 Poster: A snowHead
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It appears that Google is not my friend!!
I have searched for the route of the downhill at meribel and have not been able to find it, including on the FIS web site. Does anyone have a marked piste map showing the route? Or a link to where it is posted.. I can’t believe it’s not available somewhere. Thanks.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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The ladies' DH course is the Roc de Fer run in Meribel. The mens' is the new Eclipse piste (ex Jockeys) over in Le Praz.
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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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@franga, thanks, I have skied the area a few times but not familiar with either routes although have found them on a piste map. Haven’t seen the ladies race but surprised that the piste map shows Roc de Fer as a blue run. Just shows a piste doesn’t have to be black to be challenging.
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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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@MogulMonkey, are you keen to try the mens DH jump at speed? Looks rather challenging.
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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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| MogulMonkey wrote: |
| @franga, thanks, I have skied the area a few times but not familiar with either routes although have found them on a piste map. Haven’t seen the ladies race but surprised that the piste map shows Roc de Fer as a blue run. Just shows a piste doesn’t have to be black to be challenging. |
Isn’t this because these remodelled pistes take a more direct route, with much steeper gradients than the punters blue run?
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| franga wrote: |
| The ladies' DH course is the Roc de Fer run in Meribel. The mens' is the new Eclipse piste (ex Jockeys) over in Le Praz. |
According to her recent Facebook post Chemmy Alcott skied the ladies DH course on Roc de Fer with a helmet cam and rear facing camera on the front of her skis for this afternoon's Ski Sunday coverage. Should be worth watching.
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| ster wrote: |
| @MogulMonkey, are you keen to try the mens DH jump at speed? Looks rather challenging. |
Some of the guys this morning were flying over 50mts, so my answer is a resounding NO.. 
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| Alastair Pink wrote: |
According to her recent Facebook post Chemmy Alcott skied the ladies DH course on Roc de Fer with a helmet cam and rear facing camera on the front of her skis for this afternoon's Ski Sunday coverage. Should be worth watching. |
It's on Iplayer here https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/av/winter-sports/64595117
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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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| MogulMonkey wrote: |
| @franga, thanks, I have skied the area a few times but not familiar with either routes although have found them on a piste map. Haven’t seen the ladies race but surprised that the piste map shows Roc de Fer as a blue run. Just shows a piste doesn’t have to be black to be challenging. |
There's a bit of punter marketing going on with the Roc de Fer run. It was created/renamed for the 2015 World Cup Finals in Meribel and is the amalgamation of the old Grand Duc blue run and the black Stade run.
The start gate on Roc de Fer is higher than the normal piste to increase speed and the first section (the old Grand Duc) is the gliding section of the downhill course - that's the part that punters have access to. Once you go below the Cherferie lift, punters join the Gelinotte blue instead whilst the racers go straight over onto the technical section of Roc de Fer which is in fact the old Stade run. It's extremely rare for the Stade part to be accessible to non-racers. If you graded Roc de Fer on average gradient over its full length, it would probably be red but it's blue on the map so as not to scare normal punters off by only having black and red runs off the Olympic lift back to Meribel, and because they can only usually access the blue part of it anyway.
The Eclipse is also an amalgamation. The start section runs parallel to the red Bouc Blanc run with the same gradient before briefly crossing over it onto the old black Jockeys run. It's not all of Jockeys though, they cut a whole new section out of the trees so that it lines up more or less vertically with the bottom steep section of the Murettes red. The original Jockeys joined Murettes much further over on the flat section near the ski jump at right angles, a racer would never have been able to make the turn.
Both runs are fully marked on the 2023 piste map https://www.les3vallees.com/en/guide/the-world-s-largest-ski-area/ski-area-map
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Are the ladies not using pretty much the same course as was used for the 1992 Olympics?
I'm sure it used to be a red on the piste maps.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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i always thought the ladies downhill from 92 started on the face, the black run accessed from the top of the olympic chair, it was one of my faves in meribel as it was barely skied on.
there used to be olympic 1 and 2 chair, but the old olympic 1 and the other old chair from chaudanne (name escapes me at the moment) have been replaced by legends chair, which you now need to get pick up olympic chair
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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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@terrygasson, +1 that's my recollection. I skied down it in march 91 or 92 while in a bump lesson. The instructor chose it because the bumps were so big they had bumps on them 
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