 Poster: A snowHead
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Am i wrong to expect relatively smooth pistes on beginners runs?
I visited two different areas of Ski Amade,Kleinarl and Alpendorf in Austria.
Every blue run was rough as hell with large moguls making it very difficult for my two daughters (both 2nd week beginners) to ski. Surely its not much to ask for the piste bashers to smooth a couple of blue runs but clearly even first thing in the morning they hadn't been touched. We have skied at La Rosiere,Les Arcs,and Sestriere previously and have never encountered this problem before or have we been spoilt?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Take your own, Alan. It's the only way. Hertz might rent you one at their airport desk.
Seriously, though, this sounds neither impressive nor sensible. One reason to groom is to maintain an even snowpack so that it lasts longer. But your argument is a justifiable reason not to return and why those resorts should get their acts together.
I began (old fart program now activated) skiing in 1959 and the early 1960s when ruts, bumps, tramlines (really nasty in a schuss) and felled humans on long wooden skis littered the slopes. The Pistenbully was a science fiction fantasy. Your kids have it easy. Just tell them that.
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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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If you want guaranteed grooming . . . go to Italy. Everywhere else it’s down to resources and competition commitments. As a darksider (and not a bulldozer) I have to profess a deep and profound loathing for ‘bumps’ but learning how to deal with them is an essential part of being safe on the hill . . . time for some lessons for the girls?
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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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By the way, alan, welcome to (the perfectly groomed) snowHeads!
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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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Just back from Ellmau and not a mogul insight much to my disgust not even on a red run in the entire Ski welt area runs chewed up a bit at the end of the day but the bashers were out from about 3.00pm each day to bash them flat through the night.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Aaaagh! Again my head up my butt, sorry alan, welcome to SnowHeads, please forgive my lack of manners.
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Stop the Brutal Grooming 
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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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Last week in LA as PG says the pisteurs often had better things to do. What they did do while the snow was falling over 3 days was just bash one half only of many of the reds. Leaving one half untouched. On pistes as wide as those in Les Arcs that seemed a good compromise. Those who wanted new snow and developing moguls could enjoy them. Of course, bashing is also needed to consolidate a good base and to repair bald patches - it's not all just to make life easy for the nervous nellies. 
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alan, welcome to snowHeads.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Thanks for all your welcomes most appreciated.
We skied Kleinarl and Alpendorf in Austria last week.We could find no suitably smooth slopes for a beginner to progress onto.
I have found when helping other beginners that its not the steepness of the slopes that is there undoing its the bumps that catch them out everytime especially in poor light conditions.
Fair enough if the bashers have more urgent priorities but didn't here of any avalanche warnings in the Salzburg area. There had been continous snow falling the previous 5 days before our arrival.
Maybe there just saving the diesel 
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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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For environmental reasons, grooming is not done (or not supposed to be done) when snowcover does not meet a minimum depth - to avoid damage to underlying vegetation and erosion of often very thin topsoil.
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David Goldsmith, I suspect that's the main reason - the bashers dig up the ground (all those stones) something horrible. We had many pistes that weren't bashed for quite a while because of this.
alan, Welcome to Snowheads. I'm afraid I'm not very sympathetic - while I like perfectly groomed pistes as much as the next person, I do think they're almost entirely responsible for too many skiers going waaayyyyyy too fast, and trying to kill me every day! When I was young (I started in 1955) they didn't exist and we didn't know any better. We learned to deal with uneven terrain in spite of ludicrously long skis and leather boots.
Wern't your kids in ski school. 2nd week kids should definitely be in lessons IMHO. 
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You know it makes sense.
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I have to vote for the moguls as well, up to a point. For me the moguls make the slope that bit more interesting to ski down. I don't like them quite so much when the slope looks like a car park full of VW beetles.
alan, as far as I know, pisting policy varies from resort to resort. Some places iron out every small bump as soon as they appear (Lech), some are notorious for not pisting very often (St Anton).
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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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If left to their own devices, moguls build up on even relatively shallow gradient pistes, and they're positively encouraged on some pistes in many resorts. 99% the time skiing is not going to involve perfectly groomed pistes, and a large part of skiing is learning to cope with that variation (otherwise you're going to miss a lot of enjoyable time on snow). Moguls are a fact of skiing, and I'm of the school that thinks skiers need to learn to cope with them. Which is not to say that they're not a complete pain in the rectum until you've developed sufficent skill. Until recently I hated bumps with a vengence. Now, with (quite) a few lessons down and even more practice, I look forward to heavily moguled purples. I'm with easiski - the girls need more lessons.
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Poster: A snowHead
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I spent a week in St Anton last year. I think saw only one pisted slope the whole time I was there. We had to contend with waist high moguls even on some blue runs. Great way to learn how to ski bumps - there was no way to avoid them!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Kramer,
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I don't like them quite so much when the slope looks like a car park full of VW beetles.
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It all depends what you have on your feet!sensible footwear
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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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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Kramer, I agree wholeheartedly with your comments, I still mainly use a pair of very stiff 210s from the jurassic age of skiing, most of the time. I find the moguls these days are more closely spaced than they used to be.
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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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Hinterglemm in Austria knows how to bash its pistes - this was even before the lifts closed one snowy day.
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