 Poster: A snowHead
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I was in Montgenevre 2 years ago, skiing alone.
I decieded to try the long piste on the other side of the road to the main bowl/pistes.
Clambered on to a 2 man chair in good visability and as the chair went up it got worse until I could not see the next chair above me.
At the top it was deserted and the visibility was nil, i'd never skied the piste before and could not tell whether to go left or right to find the run. It was about half past two so I thought i'd wait for things to clear. It wasn't snowing, just cloud/fog. After 1/2 an hour there was no change so I decieded to soldier on, it must have took another 20 mins to find a piste marker although i didn't know whether it was left or right. I shuffled right and it was clear that this was off piste so I shuffled over the other side to find the other piste marker.
All the time I did not see another person, I tried to quicken as I guess I was about 2800m and at the speed I was traversing It would have taken forever to get down, I then fell, away from the slope and jarred my shoulder (which still hurts to this day) I was totally disorientated and now rather scared.
I found my ski's and moved on and after a few minutes and a slight drop in altitude it suddenly cleared and within another few minutes I was in bright sunshine.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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up4it, I can recall being siimilarly disorientated in complete whiteout conditions, in my case I was lucky as I knew the area very well and had a pretty good idea as to where I was and where to go, none the less it was still scary as I knew that if I missed the piste I could go over a small but noticeable cliff, when I eventually got into better visability I found that run that would normally have taken perhaps 3 minutes had taken over half an hour 
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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 do find my goggles offer much better visibility in difficult conditions than my sunnies, and I generally try to carry both...
I tend to stay very near to the piste markers when it's really cloudy, and like you I go very slowly...
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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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Similar experience in Serre Chevalier last April, on a piste I have skied dozens of times.
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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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| Quote: |
I do find my goggles offer much better visibility in difficult conditions than my sunnies
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They do, but when it's a real white out you can't see anything, no matter how good your goggles. You're practically on top of a piste marker before you see it, and you've certainly no chance of seeing the next one. I think, in a strange area at that altitude, if I'd got to the top and couldn't see the chair in front of me, and was on my own, I'd stay on the chair and go back down again! Genuine white outs are thankfully very unusual, at least at the sort of altitude I normally ski at. I've only had one real white out experience in 6 seasons. Lots of crap vis, which is not the same thing at all. If you can see two or three piste markers, it's not a white out.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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pam w,
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If you can see two or three piste markers, it's not a white out.
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Quite correct, my definition of a white out is that you can't see beyond the tips of your skis with any clarity, or in piste marker terms you can't see the one beyond or behind the one you are standing by
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We were in a white out, came off the lift at the top of the mountain. The piste dropped away from the ridge running along the top. We followed the ridge, completely missed the piste entrance an ended up accidentally following a track the piste basher had made into a complete dead end. Made us laugh when we turned around and realised about 5 other people had followed us 
You know its a real white out when you can't see the next piste marker and aren't sure if you're on the right side of the one you can see.
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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 bravery of the rescuers is extradionary
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| thefatcontroller wrote: |
| The bravery of the rescuers is extradionary |
Yup, I'll drink to that (from my safe, warm 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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Only ever experienced one real white out (low cloud and snow). In Tignes, on a blue (thankfully) above Val Claret IIRC. Really had no idea about up or down. You could hear muffled noises from other skiers on what was a fairly quiet piste and no definition of anything at all beyond about a metre. In spite of being aware of the fall-line, it was very disorientating and maintaining balance in relation to the slope was extremely challenging. I was quite relieved to get down, but found the experience instructive. That's the only positive though.
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Here's a real-life scary story from a 21-year-old, skiing near Chamonix, posted up by the Belfast Newsletter today:
Skier has lucky escape from remote mountain
An outstanding job done by the local rescue services, it would seem [note that the article runs over two pages]
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You know it makes sense.
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David Goldsmith, Easily done that side of the Vallorcine bowls. It always amazes me that people will ski off piste without knowing where their "outs" are.
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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've had the same thing happen to me in St.Anton at the top of Galzig. Wanted to get from the top of the Zammermoos chair to the Schindler chair in zero viz. And ended up on the off piste run down to St.Christoph, which does also have cliffs n'stuff to fall off. My wife was with me at the time. Both of us had skied in St.A many many times before but even so didn't even notice that we had gone wrong until it was far too late to turn back.
Easily done!
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Poster: A snowHead
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Remember... a proper whiteout is conditions where you appear to be encased in a sphere with the colour of the sky matching the ground and no clear delineation between them. There is a massive difference between this and simple poor visibility.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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In Switzerland, the piste marker to the left as you ski down has a small strip of orange at the top. The one on the right has a very large strip of orange.....therefore it is easy to tell which side the piste is. Do other countries adopt this technique?
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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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Elizabeth B, Italy has the same system. In France, the poles on the right have a small strip of orange tape, the poles on the left have none.
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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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stevomcd, wish I'd known that a few years ago 
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