 Poster: A snowHead
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The Streif, for the race down the Hahnenkamm in Kitzbuel. Bulletproof.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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It looked fairly grippy yesterday.
Helps to have multiple pairs of skis, you warm up on one pair then use a pair with freshly sharpened edges for the race.
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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?
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Do they go slow enough to edge? 
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Even in March, the shady Steilhang is almost sheet ice with the blue markings still visible. The only difference is the 3' bumps on it which makes for a terrifying ski down! It is also much steeper than it looks on the TV and I suspect that all downhill courses are the same. It is another example of the huge difference in skill level between 'good' skiers and professionals.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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@Charliegolf, To go round corners.
When I watched it one year we tried to stand (off-piste) beside the Mauserfalle (Sp?) but people kept losing their footing and sliding all the way down. When the racers came we saw the UNDERSIDE of their skis, before they landed below us!
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I have raced slalom on injected snow a few times, in Chamonix and Megeve. The final pitch in Megeve doesn't get much sun and one year the top 10cm was completely clear.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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| rjs wrote: |
| ...one year the top 10cm was completely clear. |
I've occasionally skied pre-season in Tignes when there's been virtually no snow on top of the glacier ice. Hateful experience, but great training for dealing with what is commonly called 'icy snow' on pistes in the main season.
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The first time I raced on an injected piste was the reserve DH piste in Les Arcs. It was so hard, one of my friends promptly bought a new pair of skis for the edges and lent them out once he had done his run! I lost a contact lens two-thirds of the way down as I had not blinked since leaving the start gate and my eyes had dried out.
Edit: I was racing a GS on the bottom half of the course, not a DH!
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@rob@rar, There is a lot of dirt in glacier ice that blunts your edges quickly.
Injected snow is great, it doesn't get ruts forming so is fair for everyone.
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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.
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Often wondered....When did this injecting the pistes with water lark start?
Presumably a relatively recent state of affairs, as they wouldn't have always had the technology?
Before that, what did they do to harden the piste? If anything...
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You know it makes sense.
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@mountainaddict, I would guess in the 80s, the Innsbruck Olympics DH doesn't look like a modern course at all but I can remember watching Klammer win the Hahnenkamm in 84 and it looking like this weekend. The introduction of snowmaking helped as you then have a water supply to the slope, just attach another pipe to one of the cannons, before that I guess you would put a tank on the back of a piste basher and just spray water on the surface.
You can also add salt or fertilizer to harden the surface when it is warm. It is a really good idea to clean your car including the steering wheel between racing in Scotland and trying to cross the channel.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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I recall 3 of us back in 1971, the year Rolls Royce went bust (while we were in Austria - someone came into the bar with rhe news, and we all said 'don't be daft') on a very quiet morning, decided to ski down from the top, as quickly as we could. We timed it - took us 7.30 minutes - and we scared ourselves sh1tless. The we saw that racers were doing it in about 2 minutes ! Respect!
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Poster: A snowHead
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| deerman wrote: |
| I recall 3 of us back in 1971, the year Rolls Royce went bust (while we were in Austria - someone came into the bar with rhe news, and we all said 'don't be daft') on a very quiet morning, decided to ski down from the top, as quickly as we could. We timed it - took us 7.30 minutes - and we scared ourselves sh1tless. The we saw that racers were doing it in about 2 minutes ! Respect! |
That was a year before I first went skiing - doing that run in 7.5 minutes on the kit back then, gets my respect!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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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?
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@ansta1, I did it in 1991 the Monday after the race. I hadn’t been skiing too many years. Took 15 minutes and I side slipped down one steep pitch that the racers jump.
We had a great instructor that week, for only 3 of us in his class. He’d had the honour of leading the V shaped formation ski team of instructors down the course in the build up to the race. Hans Haas, dairy farmer and ski instructor.
The atmosphere on the eve abd day of the race was electric.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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@rob@rar
Wow. Great thread + great posting.
Please do keep it coming! Cheers; FG.
PS: Still waiting for yer videos . .
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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| rob@rar wrote: |
| rjs wrote: |
| ...one year the top 10cm was completely clear. |
I've occasionally skied pre-season in Tignes when there's been virtually no snow on top of the glacier ice. Hateful experience, but great training for dealing with what is commonly called 'icy snow' on pistes in the main season. |
Rob I remember that week in Tignes. 2 runs on each edge and time to go home because our skis were blunt!
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Need ice skates for that
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To answer the op:
Not sharp enough for that!
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| Klamm Franzer wrote: |
| Even in March, the shady Steilhang is almost sheet ice with the blue markings still visible. The only difference is the 3' bumps on it which makes for a terrifying ski down! It is also much steeper than it looks on the TV and I suspect that all downhill courses are the same. It is another example of the huge difference in skill level between 'good' skiers and professionals. |
I skied the Lauberhorn World Cup run in March a couple of years ago. There will still places where the sheet ice from the injecting made things quite challenging.
Last edited by After all it is free  on Sun 24-01-21 16:16; edited 1 time in total
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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| stewart woodward wrote: |
| rob@rar wrote: |
| rjs wrote: |
| ...one year the top 10cm was completely clear. |
I've occasionally skied pre-season in Tignes when there's been virtually no snow on top of the glacier ice. Hateful experience, but great training for dealing with what is commonly called 'icy snow' on pistes in the main season. |
Rob I remember that week in Tignes. 2 runs on each edge and time to go home because our skis were blunt! |
Yup, that was it. Spent more time on the balcony sharpening my skis than anything else!
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I haven't skied the race course per se as there are at least 2 sections which the regular piste does not use, I expect these are the steilhang and the mousefalle, however the rest of it is perfectly doable and is a regular red run.
However, that is with snow, not boilerplate injected ice.
We stopped at the points where the race deviates from the piste to look, and to my eyes at least, no sane person would ever say " yeah that looks fine, we'll go that way" ..
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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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.
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@ed48, that brightened up the morning, particularly the boarder in orange jacket tackling it prostrate bowling ball style!
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I tried the steep pitch on the Kandahar at LesHouches on the Monday after the race. It was a sheet of ice and I could only do an out of control racing side slip with no prospect of stopping until the bottom. Watching the racers do it their skis barely touched the ground at all!
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You know it makes sense.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Last year's BB, when the only lift still open in the wind was the Cable up to Portavescovo, In the afternoon, @Admin led a team of Bravehearts on a few circuits.
Horrendous conditions. Wind must have been 40mph. At the top, you couldn't see anything below your knees due to wind blowing snow straight up the slope. Bottom was very icy, especially last 200m of the black run.
@Admin sharpened hi skis for every run. Rest of us had to make do.  After about 8 runs, my edges were shot. Did last 50m on my ar*e, next run, tried opposite edges, lost it at same point. 
As it was well after 3pm, and lift looked like it was closing, took skis for a service and retired to the bar.
I think the rest got a couple more runs in before it closed.
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FAQ
