Green - Chateluy in St Gervais. It's where I learned to ski with lots of family. Fresh snow every night and Bluebird everyday.
Blue - Either plan Bois or Barmont on the way back to the vanois express in Les Arcs. Lots of little runs into the woods off of the side.
Red - Honestly can't think of one..... How bizarre.
Black - +1 for Flypaper at Glencoe. The scariest Black I've done, especially as there was no one around, no tracks to follow in fresh snow, it was my first time down it and the light was poor... Rule five applied in spades.
Funny enough the only other Black to make me whoop and giggle is also the Vulcano.
@GlasgowCyclops, You're a man of exquisite tastes!
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Pila, red 17 and 18, just lovely runs.
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?
+1 to all the Alta Badia runs mentioned above.
And I'd like to throw in the H1/H2 in Bad Hofgastein - an absolute cracker of a red run (just don't bother with the H2a to the valley, especially if it's soft at the end of the day)
Blue: Snowcross des Marmottes in Avoriaz
Red: Combe Vallon in Meribel
Red: Snowcross des Brochaux in Avoriaz
Black: Grand Couloir in Meribel
Black: Chavanette (the Swiss wall) in Avoriaz
Black: Snowcross des Crozats in Avoriaz
Black: Combette in Avoriaz
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
+1 for Jerusalem
Combe Saulire in Courchevel - but only if you can find that rare moment when the snow is perfect and the run is empty, then this is close to heaven.
After all it is free
After all it is free
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
Blue. Top top to bottom.Rosoul
Red. Home run, Alleghe
Black. Top to bottom Andalo, or Dave Murray whistler or.Luc Alphonse, Serre Che.
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Ski the Net with snowHeads
The rock garden at Ski Louise, as a kid we were always in there before it became an official marked run. Can't wait to take the kid there in April
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
andy wrote:
Green - I think the one in Courchevel where we did GS carving tuition was a green? And it's the only one I'd have skied in the last decade, so it has to be that by definition.
Blue - Alta Badia - most of them (but I do rather like the La Vizza run thru the trees)
Red - Was going to say that it used to be the Melezes run in Les Gets (a long time ago, for the "stadium finish" bit), but opensnowmap claims that's blue. Too many reds to decide from. La Crusc/Santa Croce run claims to be reddy-blue or bluey-red (but I'd have called it blue), and that one is definitely up there as part of the whole day experience.
Black - Prefer the Gran Risa GS in Alta Badia to the Sasslong DH in Val Gardena, but Lauberhorn definitely wins on variety (and it was the first WC piste I skied, and it was the first black that I skied that's still graded black, and it was fun getting the full start hut treatment too ).
Melezes is a good shout. It used to be a red because of a little stretch near the top which no longer forms part of the run.
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.
Best green - it's a 10 at kicking horse. Hands down.
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
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
Far too many to recall. Got my favourite pistes from various resorts but can’t remember the names of them!!!
You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
Two spring to mind...
Eagle Creek @ Goats Eye, Sunshine Village, Canada.. superb, narrow, tree lined roller coaster. Excellent fun
Ski Route 1 @ Schlick 2000, Austria.. not sure if we're allowed ski routes, but couldn't get enough of this when I was there, bumps/steep/trees, what's not to like?
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
A no-brainer: piste 68 (aka the Viehhofen Abfahrt) at Saalbach. Usually deserted, a perfect gradient for practising carved turns. beautiful scenery, and probably the best (out of 60+) mountain restaurants half-way down.
Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
All in Alta Badia:
Blue: Forcella/Incisa from top of Pralongia chair 15. down to masarei chair
9A from pralongia or 11 from Piz Sorega and then onto variant 9 through the wood and back onto 11 down to San Cassiano
Red/blue: Red 40 from Jimmy hut onto blue 40, then onto variant 40A, back onto 40 down to Sodlisia chair/Borest gondola
In Seiser Alm:
Red: Piste 34 from top of FLorian chair down past the Zallinger hut & chapel. Almost a cross country ski route
Any run from Goldknopf/Punta D'oro down to Saltria or Paradiso chair
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Two favourites - both in Banff/Lake Louise.
Boomerang (blue) at Lake Louise. Starts a short side step up from ‘the drag lift from hell’ but so so worth it. A real ‘out there’, remote feel you don’t often get in North America, open, sweeping, superb snow and stunning scenery. Perfectly graded as a tough blue, just enough to keep you on your toes without being too hard. Then join the green for a lovely easy cruise to Temple Lodge.
At Sunshine Village Id have to second Eagle Creek, starting on Sunshine Coast to access it. We found fur stuck to a tree, my son tried to convince me it was bears! I’m sure it wasn’t but it felt like the sort of place you might just run in to one in the spring...
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?
Red - Combe de Vallon (3V - long, varied and feels a little wild and remote), honorable mention for Combe de Saulire 3V and OK VDI
Black - Combe de Carron (VT - long, varied and feels a little wild and remote - spot the pattern!) honorable mentions for Pylones GM (biggest baddest bump run in the right conditions) and Tunnel ADH plus Jockeys and jean Blanc (either, Courchevel, long twisty blacks through the trees are hard to come by)
Given I ski most of the time in Les Contamines / EMB these days while accepting that the pistes are not as good as the above I'd mention highlights as Les Contamines Croix (Blue) into Belleville (Red) all the way down to Hauteluce, ideally non-stop. Also Croche (Black) into Grevettaz (Black). In Megeve/St Gervais I really like all the runs from Mont Arbois to Combloux, perhaps the red most of all - Moriss Millox into Grand Bois (varied, tree-lined then through meadows, nice).
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Perty wrote:
@HoneyBunny, Jerusalem was a red, but now it’s a blue, after they put an alternative gentler way down in at the top. The steep at the top is still there and is a red section, but they’ve renamed it Cheferie.
Oh that's interesting, the top bit was the fun bit! I've not skied it for years.
For a "proper" red I'll have Arcelle in Val d'Isere as a back up, I love that run.
After all it is free
After all it is free
Black: one of my favourite memories is the Dous des lanches above La Tania on a perfect bluebird morning when we lapped it several times.
Black: Saches in Tignes, did that several times last Easter and enjoyed watching the youngest (age 6!) doing it better than me - although not pulling him on the flat middle bit.
Blue: Cascades - it was a fun afternoon out with friends 10 years ago now!
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
Oh yes - Saches is another good call
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Blue: #22 in Wengen, start at the station at Kleine Scheidegg, lovely undulating terrain that carries you right past The North Face, down into the
forest and through the trees to Brandegg.
Red: As has been mentioned by others, #7 Cervinia, europe's highest cable car & one of the world's longest ski runs.
Also the Hidden Valley, isolation, frozen waterfalls & a horse drawn drag out at the bottom.
Black: +1 for The Lauberhorn, with the beep-beep-beep at the start hut and a photo taken as you leave, down past all the famous sections with
signs explaining their names etc. Iconic.
#3 La Thuile... steep, icy & dark.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
Red 23 into Grindelwald beautiful views and a piste that seems to go forever with no one on it
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.
Blue: Top of the Roche De Mio, La Plagne to the tunnel, only for thre fact I did it in knee deep powder and had so much fun.
Red: Piste 70 Resterhohe, Kitzbuhel a great top to bottom non stop blast.
Black: Piste 55 Hochsaukaiser Kitzbuhel, as above.
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
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
Blue: Folyeres in La Tania - always a blast
Red: probably Combe de Vallon always slightly different but a satisfyingly long ski
Black: Sache in Tignes bit of a love hate depending on what the steep corners like, also Face in Val d'Isere
You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
@marksovereign, I add red 23.to Grindlewald in addition to Ober National(black) in Zermatt. Exactly as you describe it on sadly the only time I have yet skied it. It was exceptional.
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
dode wrote:
Red: As has been mentioned by others, #7 Cervinia, europe's highest cable car & one of the world's longest ski runs.
Also the Hidden Valley, isolation, frozen waterfalls & a horse drawn drag out at the bottom.
I did love that - a real adventure and unrivalled scenery. We watched people ice climbing when we did it!
Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Blue - Kitzbuheler Horn when its sheet ice!
Red - Les bois into Champagny en Vanoise
Black - Tortin, Verbier
And what @Gazzza, says in the 4th post.
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
3v bias I'm afraid
Green - Marvel (another vote) Morillon
Blue - Folyeres down to La Tania, best when quiet to get seriously long airtime over the rollers
Red - Fred Covilli on La Masse in Les Menuires - for some reason the snow is always perfect
Black - Combe du Caron, Val Thorens although the seriously steep drop in has mellowed in recent years
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?
Just returned from 3V - gutted they have ‘ruined’ Jerusalem. I still sang my lungs out at the top but it wasn’t the same. Still enjoyed it though
Just returned from 3V - gutted they have ‘ruined’ Jerusalem. I still sang my lungs out at the top but it wasn’t the same. Still enjoyed it though
I think that the main problem is that they have made Jerusalem so much more accessible; I think that the most enjoyable pistes are where you have a sense of isolation
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
As I'm waiting for the wine shop to open I thought I'd have a go....
Derailleur - Winter Park. I'm not sure what this is like without fresh snow, but you want to hit it hard and fast when there's been 20+cm of fresh, and what are probably decent bumps turn into a playground you can just rip down. Thinking about it, there are other runs like that which I also really liked in similar conditions - the Solaise bumps (Val d'Isere before they groomed it), La Sache (Tignes), Freefall (Sunshine), Trifji (Zermatt, when it was a piste). Dame Blanche (Val T)... I'm going to be rubbish at this, because to me the important thing isn't the run, it's the snow.
So I tried to think of runs I've done with garbage snow which were still good.
The run from Idalp back to the village in Ischgl. The snow was warm when I was there, but it's a long run through some massive valley sections and a real top-to-bottom blast.
Any of those runs from midstation to base on Whistler Mountain. The snow's wet and sloppy and they're really just "going home" runs, but they're fast and fun even in the slush at least on a snowboard
The glacier runs in Sölden.
The runs through the trees to the village in Zermatt - busy, sloppy, easy, and full of tourists, but close to some excellent eating places.
I’d also vote for two reds. Fontaine Froide in La Rosiere which I’ve enjoyed many times in a variety of conditions. Then Combe Vallon in Meribel - looking forward to skiing it in about three weeks for the first time in 10 years.
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
philwig,
Quote:
to me the important thing isn't the run, it's the snow.
Agreed - I'm just the same. On our recent road trip, an instructor asked us which area we preferred. Couldn't decide as the conditions had been good for different reasons at all of them. how do you pick just one ? Then pick one run from that ?
After all it is free
After all it is free
I think all my favourites have been covered on this thread before, but its great to read that others appreciate them as much as me.
One I used to be fond of was the run back to Zurs from the Muggengrat, but I haven't been there for at least 20 years
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
DrLawn wrote:
I think all my favourites have been covered on this thread before, but its great to read that others appreciate them as much as me.
One I used to be fond of was the run back to Zurs from the Muggengrat, but I haven't been there for at least 20 years
That’s Zürser Tali. It too has been sanitised a bit over the years. The take-off point on the headwall has been shifted progressively towards the skier’s right, meaning it is no longer as steep as it once was.
Side note: the high traverse that many use to avoid the high speed tuck for exiting Zürser Tali, and hence returning to Zürs, was covered by an avalanche during the first week in March.
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Ski the Net with snowHeads
Nearly all my favourite runs are reds:
Les Rousses at Alpe d'Huez
Ventina at Cervinia
Streif at Kitzbuhel (missing out the steep bits!)
But this year's new entry is Red 2 at Buchensteinwand. The top section is an unpisted ski route, which can be avoided.
It was the last run of the day and I was literally the only person on it. A wide, steep, 3 or 4km run straight down the mountain. What a blast!
FAQ
Poster: A snowHead
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