 Poster: A snowHead
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Hi All
I'm off out to Tignes on 25th. I went the same week 2 seasons ago. Now admittedly, that season was particularly poor all round snow-wise, but i really did struggle on that mashed potato consistency of snow, when it gets warm.
I can ski ok in good conditions but as soon as it gets like that it feels as if i'm on my first week on skis again. Mr. Plough - that's my name!
Are there any general things you need to do differently in these conditions? Hopefully it will not be as bad this season as 2 years ago, but it would be nice to have a better idea of what to do, just in case.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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cattlegrid_79, a bit like in heavy fresh snow - be more subtle in your balance, slow down your turns (i.e. don't try and force them), be committed, drive your weight into the turn...
A lot of the comments on here http://snowheads.com/ski-forum/viewtopic.php?t=48240 are also applicable (perhaps with minor adjustments).
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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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cattlegrid_79,
I think a bit of speed will help here in most cases but if you are hesitant about this stuff, then speed isn't going to be in your armoury, most likely.
So, therefore, do as DM says and don't force the turn... go nice and smooth and round in the turn and as controlled as you can manage.
Getting thrown off and out of shape is just inviting a hook..and a splat
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cattlegrid_79, going at reasonable speed, more evenly weighed on the skis than on normal piste - and a widish pair of skis (Missions in my case) does it for me.
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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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Cheers for your comments guys.
Unfortunately, i can't really afford (or at least justify) my own pair of skis, so I'm kind of at the liberty of the hire shop. You know how it is when you get asked that dreaded question - "what level are you?" - but i won't open that debate up again here!!!
So perhaps a little more speed is key. Previously, i did find myself catching inside edges quite a lot. Perhaps a couple more beers at lunchtime is the key and then try and keep a bit more speed, a bit more fluidity and more evenly balanced.
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cattlegrid_79, keep the skis pointed in the direction the body is moving.
Not a joke:
Pivoted turns and anything where you're muscling the skis around will either catch and trap your skis instantly or tire you out so you're injury-prone by the end of the day.
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cattlegrid_79, can you carve? If so, this kind of snow is best carved, as you cut through it. If your turns are very skidded, it is difficult, as the heavy weight of the snow will keep tripping you up. If not it may help you to get a few lessons.
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cattlegrid_79, sorry, that reference was not the one I thought I was looking for - not very helpful. 
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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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my beginner friends were out in that sort of stuff this morning, with an instructor. He told them - feet closer together, keep the skis flat. I was struggling with it too - there's one place where you have to do quite a major schuss to get across a flat bit. I headed down it, at quite a speed, only to get flung right up onto the front of my skis when I hit a very sticky patch. I didn't fall but I wrenched my legs a bit, and it was a nasty feeling. If I'd been going in anything other than a dead straight line I think I'd have had a big crash.
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| pam w wrote: |
| I didn't fall but I wrenched my legs a bit, and it was a nasty feeling. |
That's why I turn the speed down a notch when it's sticky. It may be harder work, but I rather like my knees and legs intact
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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eng_ch, yes, I agree - and I won't be schussing down that stretch again with the snow like this. This snow is certainly leg-breaking stuff if you get it wrong.
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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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pam w, soft knees and tensed -up core. Think of your center as a lemon wedge, squeeze it.
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pam w, I'm a bit surprised by the "skis flat" advice - I think it leads to the kind of episode you experienced. I try to keep the skis on edge to slice through sticky, grabby snow.
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You know it makes sense.
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comprex, doesn't always help. When we were out a couple of weeks ago, while we were sitting having a beer I saw at least half a dozen people go "over the top" when their skis just stopped in the glue suddenly. These were basically good skiers (not tense beginners/intermediates out of balance or throwing shoulders around) who were just taken by surprise when the last 200m was a nasty contrast to the good conditions above. And that was on the very first warm day of this spell of good weather
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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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Can I offer "fatter skis" as a possible assistance in gloop? Potentially more drag on the base but better ability to stay on the surface.
Better go now before a certain individual shouts nonsense and claims that he regularly skis the Pierre a Ric on his Dobermanns in mid May at 5pm 
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Poster: A snowHead
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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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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eng_ch, what I'm talking about is a fair bit beyond 'balanced stance' skiing. It involves deliberate placement of skis ahead of the CoM.
(_not_ backseating either, mind, because backseating doesn't tension the core)
v8 introduced it as a component of advanced carving tactics back here:
http://snowheads.com/ski-forum/viewtopic.php?t=18915&start=40#436418
I'm saying that, even though laundryman's advice above is worth heeding, the core squeeze to put BoS ahead of CoM can be a component of flat ski skiing tactics also.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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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 would sooner ski porridge than rock hard corduroy
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What's difficult here is getting a clear common nomenclature for the kind of snow we are talking about. That real sticky stuff is not that common - it's not just slush/porridge. It's just like glue. Might look relatively smooth and inoffensive; but you just sort of shudder to a stop - but then a metre later it's different again. The consistency is so variable that whatever tactic might work for one turn, might not work at all for the next. Impossible to get any kind of rhythm or wriggle or anything else. I don't think it's necessarily a common state of the snow; I don't recall it happening much at the end of last season - and certainly not as early as this.
laundryman, that's been my tactic too, down our home run. Ski on one edge for as long as I can hold the balance, then swap legs. I think the ski instructor I quoted above was trying to stop my friend from too energetic snow-ploughing, because the snow was building up so effectively under the wedged ski that he kept coming to a complete stop, rather than carrying some way through the slush. It was just slush at that point, by the way, not sticky stuff.
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| andyph wrote: |
Three tips:
1) wide-ish skis - 80cm underfoot |
Jeez, what are you skiing, 8x4 ply sheets?
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| pam w wrote: |
| Quote: |
I would sooner ski porridge than rock hard corduroy
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What's difficult here is getting a clear common nomenclature for the kind of snow we are talking about. That real sticky stuff is not that common - it's not just slush/porridge. It's just like glue. Might look relatively smooth and inoffensive; but you just sort of shudder to a stop - but then a metre later it's different again. . |
You're lucky. We get it through early or mid-season, if the snow guns are run wet to build base, or if the fresh gets rained on.
We even had a few quite serious injuries on it:
http://www.dcski.com/ubbthreads33/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=51710#Post51710
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| davidof wrote: |
| andyph wrote: |
Three tips:
1) wide-ish skis - 80cm underfoot |
Jeez, what are you skiing, 8x4 ply sheets? |
Fair point  Brings a whole new meaning to Bigfoot
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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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Thanks for all your help here guys.
Masque, A snowboard??? How very dare you?!?!?  Seriously, though, it's taken me long enough to get to where I am in skiing ability. There's no way i'm starting from scratch again! hehe
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| laundryman wrote: |
| I try to keep the skis on edge to slice through sticky, grabby snow. |
That's my preference as well. In soft, slushy snow you can really crank your skis over to quite absurd angles without fear of them blowing out sideways. You'll cut through the snow with little sideways motion to trip you up, and its easy to power through the lumps and bumps. Make sure your skis are well waxed (this is one of the occasions when I'll go for something other than a universal wax) and keep a lot of tension in your core to resist being pitched forward when you hit a particularly wet patch of snow.
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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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| Quote: |
that "sticky stuff" that pam describes is something else though
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it's really strange. We were out till 3 pm today, exceptionally warm, loads of slushy snow, but didn't hit any of that sticky stuff. The snow surface was rather nice to ski.
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Interesting thread this. I hit the sticky stuff three times last week in PDS,Flaine and Chamonix. Having never experienced it before it was quite a shock. Through trial and error we found that edging excessively , as other posters have pointed out , we could get through it. It ended up being enjoyable.
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You know it makes sense.
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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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Poster: A snowHead
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I blame that Hannibal bloke.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| laundryman wrote: |
| I blame that Hannibal bloke. |
Yup, he should never have taken them anywhere near the Alps.
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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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Valentin piste down in LDA about 2 hours ago was elephant snot moguls, not fun or pretty.
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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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andyph, yep, in la rosiere and go over to PDS at the weekend. Hoping for a day in Flaine too. I will ask about this magic lubricant - not sure which ski shop you mean? We normally use Berthet so could try there too, if not here, before we go.
I really wanted to have a go at some easy off piste, there is so much here and it looks great from the chairs, but then.... 
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Lou, ask for Notwax in Berthet, but if you get up to Chavannes the only rental shop up there is Ski Service who sells the other "more ecological" version. Have a lovely time. 
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andyph, Ta!
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Am I alone in thinking Notwax lasts for about 20 minutes? I was skiing warm snow a couple of weeks ago and didn't have the option to wax my skis midway through the week so stuck a bit of NotWax on them. It made a huge difference. For about 20 minutes. After that it was as if I hadn't bothered. A proper hot wax seems to last me for three or four days if the snow conditions are a bit adverse, but NotWax seems to glide off as easily as it glides on.
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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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True enough rob@rar, but not all of us have the know-how to do it properly. Notwax is just a handy quick fix, but it's idiot-proof. 
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FAQ
), easy obviously for Nick Parks 
