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Who grooms best?

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
I'm wondering if there is any consensus here on which resorts/area have the best and most consistent piste grooming...

I've found places vary wildly with some (Dolomites, Cervinia) producing freshly pisted runs every morning and others sometimes not bothering for days even when runs become rutted, mogully, icy hell-chutes. I've also found resorts with better standards of bashing - again the Dolomites...mmmm...high-end corduroy - and others appearing more slapdash, I hate when theres a step between piste-basher runs.

The French part of the PDS has for the last few years begun to seem like they groom on a budget with quiet weeks going largely un-groomed for no apparent reason and even the bashed runs being a bit crap at times.

Thoughts?
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
USA.
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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?
Aye, North America. It's a fine art, with resorts competing on their grooming styles. If you like that sort of thing, try the big Colorado places. I'm told Deer Valley is probably the best place if that's your thing.
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I reckon Whitegold and Stanton do a lot of grooming.
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Thornyhill wrote:
I reckon Whitegold and Stanton do a lot of grooming.
Laughing Laughing Laughing
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Italy hands down for perfectly groomed piste for me.

But!! Its almost over groomed. It's a good job there are plent of play grounds to the side of the piste to dip in and out of or it might get a bit samey Toofy Grin
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Deer Valley USA

Perfect corduroy every morning.
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PaulC1984 wrote:
Italy hands down for perfectly groomed piste for me.

But!! Its almost over groomed. It's a good job there are plent of play grounds to the side of the piste to dip in and out of or it might get a bit samey Toofy Grin


Sella Ronda is well overgroomed, one of the reasons that I'm missing the BB this season, I love the people and the vibe of the BB but the piste skiing has limited variety, I won't court controversy by saying that there are no black runs but there are certainly no very difficult runs. Don't get me wrong, I love carving a freshly groomed piste, pushing the skis to the limit of their grip but I also like to ski lots of other types of terrain too.
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Brutal
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Main reason pistes in Italy in general look so well groomed is the lack of snowfall and overall dry climate
Many factors influence pistes looking and staying good during the day: fresh snowfall, temperatures, steepness, crowds, humidity.
Impossible discussion for us laymen to decide upon few holiday-moments where best grooming is taking place.
Main conclusion: there is a lot man cannot influence.


Last edited by Ski the Net with snowHeads on Tue 14-11-17 8:50; edited 1 time in total
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Langerzug wrote:
Main reason pistes in Italy look so well groomed is the lack of natural snow.


Shocked Shocked Shocked Really - have you seen the Dolomites / Cervinia currently Toofy Grin

Past 2 years admittedly early season have been low, but previous years have been good.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
@PaulC1984, it is not very useful to look at one moment. Check snowcharts through the years. E.g. Val Gardena in general has not more than 60 cm on mountain in February
E.g. Arlberg in general has more than 300 cm, sometimes peaking at 700 cm.

Piste grooming is done in the evening, creating a perfect corduroy before midnight. Then, at night, snowfall sets in. No grooming after this.
This might be nice in the early hours next morning. But even a new layer of just 10 cm fresh snow will become a terrible mogul-mess before midday. Or even faster dependent on temperatures, steepness or crowds.
South Alps (Italy) has much fewer depressions than North Alps, so much fewer days/nights with snowfall.
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Rotterdam.
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
I have heard from friends that Nakiska in Canada is the place for groomed slopes.
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Langerzug wrote:
@PaulC1984, it is not very useful to look at one moment. Check snowcharts through the years. E.g. Val Gardena in general has not more than 60 cm on mountain in February
E.g. Arlberg in general has more than 300 cm, sometimes peaking at 700 cm.

Piste grooming is done in the evening, creating a perfect corduroy before midnight. Then, at night, snowfall sets in. No grooming after this.
This might be nice in the early hours next morning. But even a new layer of just 10 cm fresh snow will become a terrible mogul-mess before midday. Or even faster dependent on temperatures, steepness or crowds.
South Alps (Italy) has much fewer depressions than North Alps, so much fewer days/nights with snowfall.


You stated lack of snow, perhaps your choice of words is wrong. They get plenty enough snow for on and off piste.

Do they get less snow than others yes

Do they get more than other yes

Do they groom better than others with more and less snow yes

Is there a lack of snow NOPE!
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Stop the Brutal Grooming
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Deer valley is famous for its grooming. I'm sure there are some north american resorts that re-groom some runs at lunchtime, but can't remember which.
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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?
I don't suppose Jimmy Savile is the correct answer to the OP?
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chamonix. mainly because they don't bother Cool
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The definitive travelogue of grooming.................


http://youtube.com/v/4kURqs8BWxc
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Quote:

Main reason pistes in Italy in general look so well groomed is the lack of snowfall and overall dry climate


This is such nonsense, and isn't a factor any country in how the resort is managed. The (Italian) resort I live in is well maintained because it has 18 homologations and has to be - other resorts in the valley attract backcountry skiers and make less effort to groom slopes when selling themselves as a "freeride paradise", etc. Italy is notoriously hit & miss. It's down to management
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stanton wrote:
Stop the Brutal Grooming


Go somewhere that doesn't groom. Sorted!

Thick twunt!
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After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
well Stanton has a point, there should always be one or two ungroomed pistes about a resort, if they alternate where they groom then folks will learn to ski bumps better, but to go where there is no grooming at all could be a little hard on the knees. There is an area at the top of Zacopane where it is a nature reserve and one groom is never touched by a piste basher it can become quite difficult with very high moguls and a difficult gully at the very bottom, lots of fun but after a few runs down this it is nice to find an alternative way down,
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Vail used to pride itself on the quality of its grooming, and the amount they do.
We witnessed 20 bashers heading out to the backside of Vail, for midday grooming rolling eyes and have a gas station at the top near Two Elks for refills IIRC.

Deer Valley do some exceptional grooming too, along with Snowbasin. US destination resorts pander to their mass market and provide plenty of perfect corduroy. Others not so, and so provide some great terrain. Groomed trails there exist to get to the good stuff Toofy Grin
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Switzerland snowHead
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boarder2020 wrote:
Deer valley is famous for its grooming. I'm sure there are some north american resorts that re-groom some runs at lunchtime, but can't remember which.


Vail and Beaver Creek do afternoon groom session. Usually just pick one run to groom.

Deer Valley is pretty good with the grooming. Beaver Creek is too.

I can't say that any ski resort in Europe stands out as, WoW!, that's some really good grooming!", but overall no complaints. I spend most of my time on ungroomed powder though!
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
extremerob wrote:
I have heard from friends that Nakiska in Canada is the place for groomed slopes.


Agree, when we went (quite a number of years ago now) it was totally immaculate, they double / triple groom it.
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moseyp wrote:
... selling themselves as a "freeride paradise", ..


Where’s that in Italy? Sounds interesting.
I think the Dollies are missing out on a bit of crud action.
There was a small off-piste section in Flaine (top right, looking up at the bowl) which was great fun. The Italians could definitely do with having something like that; they have enough land, but do they have enough snow? Toofy Grin
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
Eddiethebus;
Quality.. Ref Chamonix snowHead snowHead
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Not even a contest. This IS grooming at its best..................


http://youtube.com/v/7YCtW8-bUvY
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
This is an interesting video on the work of the team working in Avoriaz.

https://www.facebook.com/prodneigeavoriaz/videos/1703120849712156/?hc_ref=ARTNzQIvCOMHFAT0iHGljroian6J7bFWp7Kd_3Qr2coBSrdMpSIr7hD1QjJWb2RDaKY&fref=nf
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@moseyp, what’s a homologation?

@ALQ, Alagna. Triumph of marketing and client dreams over reality if your idea of a freerode paradise involves lots of powder.

If it means lots of terrain, much of it steep and associated high alpine weather and conditions, well fair enough then.
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