Misgraded pistes...

A snowHead

We all know that marketing teams like to ensure that village runs are graded not to deter new visitors, and that the steepest few runs in any resort will be graded black regardless of whether they are challenging or not.

But where are the real howlers? NW facing “Red” runs that are only skiable by intermediates during sunny afternoons in April, “Blue” runs with one steep pitch that takes out every beginner who has the temerity to start exploring away from the nursery slopes, “Black” runs that the locals never ski because they slide a couple of times a season...

Egregious examples only please!

A snowHead

Any black run in Italy or anywhere else that a black run is pisted flat.
On piste maps throughout Europe, black runs are quoted as "Very difficult", it is the definition of a black run. Once a "black" run has been pisted flat, it ceases to be very difficult for all but beginners and the very cautious and can't be rated as black.

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Quite a lot of runs in Ellmau for me. Great place, but I spent most of my time on my backside there.

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Can't say I found the Sarenne black in Alpe d'Huez to be especially black - but on the flip side having done the left hand Villard blue one afternoon I took my week 2 friend that way the following afternoon but tried a different route through Les Vallons du Petit Prince...to find that one had a short, steep section that looked red-ish to me...and painful to fall on the way my friend fell and slid down it. Embarassed

The home runs in Ischgl are also interesting on their grading. I'd say they are technically correct - mainly flatish tracks that go very wide when a bit steeper all graded red with a few steeper, black rated alternatives that cut out red loops. Of course that's just based on the mountain. By the end of the day the red's usually either mogaled up a bit in the wide drops or rather icy. Add to that tired blue skiers splayed all over the snow and the reds are quite hard to ski. Put on your big pants and try one of the black drops...and you'll find yourself still skiing a flat piste with patches of corduroy.

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Kitzbühel springs to mind. There's a black 63 Bärenbadkogel which doesn't feel a lot different to the blue 64 alongside it. Conversely there's a red 75 Zweitausender which is a real stinker.

Other reds which are on the very dark red spectrum are 21 Tannwald in Zell am See and Gabühel in Dienten.

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It's not misgraded per se, but I'd include the Steissbachtal in St. Anton as a smoke screen. It dupes the unwary beginner into believing that they will have an easy option down to the village. Then reality bites and they find out it's almost always closed and they have to take extra care not to end up in the mogul carnage that is the Kandahar. The Steissbachtal should not be a marked piste at all.

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Any of the long snaking blue runs that seem to circumnavigate the piste map all the way back to the village centre.
You think that it will be a glide all the way along... and then find that half way along it is UPHILL!!!!! If a "blue" run is gentle downhill, and "green" run is almost flat, then these pistes need to be marked as Yellow... to indicate a negative downhill

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@SkiingDad, it's not called Happy Valley for nothing!
Seriously though, there is nothing to stop you downloading from Galzig, and in fact the main bottleneck/carnage in the mogul field at Zammermoos can be mostly avoided if you just ski a couple of meters off to the side of the piste (left side facing down the hill)

Going back a few years, piste H in Tignes was hideous - allegedly blue. Went there last year and something significant seems to have changed.

Red 66 in Mayrhofen is awful (or at least was a couple of weeks ago) - too many people (lots on their backside), mogulled (didn't see any pistes that had been bashed all weekend!).

The new red 16 in Mayrhofen should be black - much steeper than expected (also suffering from lack of piste-bashing!).

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Any popular blue that has become a bumps field in the afternoon after fresh snow, and is subsequently littered with people on their backsides or doing the snow plough of fear (me included), should be re-graded black immediately. NehNeh

It's all down to conditions, I've read that on here somewhere (everywhere!)

I guess it's down to preference as well - I'd rather do something steep-ish, smooth and empty than flat (as in, you have to go in a straight line) and busy. So my misgraded piste would be the short section of Ki-West in Westendorf that is marked black - it's not really steeper than the rest of the red, and has an 'easy out' which is narrow, rutted and horrible. The easy out is twice as difficult than the scary black (for me).

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Tourmaline, the piste down to Flaine from the rest of the area. It's a blue, but steep in places, very busy, often strewn with struggling beginners, can be icy, cut up etc... I remember friends who regularly ski blacks having very bad runs on it at the end of the day. I didn't dare.

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Two 'blue' runs in St Anton which are likely to catch out the unwary beginnner are 100 Valfagehr that is used to connect to the Flexenbahn and 50 Zammermoos-St Anton via Mooserwirt (other apres ski venues are available !). Neither are especially steep but after the first hour of the morning they are usually full of moguls and many other skiers to avoid.

Also many, many years ago the Kandahar (52) used to be Red 2 which was also very misleading. Now at least it's rated black but people of all abilities still try to ski it, especially when happy valley is closed. often causing carnage later in the day.

You know it makes sense.

I agree that I'd rather ski a smooth black than a bumpy blue

As an example the Nordabfahrt in Zell am See. Recently re-numbered to further confuse. Was graded black since forever due to a couple of steep schusses that see very little sunshine until March. A few years ago it suddenly became a blue as the 'main' run was channelled onto blue cut arounds that actually form the vehicular access road in summer. The black schusses are still black but are now the 'default' option even though they are actually in the line of the main 'original' run.

The blue cut arounds are not particularly steep but as they are completely shaded in fir trees they are often icy and bumpy and mainly aren't wide enough to take a full size piste basher. So, any relative beginner that takes off down after the blue markers will eventually be faced by a black schuss likely to make them faint or a narrow icy track that is too steep to snowplough.

Why? Marketing. Zell am See didn't have a blue 'village run'. So the marketing people created one that doesn't actually exist. rolling eyes

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

Santons in Val D. Far too hard for the people that are on it trying to get down to the town. My kids and Mrs S (nervous skier these days) prefer to take their time on La Face than go through the soup of humanity in the gully bit. I am sure the black to the right of it might be okay too but they weren't having that... Skullie

A snowHead

there is a lovely red run in Zermatt which comes down under the Matterhorn, rather mischievously called "69".

Its a lovely cruisey red that goes on for ages until it hits a frozen waterfall about 3/4 of the way down. That waterfall is steep and south facing, and becomes mogully from about 11am, and the first three times I tried it I managed to successfully faceplough at least part of the way down it. The rest of the piste is fine, its just that waterfall section that is steep.

A snowHead

A fair chunk of the L2A piste map is marked one colour easier than it would be in any other resort.

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Santons is now red. Get it at the right time and it’s great.

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@Steilhang, true, there are options, but downloading from Galzig requires a bit of planning. And it's quite obvious that the Kandahar is usually full of people who should've taken their last chance at Tanzböden, but didn't.

Come to think of it... Perhaps the Kandahar should be the only pisted marked black in St. Anton.

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@Spin Doctor, the black to the right of Santons is Épaule du Charvet IIRC. It's not the lesser of two evils!

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Yep the new town run, Gours, Bellecombe, Grand Nord, Grand Nord Bis, Combe du Thuit seem rather reddish blues when in all but the most benign of conditions and certainly harder than pretty much every Scottish red I've skied and most of the reds in Trysyl

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Laughable "green runs" down to Val D'Isere (La Daille). So steep that they have moguls on them when it's busy! Very Happy

You know it makes sense.

@schnitzel_skier, hahaha I was writing about 66 and 16 myself. I cannot believe 16 is red!

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

A snowHead

Malgovert in Les Arcs. Difficult to understand how that has been graded as a red.

A snowHead

Take a look at the many blue pistes in the Zweisimmen, Saanersloch area. A reference to Saanersloch "blue" means hell this is a steep pitch and narrow!

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I have to agree with L2A. As a fairly good intermediate who manages blacks in Italy, I nearly poop myself on a couple of the reds in L2A. Very Happy

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After all it is free

@Scamper, I think they piste in the evening but if there is a new snow overnight it is then left for us all to

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