 Poster: A snowHead
|
Frosty the Snowman,
| Quote: |
FUnniest was black 3 down to La Thuile. A nice start to the run, but around the 2nd bend and OMG
|
Hmm, yes, this piste also left an indelbile impression on me. Especially when an 8yr old we were skiing with made it look easy and the two adults didn't. My middle son fell about 2/3 of the way down the first steep bit and got a jacket-full of snow. Luckily there was a bit of a run-off to stop him.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
|
Frosty the Snowman,
| Quote: |
Kamikaze in La Plagne
|
Yep a thoroughly good example of conditions making or breaking a piste, We looked at the top of that in the Summer and bl**dy hell is it steep 
|
|
|
|
|
|
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?
|
The worst moments for me last year were the 4 o'clock run down to Montier in SC with so many out of control people... and by the same token when one of the many zillions hit me in La Plagne... I'd just passed her when she zeroed onto me..and I thought I had picked my moment because she was not in control at all... and then BAM..!!!
So, it isn't the piste, it is the people on them...
Worst worst moment last year was when we topped out on a cliff in Andermatt... we were following the SKGB....!!!!!! that took some cowboy tactics to get down that without a rope... hence I carry a small one now..
|
|
|
|
|
|
You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
|
Grand Colour in Courchevel not sure which was worse the ridge or the bumps 
|
|
|
|
|
|
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
|
|
Slipping whilst crossing the Arrete into the Vallee Blache in poor conditions made for a quick flicker in the ticker for me....
|
|
|
|
|
|
You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
|
Technically probably Emile Allias (next to the Grand Couloir) whilst it was still a piste. I saw someone slide further down that than I'd ever belived possible, ragdolling off the bumps all the way.
The Streif in Kitz was 'interesting' last year though - not quite skiing in the accepted sense of the term, given that it alternated between huge moguls and bald grass on the steeper pitches. I was somewhat off WC pace on that run.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Quote: |
FUnniest was black 3 down to La Thuile. A nice start to the run, but around the 2nd bend and OMG
Hmm, yes, this piste also left an indelbile impression on me. Especially when an 8yr old we were skiing with made it look easy and the two adults didn't. My middle son fell about 2/3 of the way down the first steep bit and got a jacket-full of snow. Luckily there was a bit of a run-off to stop him.
|
Black 3 for me too. An overly macho instructor took us down there - I managed one terrified turn and finished the rest head first, on my back. Next in the group did the same, but the instructor tried to catch her as she slid face first too. We were all delighted to see she took him out as she went 
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| horizon wrote: |
This was nice:
(looks harder than it was, though) |
Surely not a piste though????
|
|
|
|
|
|
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.
|
The hardest piste I've ever got down was Belle Plagne, from the village of the same name to Plagne Bellecote. I fell at least 20 times.
Mind you, it was the first time I'd ever been on skis.
Things have improved considerably since then!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
|
|
TallTone, it's a sod of a piste when you're a new skier. Often crowded too, and full of other nervous people.
|
|
|
|
|
|
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.
|
|
Paint Brush - Jackson Hole. Big moguls and very steep.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I find at moments like these, odd as it sounds, gripping your poles harder actually DOES help 
|
|
|
|
|
|
You know it makes sense.
|
| Quote: |
think it was kryptonite
|
that's about the only thing that does for me as well.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
|
|
|
|
Poster: A snowHead
|
|
Oh God Wengen even when the conditions were very good.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
|
There is also a short black piste at argentierre called (I think) Roumasz? Anyway on the day we skied it 3 of us fell lots and so rechristened it "ruin your ar*e". 
|
|
|
|
|
|
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?
|
My worst moment was about thirty years ago on a black run above Val Gardena. Looking on the online piste map it may be the run below Sassolungo or perhaps further up the valley on the same right hand side around Sella Joch.
At the time I did it, you went up in a stand up two man run and jump on open bucket lift. I went back to the area for the first time walking a couple of summers ago and now there is a stand up enclosed two man cabin. I am not sure if there is still a piste marked there in winter. Somehow I doubt it. The lift may just be for summer walkers or people with guides in winter.
My companions had all had enough for the day but I was up for a bit more, partly because I doubt if we had come across many blacks that week so far in the area.
So up I went. Early intermediate skier, on my own, two metre skis, late in the day, steep, north facing and icy. As soon as I started down I realised I was out of my depth. The moguls at the top were enormous. It was when I went back a couple of summers ago that I realised why. The moguls at the top were not entirely natural and were formed over some huge boulders underneath rather like rocky outcrops.
Well I survived unharmed but it took a while to get down and I hope I learnt a lesson from that.
|
|
|
|
|
|
You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
|
|
richjp, I went up the two man jump in enclosed bucket lift two years ago as part of a walking holiday in the Dolimites. We walked down the other side from the lift and it was a long steep walk with as you say lots of big boulders. Iwent back to the area on a ski hol last year and the lift was not working so i think it is just a summer walking lift which may open perhaps for guided parties in the winter.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
|
| horizon wrote: |
This was nice:
(looks harder than it was, though) |
Horizon - that's off-piste - not what the thread is about.
Edit: Sorry kitenski, didn't look at the second page - and you were right (I was there)
|
|
|
|
|
|
You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
|
|
The top of Couloir Extreme at Blackcomb is about the steepest bit of piste I can think of. I doubt if that ever gets groomed. But you can miss most of the really steep bit and join further down if you want. In Europe it would probably be off-piste.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
"The Wall" in PDS was mine as well I think. Stood at the top for a while on 2 trips before getting the chicken lift down. On my last visit there I had mentally prepard to go down it no matter what I was thinking when I stood at the top. The enormous moguls were semi-hard, not as icey as I have seen them but I literally fell off the first 3 rows which were Vee Dub sized. After that it wasn't as bad as I expected but my mogul skiing is at best weak so it was not the most stylish descent I've ever made - and my wife beat me easily on the lift! Biggest disappointment was the Abba lady's kiosk at the bottom was closed when I got there!
The Ladies Downhill at Lake Louise also presented a challenge. There's a ridge, which the ladies abviously fly over but we had stopped just before it. As the rest of my group crested it I was surprised by how fast they were disappearing once past it. When I took my turn, I shot across 20 meters of blue ice and joined the rest of the party in a pile at the other side of it!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Helen Beaumont, TallTone,
Busy and very icy. Surprising how easy it becomes but for the nervous skier it can be terrifying. 
|
|
|
|
|
|
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.
|
|
Frosty the Snowman,Once I was in a similar situation( left my goggles at the chalet) in La Thuile and the weather went horrible. To get the lift back to France we had to go all the way down Belvedere(pretty steep black) in zero visibility, and did shout a lot. Never plan to them behind again!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
|
The most feared I’ve been was aged 11 when I was just progressing from snowplough turns and learning swing turns. I continued past the end of the ciste bowl and down the West Wall at Cairngorm.
It's just an average Black but I still remember it 20 years later 
|
|
|
|
|
|
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.
|
| Quote: |
my question is, exactly how hard was that run?
|
skiben. Most of it is OK really, its just that after the aforementioned bend, everything drops away quite sickeningly for a couple of hundred metres or so, then into a sharp left bend. Or into the netting if you don't make it. Apparantly it was used as a training run for the 2006 winter olympics.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| ajpaul wrote: |
| Quote: |
my question is, exactly how hard was that run?
|
skiben. Most of it is OK really, its just that after the aforementioned bend, everything drops away quite sickeningly for a couple of hundred metres or so, then into a sharp left bend. Or into the netting if you don't make it. Apparantly it was used as a training run for the 2006 winter olympics. |
how do you take it on as an advanced skier?
|
|
|
|
|
|
You know it makes sense.
|
| NickB wrote: |
One of the worst times I ever had on a piste was doing the Silene in Tignes when the moguls were about a meter high. It was baking hot and I was knackered. My son, then just turned 10, shot down it in no time and was shouting up at me to 'hurry up Dad!' whilst the people in the chairlift passing nearby were looking down with amusement at the chump below climbing back up to retrieve a lost ski, only to climb back down to re-retrieve it after losing it again within 30 seconds.
|
That was my first black! In very similar conditions.... Swiftly followed by my first off-piste, as I attempted to find a way to avoid at least part of the run 
|
|
|
|
|
|
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
|
|
I couldn't remember a run called Silene so I checked the map on line. Political correctness has struck it used to be called Cocaine.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Poster: A snowHead
|
|
Mine has to be Isolee in Serre Chevalier, following a fantastic view whilst schuching along a ridge then a steepish decent - I remeber the exact words of my mate 'you aint seen anything yet' when we came across the next stage which can only be described as a steep couloir with rocks on either side - I got down it but it wasnt pretty. Later in the day when we were riding one of the lifts back home we could see someone being scrapped up by the blood wagon which made us realise what we had just done
|
|
|
|
|
|
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
|
|
|
|
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?
|
|
I can't seem to link it but run 3 on the la thuile website looks distinctly tame on the photo....why does it get scary?
|
|
|
|
|
|
You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
|
|
kwakazx6r, a lovely run in the right conditions though.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
|
Helen Beaumont,
Looking to come back this year 26th Jan - hopefully conditions will be good the 
|
|
|
|
|
|
You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
|
|
ollski, some bits are lovely, but some bits very steep and prone to icing.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Mont Fort in Verbier last April - first time was OK, though icy as hell (and not keen on the narrow entrance), but as I was stood at the bottom of the moguls feeling chuffed, bloke in t-shirt shot past on his back, coming down from the top of the field. I caught him, but he'd lost about 2-3 square feet of skin. So the second time I tried it was awful - having seen the potential damage, I was absolutely terrified. Also Diamant Noir in Flaine in 2003 - one of those where you lean over the edge to have a look, and then lean out another 20 degrees cos you can't see the top of the piste. That was the first time I'd ever seen a piste with a gradient warning!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Under the Nassereinbahn at the end of the day - usually ice & big moguls, with a million guys racing down for their first beer, skiing well beyond their capabilities. The choke-point just below the Rodelbahn Hutte is deadly.
|
|
|
|
|
|
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.
|
Can't remember the name of the piste but it was an icey red coming into Montalbert.. All I recall is being face-down and sliding about 100m desparately trying to get a grip with my board but knowing it just wasn't going to happen. Probably looked hilarious to anyone watching!
So for me, ice is the hardest substance on which to descend any slope be it flat or steep.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I heard the 'hardest' pistes are found in Milton Keynes and Castleford?
The most unpleasant piste experience for me was last year, the run back down in to Zermatt having only just learnt to telemark. Not very wide, very crowded and very icy.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
FAQ
