 Poster: A snowHead
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Hi  , need a bit of help. Ive always skied on piste but i would like to give off piste a go, im an intermediate skier. Right now conditions are probably not right for off piste but come 5th February the mountains will have hopefully of repaired themselves! Im staying in Reberty 2000, just outside Les Menuires and would obviuously go with a guide/instructor. Do i need to do anything before i go? Should i have any special equipment for a beginner attempting off piste? Also im taking out insurance as my bank cover isn't comprehensive enough. Any good links to insurance companies to cover my holiday, plus off piste skiing? Can anyone recommend an instructor where i am staying? Are there are areas situated just off a marked piste i could go without an instructor? Any help would be great, cheers
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| Quote: |
Right now conditions are probably not right for off piste
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Eh 
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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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stevomcd, High avalanche risk?
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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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Ricklovesthepowder, as a beginner, off-piste, I would be surprised if a) you were taken somewhere where avalanche risk was particularly high, b) in the instructor you trust and c) worth spending on adequate insurance certainly.
My intro to off piste was off a red run, so fairly steep, but only 200m or so down to the next piste. Trciky, but certainly not in an area where one would expect much of an avalanche risk what with a piste directly beneath. Not guaranteed, but probably pretty unlikely.
Giving it another go in La Plagne in 2 weeks 
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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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| Ricklovesthepowder wrote: |
| stevomcd, High avalanche risk? |
Not ALL of it...
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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2/5 at the moment. Pretty low. Danger confined to fairly specific areas/aspects.
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Chasseur, Cheers for your info. How much does something like this cost and how often do you do the lesson? I would probably just want a full day of off piste.
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Ricklovesthepowder, Book a 2 hour private ski lesson. Tell them you want a beginner off piste lesson. If this is your first time, after 2 hours, you'll be crawling back to the hotel Knackered 
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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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A whole day would be utterly knackering and not necessary when you don't need a guide to hike well away from the piste. I've had some off piste lessons and two hours is plenty, believe me. He started each time with a session on piste, teaching me how to do the kind of turns needed in the deeper snow, and then found somewhere with the right pitch - not too flat, not too steep, and with an escape route back to a piste! It's very hard work digging yourself out, putting skis back on etc, if (when....) you crash.
Great fun though, and any qualified instructor will be able to do what you want. "off piste" doesn't have to be in lovely fresh fluffy powder, also well worth having an instructor help you to deal with the less nice stuff.
I've found it worth practising on my own, on piste, skiing with my skis closer together than I usually do, and with weight more evenly distributed between the two skis. When I made tracks alongside those of my instructor, he made one track, and I made two.  He said he wasn't too bothered about that as long as I was well balanced. We spend so long learning to shift weight - and on-piste, if something suddenly feels tricks, bad surface, bad vis etc I will be much more heavily weighted on the downhill ski. Getting rid of that automatic reaction takes a while.
If you get fresh snow when you are in the resort, it's worth finding the pistes which have not been bashed. Your chalet hosts could point you in the right direction. Skiing in fresh powder which has fallen on a firm, pisted, base (I find that steeper blue or easier red runs generally have the right kind of pitch for me to try) is fantastic. Makes you feel you can actually do it!
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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pam w,
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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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Thanks for the info. I will book a private instructor for a morning and see how i go. I will wait until i get to resort and pick a day when there is hopefully fresh overnight snowfalls! I always get excited when going skiing but for some reason this time im like a bloody kid at Christmas!!! i think its because i only went to Scotland last year and missed the Alps!
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Ricklovesthepowder, you can do worse than book a skill session with ski new generation. Www.skinewgen.com
You'll get two two hour sessions on two separate afternoons during the week. Take a look in their site to find your level and pick a suitable course. Give them a call as well, friendly bunch.
If you luck out you'll be one of only two or three skiers on the session.
I find it much more satisfying than a one on one lesson as you have more time to take the info in and then practice before going back for another couple of hours session a couple of days later.
Around the same cost as a couple of hours of private lesson.
Love your enthusiasm for skiing by the way, keep it up 
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You know it makes sense.
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cheers shoogly, just need to improve and broaden my ability. I skied Glencoe last January on a bluebird powder day, there was a foot of fresh at the top and and about 20 people on the mountain. It simply wasnt for me but im sure any keen skier who likes deep powder would have done anything to be there, so i want to be able to ski in conditions like that, not just on a perfectly prepared piste!!! Im going to wait until im in resort and book something then. Probably ski 2 days to get into the swing of things then go for a few lessons with someone. You attending the scottish bash in March?
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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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Hope to. It's just after I get back from val d'isere, so assuming conditions are worth it, I'll be there.
Don't get too hung up on skiing powder by the way... There's more to being a good off piste skier than being able to ski powder on the one day a year you get to ski it. Learn to ski variable conditions and you get to enjoy it
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Poster: A snowHead
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Ricklovesthepowder, just try skiing off the side of some easier pistes as well. I know the "proper" thing is to get a lesson and have all the appropriate gear with you but in reality a lot of skiing is just doing as much of it as you can in as many conditions as you can.
Someone said in another thread I've just been reading that although there is no such thing as a little off-piste, if you can say why a slope is safe to ski without all the equipment then that is a bit different. Do some reading online about avalanche safety and try and think about all the things you've read when you're skiing. For instance if it's not just snowed 2ft the night before and there's a nice stretch of ungroomed snow which is the same gradient as a blue run then the chances of that sliding is very low compared to a stretch of ungroomed snow that fell the night before at the side of a black run.
Do take a lesson by all means but you'll never get confident skiing off-piste if you only do it for a few hours each holiday in a lesson. One of the things I found useful was to ask my instructor how steep a slope was, I was also shown a good way to estimate slope angle using my ski poles. Most avalanches occur over 28 degrees and I actually find 25 degree slopes quite steep. There's a nice pic of the Spring Run at Glencoe in this thread
http://snowheads.com/ski-forum/viewtopic.php?t=46998&start=40
which most people find quite steep, moffatross says it's 25 degrees which I would find believable so I would guess the main basin at Glencoe is maybe 15 degrees. Most people would agree that the chances of a slide in the Main basin are very, very low, so personally I would be happy skiing that kind of terrain (15 degree slopes) off-piste without an instructor or avalanche equipment.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Good luck with the off-piste skiing.
I eventually learnt by joining the local ski school for a whole week of instruction/guiding. Before that I failed horribly by taking individual days/private lessons. I found that I needed the intensive period of practising the skills to really "get it".
After that I practiced by the side of the piste/cut every corner between pistes as practice - as often as I could.
Regarding the avalanche risk, I'd be surprised if anything you are taken to to practice or would choose of your own choice would be in the magical 30deg to 45 deg range (the slope angles I was taught to be wary of)
As one of the previous posters wrote, offpiste is much more than just perfect powder. You'd be very lucky in a 6 day ski holiday to find perfect powder. Practice skiing offpiste in all conditions. Next time you find perfect powder, you'll ski it that much better.
Regarding the "tiring" aspects of skiing off-piste - try to ensure that your ankles are flexed as much as possible. Flexing your angles, makes your thighs more vertical (for the same knee bend) and therefore, the thigh bone takes more of the strain (rather than using your quads to support your weight..........try it, it works for me (and my wife........and my mates)
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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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| lynseyf wrote: |
For instance if it's not just snowed 2ft the night before and there's a nice stretch of ungroomed snow which is the same gradient as a blue run then the chances of that sliding is very low compared to a stretch of ungroomed snow that fell the night before at the side of a black run.
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Don't forget it's not just the snow under your feet that might slip, but the snow above you. The ungroomed snow that is only 15deg may be sitting in the run-out zone of an avalanche waiting to happen whereas the nearby piste may be protected by the topography.
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