 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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Serfaus last year. There'd been a fair bit of snow overnight, got up early and there was some magic skiing on pistes that had been bashed the previous evening with then a couple of foot of fresh light snow on top. And we were among the first on them. On one piste we were the first. Absolutely lovely 
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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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On the Mannlichen, Wengen in '93. Knee deep powder on piste and the place completely deserted. We were able to 8 our own tracks all day.
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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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Early season at Loveland, CO - big storm, so big that I-70 was closed both ways pretty much right behind me. Less than 50 cars in the parking lot, one lift run by the ski school director since no one could get to work. Lapped the lift all day with fresh tracks every 2 or 3 runs as it was snowing so much for the first couple of hours. It changed my life since I was all set to get a real job, but went back to instructing instead!
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pollittcl,  Lucky you.
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| Quote: |
This meant an untouched powder field.
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no it didn,t! It meant a nice pisted base with some "hero powder" on the top. That,s what I like too - much easier than the real powder fields. 
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Whiteout in the Grand Massif on 10 February '09. Wind was strong enough to close the links from the other resorts and all the top lifts from Flaine. We drove there from the Giffre valley, took the Tete des Verds chairlift half way up, did a little climbing and skied what was usually a red run, but in pristine fresh powder. Difficult to tell which red run it was as there was so much snow about, plus visibility wasn't great. However it was my wife's first experience of really deep powder (which she took to like a duck to water) - what an amazing day.
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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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mfj197, since I utterly loathe not being able to see, skiing in a whiteout is not my idea of heaven!
For me the perfect run means OK conditions underfoot ie no ice or rocks, sunshine, beautiful views and a really long run with nobody on it. I can think of several examples, the best was skiing down into the fourth valley from the Cime de Caron (Val Thorens) and a close second best was Mont Vallon (Meribel). But this is from the point of view of a piste skier - off-piste skiers will have many, many examples of ski heaven, I'm sure.
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Kicking Horse 08 powder day, lapped the gondola skiing fast deeep powder.
Nevis Range (April) 08, fresh snow overnight making for a day of hero snow.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| Hurtle wrote: |
mfj197, since I utterly loathe not being able to see, skiing in a whiteout is not my idea of heaven!
For me the perfect run means OK conditions underfoot ie no ice or rocks, sunshine, beautiful views and a really long run with nobody on it. I can think of several examples, the best was skiing down into the fourth valley from the Cime de Caron (Val Thorens) and a close second best was Mont Vallon (Meribel). But this is from the point of view of a piste skier - off-piste skiers will have many, many examples of ski heaven, I'm sure. |
True, true. But the experience of flying in the deep snow plus the progress Mrsmfj197 made, combined with the fun and laughter when the odd inevitable mishap occurred, made it an epic day for us. I still grin thinking about it.
Many wonderful memories on piste too.
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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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1) La Rosiere, Easter 08, Howling gales, total white out, the main lift out of La Ros closed. It seemed like the Ecudets lift was open but not served by any lift. We caught a drag lift up, skied down to Les Eucherts, caught the Eucherts Expressn up in horrendous conditions. We then turned left off thetop and knew if we kept to the right edge at all times that we would possibly connect up with the enterance to the Ecudets area. The snow was often bottomless, the wind howling and the viz non existant, we were just about to give up when we virtually skied into the direction sign. As soon as we got to the top of the Fonatine Froid run the wind dropped due to the shelter and the viz improved a bit. Fontaine Froid is superb but on this day it was covered in 12-18 inches of untouched powder. We were 6 kids and 6 adults, we dropped another 100m and fell below the cloud line. We hollered and whooped for 2 hrs before collapsing into the hut at the bottom. We managed to trash every inch of the powder and saw 3 other folks all morning
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You know it makes sense.
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pam w,
Very similar to my " hero off piste " just to the right of the red poles.
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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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2) Radstadt - 12 march 09. Heavy snow and poor viz every day, caught the first lift up on the morning, 30-40 cm of fresh powder snow on a bashed base. We did one run and then got the lift up to tackle the red. We hugged the piste edge and trees to get some viz and then suddenly the cloud broke. Perfect snow, perfect pitch (for our ability) with each gentle, bouncing turn, slowing us just enough to stay in control, the rythym was so good and the buzz so deep, that we skied top to bottom without stopping (amazing for our group). The cheezy grins and hyperness (?) on the ride back up was special.
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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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Pyrenees last April: It'd been snowing all week when 3 of us turned up on the last sturday of the season.
Low clouds, snow and wind all morning so the resort was mostly deserted or quiet and the snow on the pistes was already great.
Then early afternoon we decided to take that piste going down the back and round the mountain. 5 minutes in , the sun broke out, a big pocket of blue sky appeared and we found ourselves in bright sunshine , completely alone, away from the noise of the lifts..and with a piste covered in powder with absolutely no tracks whatsoever!!
10 mins of heaven ensued with only the swoosh of the boards on the snow for company..
Those 10 mins completely negated the hours of near whiteout surffered up to then..
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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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This was a very special day for me:
We skied fresh tracks all day. Massive quantities of light snow, skiing with a great bunch of people, and being pushed beyond what I thought was my limit by a charismatic instructor. Priceless. For everything else there's Mastercard...
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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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rob@rar,
When was that? 1932? That photo has a real antique quality to it! 
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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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Kruisler,  Apologies for the quality, it's a bad capture from video
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Did a thing called "First Tracks" in La Plagne last Jan. Not amazing snow but up in the lift around 7.00 ish as the sun came up; swift coffee and bite in the lifty cabin at the top followed by half a dozen or so runs before the lifts opened for everyone else. Very chilled.
Also had a fantastic day up in Avoriaz with two mates prior to the start of the season around 3 years ago (I seem to remember I may have snuck out of our resort staff training course for "important meetings"). It was like being at a theme park closed for a private party - brilliant day; we can't have seen more than a dozen other people.
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Final day of my only trip to Utah in 1996. It had been snowing for three days, SLC airport was closed, only the UTA buses were getting up Little Cottonwood Canyon. After I got up to Alta they closed the road for avalanche clearing so there were hardly any other skiers. I just did laps on one chair, by the time I got back up to the top each time my tracks had been filled in by new snow.
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I take so much pleasure in just riding a chairlift, the mountains are so beautiful. The air's so fresh and the snow all glistening. Heaven.
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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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I seem to have a much better memory for lousy weather, hair-raising situations, etc - grim at the time, but which I somehow remember fondly after a while. I guess the perfect pistes and (rarer for me) fluffy powder contribute to general rather specific memory.
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70cm of blower pow, and catching Currie Powder opening with two friends. Don't think I'll ever beat that memory.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Waiting for 3 hours in the lift line for Whistler's Harmony lift after a 4 day storm, first chair, clip in and straight down Sun Bowl 1000 ft+ powder elevator ride. Most bottomless experience ever - did't feel like real snowbording.
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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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This was a really nice half-day...
I was on family hols with my son and parents but joined a group for a descent of Grand Sablat at Alpe d'Huez...
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This whole day was pretty cool but this particular little pitch especially so
you went over this little roll-over and it got quite steep but also really deep. This was at the Whistler Cat Skiing a couple of years ago
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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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La Grave, not particularly great snow or anything. It was just a great day with a great group, it really wasn't that busy and a real sense of achievement.
Jackson Hole, having skied for a week without seeing the sky, it cleared up for the afternoon. After a week of skiing what you couldn't ski, when you had good vis. confidence went through the roof (not enough to do Corbet's though !)
Same holiday, trip to Grand Targhee, great snow, great group I was with. Lot's of little adventures. A really great area for a relatively small ski one. One of the best days skiing of my life.
Kicking Horse, just me and a mate lapping Stairway to Heaven coming back along the ridges then dropping down to go through the little patch of trees immediately above the lift.
Sunshine, the day the lifts didn't run initially because of the wind. Had a lazy breakfast chewing the fat and then when the lifts finally opened 7 of us egging each other on. A day when one of our group climbed part way up the mtn to replace the Mind the Cliffs sign he just boarded through. and when I fell over, everyone managed to spray me with snow before I could get up. Brilliant.
I guess it's as much about the camaraderie for me.
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Poster: A snowHead
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We have had our heaven a few times since moving to Calgary and hope to get some more heaven this season.
Heavens since we have been:
Kicking Horse - powder bowl
Silver star - fresh pow glades
Big White - fresh pow everywhere
Fernie - fresh minor pow but first with kids
I never thought we would get so much deep stuff here. Having to invest in another pair of skis this season because of it.
Have had great ski heaven days in Europe. Most memorable was probably a very large dump when we skied Megeve from St Gervais. Amazing snow, nobody skiing it, too not sunny for the usual megeve types.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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1st tracks on the Cosmiques with 50+ cms of fresh, followed by the Glacier Ronde, followed by the Col du Plan (Grand Enver du Plan).
Doesn't get much better than the trilogy with 1st tracks on the cosmiques to start off with.
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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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Awaiting the easter/apres easter dumps in Chatel and tracking out Pre La Joux with barely anyone riding it!
My kinda day is up into La Leiche (Linga) do it a couple of times plenty of fresh then over the Chaux des Rosees (PLJ) find the dodgier enterances for the fresh. Then top the day off with some hiking along either ridge line for more fresh...just fresh fresh fresh. Though I dont mind a nice morning groomer with nobody on it!
Damn im excited to go skiing now!
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Arabba March 2008. Woke up on our third day there to a massive dump which had fallen overnight, and as luck would have it we had an off-piste lesson that day. Spent a very happy two hours falling over in almost waist deep fluffy stuff, both on piste and off piste. Was very knackered afterwards but my other half then suggested we attempt the Sella Ronda before calling it a day. Classic idea, slept very well that night!
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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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I think last season has all the highlights of all of my skiing/boarding years. From New Year to April, everywhere we went we had huge dumps overnight and powder fields the next day.
Andorra at the end of March was probably the best. We boarded the afternoon of arrival and then it snowed for 36 hours dumping over a metre of snow. Being so late in the season, the resort was empty and it felt like we had it all to ourselves. The off piste was chest deep, the best I have ever been through.
Tour/Vallorcine after a massive dump, -16degC not a cloud in the sky, was probably the finest champagne powder I have ever experienced.
La Plagne suffered from dense low cloud at Les Coche but once you got up above Arpette you were boarding on a pointed island floating on a sea of cloud. Incredible.
If 2010 is half as good as 2009 it will still be amazing.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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DaveC, déja vu. It was about my 4th run in Fernie with PhotoTim in Dec 2008 when we got to the top of White Pass to find about 50 people gathered behind the tape. As we skied up to the tape Currie Bowl was opened after a night and a bit of snow. I'd never managed first tracks in snow that deep before and the atmosphere was awesome
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