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Your first black run!

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
The Leisse in Tignes in March. Short steep and ungroomed. The wasn't a flat patch of snow on it. Practically walked down. They bashed it that night and the next day it felt like a sweet wide red.
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Quote:

I picked up 3 girls on a ski lift. They were all doctors, two were very good skiers, and then tempted me down a black called Ecureil (though I think it is sometimes red).

if one chap meets 3 girls on a chairlift, and they invite him to ski a black run with them, who is picking up whom, I ask myself. Or indeed, is anybody picking up anybody? Laughing
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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?
pam w, I think it depends on who falls on the black run, as to who is picking up whom up.
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Not done a black, nor ever likely to! Done two dinky sections of red in Les Arcs/Vallandry, but was in such a panic I don't remember too much about them! Would quite like to go back and have another go, especially the red(s) that the long green (officially blue) path Le Foret snakes back and forth across, as you can do a little bit of the red and but know you can wuss out at the next intersection if you want! Am off to Alpe D'Huez 30th Jan. I can make one absolute prediction - me and
that there tunnel will not be making our acquaintance Shocked
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Happenned at the EoSB bash in 2006 for me, I was just too nervous to attempt one and had to be coaxed into it, I loved every second of it once I got going and realised how much I underestimated my own Skiing ability! snowHead

Been skiing down blacks with confidence ever since, my next target... Off Piste! Cool
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Butterfly, never say never.
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Am I missing something on that tunnel video?
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
Butterfly,
Quote:

that there tunnel
<<<shudder>>> don't remind me! Skullie
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I'd love a go on that Tunnel. I was a rank beginner when I went to AdH and stuck 90%+ to the greens (for shame) but these days I'll throw myself down pretty much anything if I think there's a chance of £250 from You've Been Framed.
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paulio, well, I didn't exactly throw myself down it, but the net effect was the same as if I had done so. Shocked My most spectacular and never-ending - but luckily completely injury-free - fall.
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papasmurf wrote:
Am I missing something on that tunnel video?


What are you expecting to see?
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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.
I'm not sure.. a reason why theres so many skiers bricking it in the one place that doesn't even look that bad..it doesn't match
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So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
alex_heney wrote:
papasmurf wrote:
Am I missing something on that tunnel video?


What are you expecting to see?


Soz... a tunnel???

Must admit, think I'm missing something too.. just people making little bumps bigger??
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
There's a tunnel you have to walk through before you get to it. And the run, which is actually quite steep at the top, can be covered in ice-coated, concrete, car-sized moguls. The video doesn't do it justice except to the extent that it is usually (so I hear - and certainly was the day I did it) completely covered in muppets who have no business being anywhere near it. Including me. Embarassed achilles has also admitted to finding this run testing and he's a very good and gnarly skier, I believe.
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Quote:

ALWAYS do it ONLY on a day that's got some soft snow.


Very sound advice. I remember skiing a black run somewhere near La Tania. Only really had one steep pitch. First run of the day after some snow overnight it was beautiful. It was so good we went round to do it again. Big mistake. The whole world, sorry if it was you wink seemed to have skiied it in that 30 mins and it was a sheet of ice.
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
It looks pretty horrible to me - made a lot worse by such a lot of people who obviously aren't up to it. I'm not saying I am - but why do people go and ski stuff so far above their level? For every skier doing a run like that well, under control, there are 25 nitwits.

I did Leisse with my son - a bit worried as he'd warned me it was quite difficult. But it had been pisted since the last time he'd done it and the moguls were small and manageable - even by me - though I did slowly slowly and he shot off like a rocket and waited patiently at the bottom.
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
pam w, I thought I was up to it (having done steepish, mogulled, black runs before - and since) but probably wasn't. Trouble is, there are no bail-out possibilities: once you're at the top of that run, there's no other way except down it.
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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?
Hurtle wrote:
There's a tunnel you have to walk through before you get to it. And the run, which is actually quite steep at the top, can be covered in ice-coated, concrete, car-sized moguls. The video doesn't do it justice except to the extent that it is usually (so I hear - and certainly was the day I did it) completely covered in muppets who have no business being anywhere near it. Including me. Embarassed achilles has also admitted to finding this run testing and he's a very good and gnarly skier, I believe.


Thanks for the clarification RE Expected to see a..... 'tunnel'.

Yes, TBF gradient is difficult to 'catch' on camera, I've pictures of 45degree gullies that look tame in the pic. I suspected this is a lot steeper than it looks.
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Hurtle, Similarly, I led sig. other to the top of Tortin* in Verbier on I think her fourth day on skis, and then thought better of it. Along a horrid little narrow path.

Walking back up that was both knackering, and embarassing. Smile

*I think it was Tortin. Some bloody awful itineraire made of snow-covered VW Beetles anyway.
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
As on first page of this post my first black run was 'Bosses', off the top of the Derby at Les Arcs, normally a mogul field, just found another pic to show how 'things can change'.

This is 'Bosses' too...
http://www.sleepycats.co.uk/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=853
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Trouble with pictures is they ALWAYS seem to make slopes look a darned sight tamer than reality!
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Don't remember my first black run as I was just a mite - suspect I wasn't scared coz you're not at that age. Do remember bursting into tears on 3000 in Val d'Isere aged about 11 though. Dad was pi***d off as he coaxed me down but the moguls were about twice my height so I had an excuse... Still not a huge fan of moguls though I can ski them competenly these days...

queen bodecia The La Thuile blacks aren't that extreme and all the home runs are groomed daily - so no moguls though they can get hard packed. There is a nasty pitch at the bottom black 5 but if you stick to the right it is gentler. The top entry to black 3 (with the picture of the local ski hero) goes over a natural spring before making a hard left - this can be blue-ice hard so look out (though there is netting to catch you should you slide).

The black off Chaz Dura (#9a) is fairly constant gradient though no steeper than some French reds. It can get mogulled but Italians don't like moguls so think it gets pisted intermittently. It's also fairly easy to traverse out to the reds either side.

The blacks down Piccolo San Bernardo pass are generally steep and smooth but with better snow than on the front side of the mountain - ideal ones to get started on.

On the La Rosiere side the blacks are similar and I think it's only 24 and the upper reaches of 33 they let get mogulled.
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
allanm, oooh, lovely...
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under a new name, He he, lovely fresh powder, the girl in the middle.... this was her 30 secs later
You'd have been hard pushed to hurt yourself Very Happy Very Happy Very Happy
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I friend of mine took me down a black on my 9th day of skiing. Think it was her idea of revenge after our late night stop out and waking the girls on the early hours return. I did fall on it and didn't manage to produce any sort of style. Ended that week having lessons on black moguls, as long as you don't mind falling over it's great fun.
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Butterfly wrote:
Trouble with pictures is they ALWAYS seem to make slopes look a darned sight tamer than reality!
Yup - you look at a picture or video and you think, "Hmm - that looks a bit tricky" - You stand at the top of the actual run where the moguls are now bigger than most mountains back home and you think, "I'm going to die!"
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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.
agw, butterfly, disagree. On gentler slopes they may look easier, on steeper slopes they look harder. No idea at what angle the difference kicks in.
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 So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
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We did Le Face last yr in Val d isere. I say we - Mrs griffin Skiied it on her derier after falling many times. I ended up skiing with her ski's as she slid the rest!! Behind every woman is a man picking up the pieces!! snowHead
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
Quote:

Behind every woman is a man picking up the pieces!!

Damn cheek - I had to pick up skis for a Frenchman about one-third of my age a couple of years ago - and that was only a rather icy red. He'd slid a couple of hundred metres on his bum/back/head and scattered them to the four winds. He'd been showing off; oh how his mate larfed when he took the photo of Monsieur Cocky having his skis brought to him by a little old lady. Twisted Evil
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
pam w,
Quote:

Quote:

Behind every woman is a man picking up the pieces!!


Damn cheek - I had to pick up skis for a Frenchman about one-third of my age a couple of years ago - and that was only a rather icy red. He'd slid a couple of hundred metres on his bum/back/head and scattered them to the four winds. He'd been showing off; oh how his mate larfed when he took the photo of Monsieur Cocky having his skis brought to him by a little old lady. Thu 03 Dec, 09
22:46





The exception that proves the rule wink
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Does anyone know how long ago the grading system for pistes was started?
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
snowball wrote:
Does anyone know how long ago the grading system for pistes was started?


It's at times like this when we need David Goldsmith Very Happy
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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?
If you can confidently ski a red, the skills are not any different to ski a black. Often on a black the actual peak gradiant can be the same as a steep red but that gradient is sustained rather than just a one off pitch so you need better control over your speed.

I skied my first one as a kid because we needed to get back and taking blues/reds would have taken lots of lifts and it was late. No drama at all.

Watch the conditions though. A sheet ice black and a 'nicely groomed just softened up in the morning sun' black are not the same to ski Smile
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After 10 years of talking my wife into it and 6 years of waiting for my son to get old enough we have finally booked a week in Arinsal (showing my wife how flat(ish) it is helped to get her to agree) I notice there are a couple of blacks on the piste map, does any know how Black the actually are?. Looking at what's available on youtube its very difficult to get any idea of runs and gradients and stuff.
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Last season in Hinterglemm. Last day I bravely announced I wanted to tackle a short black run to my ski buddies. As day wore on my nerve began to wobble so mutterings began but were blatantly ignored. For the last run I was 'escorted' to my chosen run and then advised that we also had to come off half way and cross, off-piste, to another run otherwise we would miss the last lift Shocked Shocked

Took a deep breath and pushed off. Just as I was thinking, "this is easy" the slope took a fairly dramatic downturn and the spray from my turns began to overtake me. It wasn't pretty, elegant or particularly speedy but I made it to the crossing point. With a fair bit of coaching from both sides of the runs I managed to wobble my way across and was so chuffed I even finished with a little jump. Headed to the nearest bar and danced on a table for a couple of hours.

Deep, deep joy.
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My first black was the Olympic/WC course in Sestreire. Not much more than a hard red really but it was only my 7th day on skis and it was icy. I was with a group of much better skiers but I was one of the first to get down (fell over a couple of times) and none of them wanted to go back up because of the surface. As my first ever week was very icy all week (in Meribel) I think I coped with it better than some.
Second was the Tomba black in Bansko. Again I've seen harder reds.
First one that really deserved the black was No3 run in LaThile. I'd done a couple of short black sections of the SanBarnard and found them OK and got cocky. No3 lead me in nice and easy then when I got to to steep bit with no get out... well I... fell, slid, stood up, fell, slid, stood up,...
I can ski them now unless they're moguled, when I still have the odd moment of standing at the side wondering what to do next. The black under the Col de Loze chair at Meribel was like that one day this Feb'; Moguls the size of cars and people/bodies all over the place, but the next day it'd been pisted and was easy.
I find the worst thing you can do is stand at the top looking at it. Just commit yourself and go over the edge!

adrian
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First black run was the
Luc Alphand Piste in Serre Chevalier. Since the skier, Luc Alphand, attracted attention to the resort (he represented Chantemerle I think) when he won the World Cup in 1997 , the former "Olympic Piste" has been used as a venue for WC downhill events, European Cup and French national championships. The British Army have (or certainly had) a base there from which they run their skiing competitions.

My first week in Serre Chevalier was in a self-catered chalet in Chantemerle that looked out onto the Luc Alphand Piste from the other side of the valley.

Each night I'd stand outside watching the piste bison prowling up and down the slope and look forward to getting good enough to tackle the run where the last, straight and steep section is called The Wall....300 odd metres that runs out over a bridge and into a gently inclining stopping area.

It never happened in the first week - neither the requisite skills, nor the bottle truth be told. In fact it wasn't until the 4th or 5th day into my second week a year later after some intensive instruction. It was a hear thumping, adrenalin fuelled experience with no shortage of fear that only seemed to get worse the nearer The Wall I came. Needless to say there were 3 or 4 falls or slips - nothing too dramatic other than the immediate concerns about arresting the inevitable slide!

Should I have been there? Possibly not. But the determination to do that run, looking out onto it every night the previous year was too strong to resist!

Since then I've skied it a lot better - no falls and even schussing The Wall from about midway (very thrilling and a little scary) the last time several years ago when "racing" an ex pat in some very male "testosterone" way mid-morning, in superb conditions when no-one else was on the slope. Glorious.

It still is my favourite run and I'm way overdue for a reaquaintance.
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After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
Chasseur, Sounds like a lovely relationship Toofy Grin
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Scarpa, yes, but will Luc still recognise him?
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Quote:

I think a French black is probably to be avoided at all costs but Italian and Austrian blacks seem to be a bit of a mixed bag.

When my friend was asked about her skiing ability she said " i don't like blacks much, but if i have to i'll go down on one!!" Laughing Shocked
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