 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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Great photos, especially 4&5 with the walkway above , awesome skiing too 
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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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W o w
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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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Looks fantastic, nice deep spring snow 
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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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Eeek!
No sit turns then!
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| norris wrote: |
Got to be the best entry to a run in the alps! all the tourists gasping as you jump of the bridge!! |
Which also has its drawbacks as evidenced by the ski pole that bounced 10 feet above me then 10 feet below me while I was halfway down the 2nd ab... Luckily it was a carbon pole so probably wouldn't have hurt too much if it had scored a direct hit... We also passed a lone ski partway down - now that would have hurt!
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offpisteskiing, might have been nasty with a whippet through your head!! 
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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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very nice!
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Superb
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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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Yes please 
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Often wondered about skiing that when I went over the bridge. Nice.
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You know it makes sense.
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That's the one from Blizzard of AHHH's innit. Awesome.
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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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Great Stuff!
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Poster: A snowHead
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Great stuff Offpiste, I thought they only did stuff like this in ski movies!
Can I ask how you managed to capture the slope so well in the picture entitled "some angle here"?
I always find it very difficult to do justice to a slope you're on with a picture and was going to post a thread seeking tips on how to do so.
| bobmcstuff wrote: |
| That's the one from Blizzard of AHHH's innit. Awesome. |
I don't think so, I'm pretty sure that the main runs from Chamonix in Blizzard are the two Poubelle's - one around the corner from this couloir and no longer skiable due to a landslide (I think), and the other off the back of the Bouchard lift in Grand Montets - and another drop in off the top lift of Grand Montets
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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I normally wouldn't be arsed looking at other peoples photos. But they are awesome!!
What angle are you holding the camera for the "steep" one?
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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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offpisteskiing, great photo's and thanks for posting. There is no way I will ever have the balls to ski somthing like that.
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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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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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| patricksh wrote: |
What angle are you holding the camera for the "steep" one? |
There may be a couple of degrees of Extreme Alpine TiltTM going on, but the sides of the couloir are relatively steep and the centre generally has a sluff runnel down it which is a little firm... in the Book of Death Baud say 55º for the sides but this is probably OTT for everything execpt the narrows which is not often skiable.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| Quote: |
I always find it very difficult to do justice to a slope you're on with a picture and was going to post a thread seeking tips on how to do so.
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I was very disappointed whit the pictures I took on holiday making the routes look super tame!
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| 8611 wrote: |
| Can I ask how you managed to capture the slope so well in the picture entitled "some angle here"? |
As above - a bit of E.A.T, plus the fact that the slopes on the far side of the couloir ARE very steep and the side we were skiing on was reasonably steep - it all adds up. The small 'spines' & runnels on the far side also help as they give some texture and "lignes de fuite".
Generally anything below about 40º will look flat as a pancake unless there are some good features or you get just the right angle...
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You people are bloody crazy.
And being able to glimpse bits of your World is wonderful. Thanks for taking the time & the pics
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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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offpisteskiing, great pics as ever, two daft questions if you don't mind 
a) How do you know it's in condition to ski and not bullet ice/about to slide all the way down?
b) once you've abseiled down do you leave the rope there or have a clever way to get it back down to you?
Greg (I did say they were daft questions!!)
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This gives me an opportunity to post a much belated TR which I've been meaning to do for ages.
I took offpisteskiing's Off-Piste Improvers' Course in Chamonix in March.
I would like to say we did this run, oh, 2 or 3 times, the last one switch ...but that would be a barefaced lie.
I can say he took me to places that I would never have (a) found myself and (b) thought I could ski. However, he gave me the confidence (and by the end of the week, a couple of game-changing tips) to get down steepish slopes unfallen and relatively unruffled. By no stretch of the imagination, could my descents be called stylish or elegant but they felt pretty good to me.
The pace all week was even with the choice of skiing after 4pm put to the group (there were five of us) vote. This was on the basis that for Flatland Office Warriors who suddenly start skiing off-piste all day, 4 to 5 is prime accident time. If any individual wanted to finish earlier, this was not a problem.
The instruction was constant but not invasive at any time. There was a lot of emphasis on safety, picking suitable lines and always, always skiing in control. He kept taking us through the trees (in bad vis) and on steepish slopes all the time so that by the end of the week, we were much more accustomed to the angles.
The other thing was discipline. Given the choice between a nice, sun-dappled, gently angled tree glade and a can't see over, rollover with big bumps covered in fresh, between rocks only a couple of ski lengths wide, leading into a couple of inconveniently place trees, we always took the latter.
It worked. By the end of the week we did some short 42 degree - he measured them on an app! - slopes with safe run out and fall zones. Absolutely contrary to all appearances, we all felt real big and suitably gnarly.
Also we always seemed to have good snow underfoot. In one case, two days after the last fall of snow. Which in gnarl-mad Chamonix where some fool will put turns on a window ledge if there's snow on it, is pretty good.
It was a fantastic week. I haven't limproved my skiing so much (well, in my head anyway) and learned so useful stuff in decades - I thought those days were over.
Cons
The hotel beds were a tad lumpy!
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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kitenski,
a) - educated guess-work ... knowing how it has been in the past & recently, what the weather has been doing, what conditions nearby have been like (Rond & Cosmiques for instance in this case). If you know noone is in there you can drop a stone in & see if it bounces or buries (same effect with a cornice cut). At the end of the day it is a best guess & you have to be prepared (and equipped) to climb down/up out of trouble..
b) double ropes. You need minimum of 2 ~55m abseils to get into the Cunningham so you have to be able to pull the ropes at each belay... We used a 7,8mm & a 5,5mm 'tagline' for lightness (but this is quite slippy in most abseil devices). Plenty of detail on this elsewhere on the web.
*note* I do not recommend or condone any of the above... On your own heads be it. Learn the basics somewhere safe & get lots of mileage in before getting committed anywhere - dangling under the Passerelle is not the place to be learning to abseil...
Big PauaThanks! Hope the rest of your winter was good...
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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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offpisteskiing, cheers, I have no intention of doing something similar, was just interested in the how!
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I think that abseiling is one of those things that; those that haven't done it wish they had, and those that have to do it wish they didn't.
IMHO, in no other mountaineering activity does your life depend so much, for so long, on such a thin chain of gear. Failure of any piece will probably result in death. Adreneline junkies might like that but I think it puts the willies up most folk. There are too many stories of experienced climbers coming to grief - often simply by abbing off the end of the rope! Adele Pennington tells a good story about that and she still walks with a considerable limp.
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You know it makes sense.
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altis, Too right. I've had to do multiple abs off ice falls in failing light and you can't afford to make any errors. Make sure you tie knots in the rope ends, and I'd also advise using a shunt or prussik knot in case you slip or are hit by a falling rock and let go of the rope.
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FAQ
