tiny little resorts hundreds of miles from civilisation; with no vertical, overpriced passes and gear, and no concept of a decent lunch.... wink wink Toofy Grin

Only joking, enjoy, and like Pam said take the money you save on passes and get a guide, or just join the top class of the local ski-school for a bit of company and request off-piste.
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newsfromthefront wrote:
Wow... thanks everyone for all the excellent suggestions & info, there's some seriously interesting stuff to consider there Smile

@Maireadoconnor - Sainte Foy looks like exactly what I'm after thanks!

@what...snow - been to Glencoe a couple of times & really enjoyed it, didn't rate Nevis Range though (though maybe the horizontal rain had something to do with it) Wink


I know it might sound like I am trying to sell Courmayeur here, but I think it does tick a lot of your boxes. It has some excellent tree skiing, some high alpine terrain, and has a nice "small" ski hill feel not dissimilar to the likes of Fernie (well to me at least). It doesn't in my experience have the approach that @TheDude describes either to off piste skiing, in fact aside from permanently closed areas (which basically as with any resort worldwide, the patrollers would not surprising pull your pass) then you are free to ski where you like. A lot of the side piste skiing is excellent too without having to stray properly off piste.

If you want a feel for the terrain with pictures there are some excellent posts on here http://www.lornecameron.com/tag/courmayeur/
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
How about budgeting for a day's heli-skiing? Where we have our apartment in the 4 Valleys this costs CHF400 (£345) for the day (in a group) see:

http://www.tzoumazbooking.com/web/?page_id=1618&lang=en

Most resorts have something similar. I know it's a lot, but you should be able to leave it 'till you're in the resort before booking. And if you're saving on the airfare to N.America then it might be reasonable financially.
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@Mike Pow, Sorry I realised your previous post wasn't in that vein. Was more a response to @KernowRed,

Posts about off-piste being discouraged in Italy and Livigno (in particular) are curious, given they're activly promoting OP there. A big freeride area, notices listing the best OP conditions at the main lift stations and heliskiing from there. I seem to remember something about lift pass gates as you enter/leave the freeride area so they know you've made it down.
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
@adithorp, It might be that the Italian ski areas in general have a more loose relationship to skiing out of bounds today compared to earlier - I must admit that much of what I have heard and experienced of Italian offpist regulations being strict have been some years ago by now. Here is a post describing the strict ruleset of offpist skiing in Livigno (its a norwigian forum, but the important part is in english): http://www.friflyt.no/Forum/Ski/The-beginning-of-the-end-Off-piste-uten-guide-forbudt-i-Livigno

However as you can see this post is allready 6 years old, and the regulations might have changed since then.
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
@TheDude, Livigno changed their rules - It's legal now, and they have a few dedicated, controlled freeride areas. Not exactly Gnarly though, unless you get out with a guide.
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@element, well that sounds promising! Maybe other areas have changed their rules too. In that case just disregard my previous concerns - it might still be a good idea to check out their rules before booking the trip, but it sounds like Italy has become alot more offpist friendly than just a couple of years ago.
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bigtuboflard wrote:
@TheDude that's new to me about Italy? Granted only been to Courmayeur and Montgenevre so far but I've friends who've been elsewhere and I've never known that? Which resort(s) have that approach?


We were stopped by a gun carrying Italian plod on skis when skiing off piste on a known route from the top of the Marmolada. A member of the group was the sun of a hotel owner in Arraba and convinced plod that he was a guide. We could not follow the machine gun Italian but the hand gestures said it all.
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@TQA, "Carabinieri" - the clue is in the name...
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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.
Oh and from The Marmolada's own site,

"The Marmolada is also a paradise for off-piste aficionados and those who enjoy “powdery” descents. The altitude permits skiing from November to May, so freeriders can experiment with all sorts of spectacular turns. The indications of a guide should ideally be followed." http://www.marmolada.com/en/winter/freeride
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So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
@TheDude, sorry, missed this post,
Quote:

I dont know of a single area in Austria or France that have similar strict regulations on 'offpiste skiing'


Vallorcine has an arrestable ban on certain slopes, due avvy risk and village below. The last thing you'd need to worry about if caught there is your lift pass...
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
AthersT wrote:
Krippenstein - http://www.bergfex.com/krippenstein/

Gosh! I'd forgotten that tiny place existed. I haven't heard it mentioned for years.

By some accident of history, I learned to ski there in January 1989. It wasn't an obvious place for a beginner, but I had a brilliant time. My slightly deranged instructor got us to explore off the edges of the piste most days - and that was on straight, skinny skis back in the day when lads seemed to believe that there was a correlation between the length of their skis and peoples' perception of the length of their you-know-what.

As you can imagine, I had some truly epic wipe-outs!
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
TQA wrote:
bigtuboflard wrote:
@TheDude that's new to me about Italy? Granted only been to Courmayeur and Montgenevre so far but I've friends who've been elsewhere and I've never known that? Which resort(s) have that approach?


We were stopped by a gun carrying Italian plod on skis when skiing off piste on a known route from the top of the Marmolada. A member of the group was the sun of a hotel owner in Arraba and convinced plod that he was a guide. We could not follow the machine gun Italian but the hand gestures said it all.
Blimey, that sounds like fun!
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
TQA wrote:
bigtuboflard wrote:
@TheDude that's new to me about Italy? Granted only been to Courmayeur and Montgenevre so far but I've friends who've been elsewhere and I've never known that? Which resort(s) have that approach?


We were stopped by a gun carrying Italian plod on skis when skiing off piste on a known route from the top of the Marmolada. A member of the group was the sun of a hotel owner in Arraba and convinced plod that he was a guide. We could not follow the machine gun Italian but the hand gestures said it all.


A great ride has everything, not least of all action. Happy you made it out, gun bearing Italians are no joke.


under a new name wrote:
@TheDude, sorry, missed this post,
Quote:

I dont know of a single area in Austria or France that have similar strict regulations on 'offpiste skiing'


Vallorcine has an arrestable ban on certain slopes, due avvy risk and village below. The last thing you'd need to worry about if caught there is your lift pass...


I did not know that, but that would be in relation to certain specific areas and not offpist in general I guess Smile
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
@TheDude, very definitely!
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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?
Mike Pow wrote:
adithorp wrote:
Mike Pow wrote:
KernowRed wrote:
I would skip Europe and head to Japan, more powder per year than Canada and fairly flat mountains. Loads of off piste next to piste

Result!


That's been my experience on Hokkaido, Japan.

More knee deep and deeper powder days per season than my seasons in Austria, Italy, USA and Canada.

Hell more powder days per week in January than @Old Man of Lech has seen in a decade!


But hardly an answer to "Where in Europe has in-bounds off-piste like Canada?" rolling eyes


Scroll up to see my earlier post about San Martino Di Castrozza in the Dolomites.

Had 3 powder days out of 4 days skiing on an early March 2016 trip and 1 powder day out of 1 later in the same Month (see vid above). Would have had more, but had to make my way to Innsbruck. Did have great powder at Trafoi on the way Smile

San Martino has close to 1000 vertical metres of tree skiing off the Tognola lift, open bowls above that, and a wild off-piste area the other side of the valley.

Closest I've skied to the likes of Kicking Horse in BC.

Here are some vids from early March



Mike what mounts are you using for the go-pro to the ski pole? - I am braking them at a rate of 2 per ski week and haven't found luck with any yet
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Sony Action Cam - HS1000 - with third party mount off Amazon. Solid. No problems
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
@TheDude, Not many problems with off piste around here. No problems skiing under lifts or next to piste. If you want to go further afield its not a problem as long as you have avi kit with you.
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@peter42, has it allways been like that or is it due to recent changes? Based on the reactions in this thread I have a feeling that many of the regulations might have been rolled again or was maybe never even implemented in many of the smaller skiareas. I still think it will be worth to check up on before going but it doesnt sound like its that big of a deal anymore. But I know that it used to be in many larger areas a couple of years ago.
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
@TheDude, Its been like that for the 5 years or more. If you were off piste with a guide and had the right kit it was never really a problem.
If your skiing off piste now and you haven't the right kit they will get a little upset with you. If you have the right kit and you look like you know what your doing no problem.
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
@peter42, hm... Okay.Being offpiste with a guide have propably never been an issue I'm guessing. I'm more worried about casual sidecountry skiing beneath lifts and near slopes. What I have heard was that this in particular with students could be a major problem meaning terrain assisted development through skiing in rough or loose snow can be challanging or all together impossible in many areas.
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@TheDude, There is no problem skiing under lifts or next to the piste here and no need for a guide. Only need the avi kit for proper off piste and if you know what you are doing no guide needed.
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@peter42, Allright I take that as positive sign that things might be changing then Smile
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@TheDude, Very Happy
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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.
Or that it was an urban myth to begin with?
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