@BobinCH, nice skiing, but not a terribly responsible piste re-entry, at least one poor punter fell over in shock.
Not impressed.
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?
Clearly staged by Courchevel Tourist Board. The cable car stops at the perfect moment, and I love the way the piste is clear at the precise moment he makes his 60mph entry. Some of the 'beginner' skiers look quite accomplished too!
Though I once enjoyed watching someone ski the moguls of grand couloir [very quickly], and it was just as impressive.
Maybe I missed it but didn't see anyone falling over in shock.
Doesn't look staged to me tbh - and it was posted on his account not Courchevel Tourist Board.
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
under a new name wrote:
@BobinCH, I’ve watched quite a few. This is the first one where someone clearly falls over in surprise ...
Oh come on, he was nowhere near him. Next you’ll be complaining that he should be wearing a helmet for these basic tricks...
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After all it is free
And 99% of us human folk think that straight-lining Saulire is extreme! What an incredible part of the world that is
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Layne wrote:
Maybe I missed it but didn't see anyone falling over in shock.
Doesn't look staged to me tbh - and it was posted on his account not Courchevel Tourist Board.
Guessing from radios, chopper above, cable car stopping, piste managed and the fact that Candide is not usually associated with Courchevel, that this was indeed staged. Faction just launched the new range too...
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@BobinCH, I must have been watching a different video - didn't see any of that.
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Just incredible to watch - he is simply on a different level - I wonder if he experiences those "out of body" levels of performances other athletes talk about
For those who haven't seen his film - Few Words - cannot recommend it enough!
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
He is amazing.
The 3V has always hyped up that bit of the side of the cable car at Saluire as some kind of off-piste extreme mecca as I guess it's the only bit of steep un-pisted bit with a couple of very short corridors that make you feel you're in a radical type resort for a short time.
I guess bringing Candy in is a good way to market it. Let's be honest though, La Grave it ain't. In fact the back corries in Scotland offer more.
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
cameronphillips2000 wrote:
He is amazing.
The 3V has always hyped up that bit of the side of the cable car at Saluire as some kind of off-piste extreme mecca as I guess it's the only bit of steep un-pisted bit with a couple of very short corridors that make you feel you're in a radical type resort for a short time.
I guess bringing Candy in is a good way to market it. Let's be honest though, La Grave it ain't. In fact the back corries in Scotland offer more.
haha - knew a provocative message would get the 3Vs workers up in arms.
To be fair, the video shows really short descents back before you're back in the main bowl again.
Ok it's steep and narrow but I've always felt it was a massively overhyped off-piste area nad always thought it was a just a few steep bits between rocky outcrops off to the side of the main lift. I remember sinking it fo the first time and thinking 'Is that it?' - and my off-piste experience is very limited.
The Staunies piste (before the lift closed) in Cortina was far more dramatic and longer. and the north side was proper remote, long steep off-site stuff. It just didn't have all these rad types going on about it.
haha - knew a provocative message would get the 3Vs workers up in arms.
To be fair, the video shows really short descents back before you're back in the main bowl again.
Ok it's steep and narrow but I've always felt it was a massively overhyped off-piste area nad always thought it was a just a few steep bits between rocky outcrops off to the side of the main lift. I remember sinking it fo the first time and thinking 'Is that it?' - and my off-piste experience is very limited.
The Staunies piste (before the lift closed) in Cortina was far more dramatic and longer. and the north side was proper remote, long steep off-site stuff. It just didn't have all these rad types going on about it.
I am not a 3V worker and doesn’t seem like you watched the videos. But carry on...
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
I have watched them. In fact I even tracked the seconds on the video on the descents (about 20 seconds but hard to judge due to edits) to prove just how short the off-piste runs were.
I've skied off-piste lines up there on many holidays I had just heard a lot about it in the valley and was a bit underwhelmed when I got up there. Just my humble opinion. seemed quite short and not too remote Felt like many other resorts when you shoot off sideways at the top of the lifts and drop off-piste, with a few outcrops and a few narrow lines. It never felt like an off-piste itinerary or route, just shooting off the side of the pistes for a bit through some big outcrops and step bits.
Sorry, but always felt people built it up into something it wasn't. Even Candy's videos, he's soon back in the crowds - in fact, he enters the jumps back on to pistes. Like I said, hardly La Grave or Cham. Or even Cortina, for that matter
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?
cameronphillips2000 wrote:
Like I said, hardly La Grave or Cham. Or even Cortina, for that matter
Not sure anyone would argue that but equally that’s no reason to write off the off piste there. There’s plenty of good off piste in Courchevel and the 3V - try Les Avals to get out of the valley or the glacier skiing to Pralognan from the Gebroulaz glacier. Our very own @offpisteskiing is based there after all!
Yeah not sure the punters were all in on it but it doesn't matter - he was nowhere near them and anway to Candide mere puny human reflexes aren't anything - he'd have about 10x the reaction time of schmucks like us. geezer who fell over did so cos he stuffed up a turn.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Dave of the Marmottes wrote:
Yeah not sure the punters were all in on it but it doesn't matter - he was nowhere near them and anway to Candide mere puny human reflexes aren't anything - he'd have about 10x the reaction time of schmucks like us. geezer who fell over did so cos he stuffed up a turn.
I think you are right (well this is skiing and not political ). He picked a clear line.
Like I said, hardly La Grave or Cham. Or even Cortina, for that matter
Not sure anyone would argue that but equally that’s no reason to write off the off piste there. There’s plenty of good off piste in Courchevel and the 3V - try Les Avals to get out of the valley or the glacier skiing to Pralognan from the Gebroulaz glacier. Our very own @offpisteskiing is based there after all!
Well quite. I'm not sure I've ever heard anyone suggest that the 3V is in the same bracket as Chamonix or La Grave.
What the 3V offers - as I heard on Swiss ski instructor describe it - "perhaps the biggest offpiste playground in the world"
THe point is playground. It's not steep and deep but there is huge territory and so much scope for finding fresh tracks.
That said, there are good long descents off piste from Creux Noir, Mont Vallon, La Masse and Cime de Carron just to name a few
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I’d always taken the hype surrounding the Saulire couloirs as being a bit like the hype surrounding the Tunnel at Alpe d’Huez or the Swiss Wall. Highly visible runs that look super steep from head on and kick the butts of many over confident intermediates. But I don’t think anyone seriously brackets them alongside the bigger lines off the Aig Midi or La Grave
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After all it is free
There are 111 off piste routes in my copy of les Cles des Trois Vallees by the late Didier Givois. The area is vast and there are more routes than could be easily accomplished in a season. You would need a couple of years skiing every day with decent weather and favourable stability to tick the lot off.
Yes, it's not got the 2000m+ vertical drop of la Grave and no, it's not Chamonix but, on its day, the lift accessed touring is as good as anywhere else in the world. It also tracks a lot, lot slower than either of those two. Good luck finding fresh snow in LG two hours after the lift opens.
I wonder how many takes that Candide video took. He's catlike, though in the way he lands.
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I think we're concluding that 3v is both over and under rated which is probably as it should be. I've spent barely any time in the Courchevel valley but it looked to me there were plenty of spicy lines to be had, albeit with a bunch of climbing to access. Weren't there some drone vids from a local pizza place a couple of years ago. For me the main attraction of VT & Orelle valleys is lots of "nice" off piste with very little of the high angle high consequences stuff that really can cause a bad day. I wouldn't pretend that the plentiful off piste there is the pinnacle of gnar.
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Bit like criticising St Manton this. You say the bit off the side off Saulire is a bit over-hyped and it's like you've rubbished the off-piste across the whole 3V, or spilt somebody's pint...
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Dave of the Marmottes wrote:
I think we're concluding that 3v is both over and under rated which is probably as it should be. I've spent barely any time in the Courchevel valley but it looked to me there were plenty of spicy lines to be had, albeit with a bunch of climbing to access. Weren't there some drone vids from a local pizza place a couple of years ago. For me the main attraction of VT & Orelle valleys is lots of "nice" off piste with very little of the high angle high consequences stuff that really can cause a bad day. I wouldn't pretend that the plentiful off piste there is the pinnacle of gnar.
There is most certainly some gnarly stuff to be found in and around Courchevel-particularly towards Les Avals side. The pizza stuff was from the lads at the Black Pearl down in Saint Bon. Different level.
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.
cameronphillips2000 wrote:
Bit like criticising St Manton this. You say the bit off the side off Saulire is a bit over-hyped and it's like you've rubbished the off-piste across the whole 3V, or spilt somebody's pint...
Except that you mentioned the 3V’s and then that it’s the only bit of steep off piste. So in fact it came across that you were in fact doing exactly that.
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
There's tons of off piste but please tell me where all the steep corridors are?
You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
cameronphillips2000 wrote:
There's tons of off piste but please tell me where all the steep corridors are?
I already posted you the link to these vids, but seems you didn’t watch them. And there’s plenty of other more accessible stuff for someone with limited off piste experience, as you described yourself.
Aiguille du fruit - 0:52 onwards - not steep or narrow enough for you
Exactly. That's it! Very short, not very remote and people talk like it's the pinnacle of off-pistw skiing in the 3v
Poster: A snowHead
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cameronphillips2000 wrote:
There's tons of off piste but please tell me where all the steep corridors are?
Freeride face, equinox..
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
cameronphillips2000 wrote:
Exactly. That's it! Very short, not very remote and people talk like it's the pinnacle of off-pistw skiing in the 3v
Very short??? Aiguille du fruit is 600m vertical descent starting at 50 degrees at the top
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?
When I was in my twenties, many many moons ago, my mates and I used to like the steep, deep and narrow stuff. Like many testosterone fuelled younger skiers our confidence and sense of adventure was much higher than our ability but we didn't let it hinder us.
We went on about 3 holidays a year and started to seek more challenge each time.
In 1997 we spent two weeks in Whistler, jumping off the snow cliffs into the Harmony bowl and the like. It was simply epic.
Hearing tales of Courchevel and it's a reputation for tough stuff and the legendary Saluire we headed there for two weeks then next year.
Sorry to say, but we were massively disappointed and felt like it had been massively over-hyped.
Ironically, somebody had organised an off-piste type competition on Saulire - ski the best lines - judged from below etc. - more stuff to market it as an extreme resort. It was hard to pick out the competitors with so many school skids poling over to ski the same lines and join in. In the bars that night some of the competitors were a bit perplexed as to why it was held where it was. I think the week before they had been dropped off by helicopter in Alaska for their runs.
People in the bars were telling us we'd have been better going to Espace Killy - which, in fairness, we would - based on what we'd gone for.
Don't get me wrong. I love the 3V and have been back many times. But in my younger days, we found far more interesting off-piste in other resorts like La Clusaz, Serre Che and even La Plagne up off the top glacier bit. None of these resorts had pushed a reputation fo the gnarly stuff. It just felt like Courchevel over-promised and under-delivered in this area.
Maybe I just wasn't taken to the right bits. I'll never know. My knees and confidence are far from what they were these days. The Fruity peak looks interesting. We never went up to off-piste bits up there
I guess this is what makes ski forums do compelling. We all have different opinions. Strangely enough, I don't really enjoy the Saulire piste descent these days. It's so busy and just gets too bumpy for an easy cruise down. It's just a tad too steep and I find I just spend the whole run bleeding speed off so my knees don't give way.
Hearing tales of Courchevel and it's a reputation for tough stuff and the legendary Saluire we headed there for two weeks then next year.
TBH, I am not sure where you heard these tales. I've never thought of Courchevel/3V as "tough" skiing. That was always the rep for Val D and Chamonix in France.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Layne wrote:
cameronphillips2000 wrote:
Hearing tales of Courchevel and it's a reputation for tough stuff and the legendary Saluire we headed there for two weeks then next year.
TBH, I am not sure where you heard these tales. I've never thought of Courchevel/3V as "tough" skiing. That was always the rep for Val D and Chamonix in France.
Quite - it has never had that reputation (and I say that as someone who has worked in the area for 20 years and first started skiing in the 3 Vs in the early 80s...) - the 'reputation of the Saulire runs was around the black runs there (Gd couloir, along with Emile Allais and Sous le Télé before they took the latter 2 off the piste map in the early 00s). Those 3 are reasonbaly spicy as black runs (with a number of serious accidents precipitating 2 out of the 3 coming off the piste map) - and yes the Grand couloir itself isn't that long, but for the average piste skier the combination of the access ridge and the first 100m or so of the couloir makes for a spicy experience.
La Grave or Chamonix it is not (though with a short ski off the Courchevel ski area and a 1 hour skin I can access 2 linking couloirs that give approx 1200m of vertical generally in the 40-45º range...), however there is a shed load of very good off piste to do here, without a whole load of smelly van dwellers and their dogs fighting for first tracks in every line...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Layne wrote:
cameronphillips2000 wrote:
Hearing tales of Courchevel and it's a reputation for tough stuff and the legendary Saluire we headed there for two weeks then next year.
TBH, I am not sure where you heard these tales. I've never thought of Courchevel/3V as "tough" skiing. That was always the rep for Val D and Chamonix in France.
Google 'off piste doesn't get any better ESF Courchevel'
After all it is free
After all it is free
cameronphillips2000 wrote:
Layne wrote:
cameronphillips2000 wrote:
Hearing tales of Courchevel and it's a reputation for tough stuff and the legendary Saluire we headed there for two weeks then next year.
TBH, I am not sure where you heard these tales. I've never thought of Courchevel/3V as "tough" skiing. That was always the rep for Val D and Chamonix in France.
Google 'off piste doesn't get any better ESF Courchevel'
Most holiday makers aren’t particularly interested in “tough stuff” and Courchevel/3V’s can accurately claim to have a lot of easily accessible off piste.
ps would suggest going to the resorts ESF page is unlikely to be the most objective place for unbiased reviews...
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cameronphillips2000 wrote:
Layne wrote:
cameronphillips2000 wrote:
Hearing tales of Courchevel and it's a reputation for tough stuff and the legendary Saluire we headed there for two weeks then next year.
TBH, I am not sure where you heard these tales. I've never thought of Courchevel/3V as "tough" skiing. That was always the rep for Val D and Chamonix in France.
Google 'off piste doesn't get any better ESF Courchevel'
First hit was no longer a valid link. Couldn't see any other links that included the statement.
Couldn't find anywhere on the ESF site where it currently says this.
But even if I could it doesn't change anything. The doesn't say anything about "tough" skiing... you said it had a reputation for "tough stuff"...
I'm not particularly bothered, I think you've just made a statement that doesn't really stack up. I've no doubt that before you want you had got the impression that Courchevel had "tough" off piste skiing... I just don't think people generally have that view or where you got it from. I am sure you didn't google as above before you went. People sometimes get the wrong impression about things, it happens. Which is maybe where Candice's Instagram post came about in the first place.
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Some words and pics about “difficult” skiing in the 3V from the late Dennis Summerbell:
FAQ
Poster: A snowHead
). He picked a clear line.
