 Poster: A snowHead
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When I skied last year in St Anton we did a couloir (twice but with different finishes) but I don't know its name (assuming it has one).
It started at the top of the (I think) Schindler Kopfe chair lift. On getting off you immediately doubled back left beside the lift (through a gate and over a fence) ending up under the top of the lift.
It was possible to go straight on (ducking under the chairs) to do the big fields slightly to the left of the chair as you look down. But on the right there were two gulleys, the second one having a huge vertical rock wall on its left. Steep and impressive! At the bottom you could go left to a big snowfield, or right which followed more winding couloir till you could eventually rejoin the piste.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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snowball, my favourite! No idea what they are called. Have had endless fun on all the couloirs coming off the top of Schindler(gratbahn). In fact you can spend a whole day doing nothing but go up and down schindler  Recommended.
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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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I think there are 4 or them...the steepest being nearest to the lift..so turn back on yourself really...the other side has a very steep one as well IIRC.
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Wow, I'm impressed with you guys, saw someone last year doing that one and it looked ... really steep ... one guy was doing it but the other seemed to be having bottle problems. Didn;t see the consequences as we moved on but looked near vertical!
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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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stevew, it all depends on the quality of the snow. If there's nice soft snow in there then it's no problem at all, but if it's icy then I wouldn't go near them.
JT, there are a couple down the other side leading down to the Schindlerkar. Also fun, but the first one off the lift tends to get monster moguls in it!
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The one I meant can't quite be seen in Martins very good picture, but is behind the rock ridge (sheer by the couloir) which starts at the pylons at the top. You can see six tracks coming out of it. I have never seen anyone else on it but there are tracks, so there must have been people.
And of course I was wrong: the other variant doesn't come out at a piste.
stevew, yes, the best place to see it from is the chairlift, just before it enters the top station. When we did it people tended to wait till the last person was a fair way down before starting, so it might not have been a bottle problem (but bottle problems would be understandable).
stanton, I'm afraid I don't speak German but I'll take your word for it.
Last edited by After all it is free  on Mon 18-06-07 11:03; edited 3 times 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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The 4 gulleys I am talking about seem to come out where Martin B's picture shows. so you have come round completely on yourself to the front face....almost.
The furthest away gets from the lift gets the most tracks and the ones nearest the lifts get steeper and narrower with a few rock bands thrown in. As said above in soft snow they are good fun but in bad snow, you'd go a long way. The one on the right of the lift where you have to climb over the net fence...it was 7 years ago... is even steeper IIRC....!!!!!
I think a trip to St A is required...!!! 
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JT, I assume by "nearest the lift" you mean to the right in the Martin's photo.
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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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| JT wrote: |
| I think there are 4 or them...the steepest being nearest to the lift..so turn back on yourself really...the other side has a very steep one as well IIRC. |
I fell head first at the top of the steep one you mentioned about six years ago. It was probably one of the nastiest momenst I have ever had on skis. What made it potentially worse is that about fifty yards down there is a rock point which divides the couloir into two and if you were to go over that rock there is a serious drop below.
Luckily I remembered the pressup technique and although I had only read about it and never practised it, I went for it and it worked. It's surprising what you can do when adrenaline kicks in!
I only did one forward roll in the fall before doing the pressup, but because of the steepness I probably finished about twenty feet below where I fell. Luckily the snow was pretty good or else we would not have been there in the first place, but it was a reminder of what might happen.
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Hi richjp,
What are you up to this year...? after this thread, I am seriously thinking St A needs another visit
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You know it makes sense.
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| richjp wrote: |
Luckily I remembered the pressup technique and although I had only read about it and never practised it, I went for it and it worked. It's surprising what you can do when adrenaline kicks in!
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I expect you already saw my bit about saving my life with that method (the piece got reactivated a few months ago). Very well worth learning if you do steep slopes regularly. Or was it my piece in the Daily Mail Ski Magazine that you read it in? (There were accompanying photos and brief explanation of the technique).
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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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snowball,
Having followed your link I do now recollect seeing your post before, however I was aware of the technique before then. As you mentioned it was Giles Green who thought of it. Although I never skied with him, I believe I first heard of it from another Top Ski guide where Giles Green used to work at one time, or failing that I heard of it from someone who had actually skied with him. It was very sad that he died so young.
Thank you for the link though. It also illustrates what can go wrong and what you can hopefully do to get yourself out of it.
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Poster: A snowHead
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| JT wrote: |
Hi richjp,
What are you up to this year...? after this thread, I am seriously thinking St A needs another visit |
I am still in the preliminary planning stages at the moment. It's been a while since I was in St Anton as well and I see that Snoworks are going there in January.
I am also keen to revisit La Grave and Engelberg probably with the SCGB so I will wait until their programme comes out before making my mind up.
Anyway, I have my summer skiing trip to Argentina and Chile to think of first!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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I published the Daily Mail article ten years ago, with the explanation.
I think Giles Green worked for Alpine Experience. A good company though I prefer Top Ski now.
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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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snowball,
Now I think back, some friends of mine skied with Giles Green in December 1991 when I was also in Val d'Isere and I am pretty sure he was working with Top Ski then. I can be certain of the date because I had just completed the SCGB reps course the week before. I think it was some time later than that however when I first heard about his self arrest technique.
I think he then went on to work with Alpine Experience which as you probably know, was founded by Wayne Watson, who was a former guide with Top Ski guide.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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I know exactly where your talking about & the 3rd paragraph in my link describes it . Sorry its in German but thats life.
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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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richjp, you may be right. Alpine Experience was a break-away from Top Ski. I think I skied with him (and was made to practice his press-up technique) sometime in the early 90s, perhaps a couple of years after your friends, and I had my fall in 1997.
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snowball,
I have just remembered that I have a copy of Wayne Watson's book called Off Piste which I bought a couple of years ago. It begins with a two page dedication to Giles Green and gives a brief outline of his skiing career. He spent one season with Top Ski and then moved on to be one of the founding partners of Alpine Experience, where he spent three seasons before his death from a brain tumour in 1995 at the age of thirty four.
The book also gives credit to him for inventing the self arrest technique which it describes later on.
Now why did I not look that up in the first place?
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Ah, Alpine Experience's Wayne I assume - didn't realise he had written a book.
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