 Poster: A snowHead
|
|
Hmm just wondering what the public think about the idea of a boarding resort only, as in no skiing, curious to see how many boarders would like this, and use it?????????
|
|
|
|
|
|
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
|
|
In what way would it be different to other resorts?
|
|
|
|
|
|
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?
|
| rob@rar wrote: |
| In what way would it be different to other resorts? |
No skiers? :shrug:
But it would probably also mean: no pistes; no piste bashers; no moguls...
and probably many more.
I can't see any existing resort cutting out 75%(?) of their existing clientele in the hope of appealing to a more focused market but a new operator in an area with loads of powder (USA ?) might possibly give it a go. Realisticly, I can't see it ever happening.
|
|
|
|
|
|
You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
|
|
It has to exist before anyone can use it. Are you going to build a resort from scratch, or take an existing one and ban skiers from it? Interested to hear your (hypothetical) plan for either of those options.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
|
|
Dr John o no its you lol, its an idea we where throwing around, found it interesting though. Just wondering what the public think.
|
|
|
|
|
|
You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
|
|
I guess the only difference would be no tow lifts, only chairs gondolas and lifts designed for boarders in mind, which would be nice, built for boarders, run by boarders, who know what is wanted, large parks, wide runs, and no skiers. Just something different and never done.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I'd like to see a boarder only* resort with only drag lifts, preferably the type that pick you up in the air three times before launching up a 50% slope for 1km. That'd keep the poseurs out.
* actually I wouldn't like this bit, in over 10 years boarding I've only met a couple that ride the sort of stuff I want to and only one of those would do the really fun stuff.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Kitzbuhler Horn is a designated 'snowboard' area of Kitzbuhel and the balance there is almost 50:50. I normally find snowboarders make up about 10% of piste traffic or less. So a snowboard only resort makes no financial sense whatsoever.
|
|
|
|
|
|
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.
|
have to say, ski only resorts seem pretty lame to me (the idea not necessarily the terrain cf Alta) so not sure how a snowboard only resort would be any less lame
it's pretty easy to restrict a resort to skiers and worthy snowboarders (like Swirly) - you just make it necessary to do a big traverse to get to or from the goods. that's enough to put off most boarding posers. what would do likewise for skiers i wonder 
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Arno wrote: |
what would do likewise for skiers i wonder
|
How about a 3ft wide ridge (so too narrow to sideslip/step) with cliffs either side followed by a rock hop off the side onto a traverse on a 40 degree slope with another cliff below? Seems to work for the N face of Mt Fort. Alternatively anything with a climb of over 10 minutes does the trick for most.
btw thinking of heading for the Col du Passon tomorrow, how essential was the rope for the final climb?
|
|
|
|
|
|
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
|
ha! i was thinking of something that boarders don't really mind but skiers hate - N Face of Mt Fort seems to be an equal opportunities deterrent!
for Col du Passon, a rope was not essential when I did it (I didn't need one) but if you have anyone who isn't confident using crampons on 45*+ slopes it would be a good idea. you did actually need to front point towards the top. there are two ways out of the couloir - one was steep firm snow at the top and the other required a bit of a slither over a bit of mixed stuff (only a couple of metres but you couldn't avoid it). pls post pics when you do it 
|
|
|
|
|
|
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.
|
| altis wrote: |
| rob@rar wrote: |
| In what way would it be different to other resorts? |
No skiers? :shrug:
But it would probably also mean: no pistes; no piste bashers; no moguls...
and probably many more.
.... |
Also (if there were pistes) they would have lines of waterproof cushions spread all the way across them below every ridge.
With ashtrays
and Rizlas. 
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
You know it makes sense.
|
| Arno wrote: |
ha! i was thinking of something that boarders don't really mind but skiers hate - N Face of Mt Fort seems to be an equal opportunities deterrent!
|
Fair point, I walked the whole thing in crampons but carrying my board, after getting onto the face I wondered exactly why my board was in my hand and my axe on my back 
Only thing I can think of is a couple of hundred metres of breakable crust to start the run.
I'll have a rope for crevasse rescue anyway so will have it handy for the climb, personally I'm more bothered about the skin before hand: steep icy traverse on a split board. Will definitely have a camera.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
|
|
firebug, it was much less bony than that last week, I'm glad to say!
|
|
|
|
|
|
Poster: A snowHead
|
|
Swirly, the skin has a short steep section getting off the glacier then is a nice gradient until you get right up to the couloir which leads to the col
|
|
|
|
|
|
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
|
|
firebug, nice photos, looks like a good Scottish winter line. Just in case a lot of snow has melted how solid is the rock? My guess based on the location is not at all!
|
|
|
|
|
|
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?
|
eretochat, it doesn't matter what the public think because, as queen bodecia has pointed out, it isn't economically viable so it won't happen. It's also a very old fashioned way of thinking, it may have been the clarion call of snowboarders 10 or 15 years ago, but everyone has grown up a little bit since then and realised that skiers and snowboarders can learn off each other and develop in tandem.
I would, however, like to propose a eretochat only boarding resort, I have a feeling that would gain some significant early traction.
|
|
|
|
|
|
You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
|
Dont take any notice of Dr John he follows me around everywhere i go, poor Fitzwilliam has the hots for me, no chance sunshine. It was just a bloody question i put out there dickhead, i could see it in the states but not in Europe, to many dr johns here for one. 
|
|
|
|
|
|
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
|
|
eretochat, Are you dancin with Dr John now? I thought we had a date? - Tart!
|
|
|
|
|
|
You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
|
|
Swirly, I'm not sure - maybe the OHM could give you an update though Arno's news is good!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
It would be pants because:
- you would be limited to snowboarding only
- you'd have to exclude half your mates
And from a business point of view it would be foolish, as you exclude the majority of your potential market.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
firebug, Doesn't matter, I've had a look at the weather and based on conditions here think we're going to wait a few days till it cools down a bit. Thanks for replying though.
|
|
|
|
|
|
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.
|
|
Swirly, you definitely want to get up it early. catches the sun pretty early in the morning and i could see it turning into a slufest (at best) or a deathtrap (at worst)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Although it's by no means a Snowboarding only resort Laax very much markets itself towards Snowboarders. It has a massive park, pretty chilled out bars up the mountain and hotels such as the Rider's Palace.
|
|
|
|
|
|
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
|
|
Flatstar at Tahoe has a poser boarder orientated image (along with families) and a hysterical tame, shallow angle rope tow accessing the steepest & best area of the mountain where the doods fall off constantly. I believe it may be the world capital for all the gear, no idea urban dwelling baggy trew wearing.
|
|
|
|
|
|
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.
|
|
Colin B, 2Alpes likewise, and our ratio is still about 60:40 skiers to boarders, as I remember.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Lizzard this:
| eretochat wrote: |
| large parks, wide runs |
does sound like the summer ski area at LDA (ie boring) (although you'd need to do something about the lifts)
|
|
|
|
|
|
You know it makes sense.
|
|
Arno, I think there's some reason why you have to have drag lifts on the glacier, so not much chance of that.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
|
|
Lizzard, True but I much preferred the Rock Bar (at Laax) to the Pano Bar.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Poster: A snowHead
|
Lizzard, yes they're easier to rebuild when the glacier moves and they fall down or to move when a huge crevasse opens up on the tow.
Mind if you can't get up those drags on a board you should give up and hang yourself as a complete waste of oxygen.
Park is an interesting one, I don't spend much time there although I have been known to muck about on the kickers and easy rails, here you see more skiers in them than boarders although this isn't a massively boarder friendly area: lots of flats and drags. Nor is it big for freestyle: there's no halfpipe. Then again it's marketed as a freeride place so that isn't important.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
|
|
|
|
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?
|
| Quote: |
Mind if you can't get up those drags on a board you should give up and hang yourself as a complete waste of oxygen.
|
there are plenty of drags round here, some of them very fierce, and plenty of boarders who seem to be able to cope just fine (and this is far from a gnarly area). Apart from the very nursery areas I very rarely see boarders falling on the drags. The T bars on the glacier in Les Deux Alpes doesn't seem to give boarders any problem, either.
The replacement of steep drags with chairs is not necessarily an improvement. The drags can keep the riff raff out.
|
|
|
|
|
|
You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
|
|
pam w, exactly.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
|
|
|
|
You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
|
I'm a skier and agree that chairs and gondolas are better..
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
chairs and gondolas are indeed easier, which is why drags can keep the riff raff (whatever they ride, especially those daft scooters) out. The ones where you're airborne for the first two metres are particularly effective.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Quote: |
especially those daft scooters
|
Earlier this season I saw a guy hiking up Stairway to Heaven with one of those. He was either incredibly dumb or incredibly good (I'd take a punt on the latter), I'd have loved to have seen him ride down but I was off somewhere a little less tracked.
Last edited by After all it is free  on Fri 9-04-10 22:14; edited 1 time in total
|
|
|
|
|
|
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.
|
|
hmm not sure that makes sense really, depends on ones ability not on ones personality, you will get all types everywhere, im guessing you had a bad experience with your term riff raff lol, Oh and what scooters are you on about??
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Only spent one day in Mamouth a couple of years ago but from that limited experience there looked to be so many snowbaorders compared to skiers it might cope...
Not suggesting it should happen, personally I do both and would be annoyed to be limited to only one way down the hill, but finanicially it looked like it might cope.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
FAQ
