 Poster: A snowHead
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So what colour induces fear in you? I thought I had got past this sort of problem...and then I met some of the Double Diamonds in Whistler. Having said that it wasn't the pistes it was the "drop ins" I come out in a cold sweat just typing those words! 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Brown 
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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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I'm happy on any marked run and any colour - it's snow conditions that are the critical factor in my book. Much better a steep black in good snow than a crowded, sheet-ice, blue resort run any day!
Once had an interesting (and sobering) experience at Sunshine Village. The sign read (to the effect of) "Warning: Cliffs - death a fair possibility." My interpretation was that they always oversate things in North America - to avoid lawsuits and all that - which I stated quite emphatically to the other 3 in my group.The result? Cliffs....sheer terror....and near death! Never mind double black, brown was definitely the colour that day. Not very funny at the time but of course a bit funnier now  .....
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Piste colour is just a (crude) measure of gradient and that only makes up part of the mix of how difficult a run is.
Learn to trust your eyes and feet instead:
1) is the snow grippy or slippy?
2) is the surface lumpy or smooth?
3) is it busy or quiet?
4) is the run narrow or open?
5) is it sunny and you are in a good mood?
Together, all these will have far more influence on how easy or difficult a run is than just its colour.
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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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Not exactly fear but start gates get the blood moving...
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| mountainaddict wrote: |
I'm happy on any marked run and any colour - it's snow conditions that are the critical factor in my book. Much better a steep black in good snow than a crowded, sheet-ice, blue resort run any day!
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+1, absolutely.
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Translucent
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Surely the problem there is by the time you know what the run's actually like on that day it's already too late!
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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finestgreen, exactly. I remember taking a while to get to the difficult bit of Le Tunnel (Alpe d'Huez) and wondering what all the fuss was about. The snow was lovely, the slope gentle, everything just dandy. By the time I got to the vertical sheet ice, with every single mogul occupied by someone transfixed with fear, it was too late!
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fatbob, You have suitable skis for translucent snow now though don't you.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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The only piste poles that give me fear are the one's that are indistinguishable - ie. When the white-out is so bad that you can't actually tell what colour the piste marker is, even though it is only 4 foot away from you !
Traditionally happens when everyone else has gone in and you decide to do one final solo run on your own on the last lift.
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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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Red scares me... especially when it is leaking out of the wound of somone that has just fallen in front of me 
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An itineraire in US resort with an entrance between two posts so narrow that one had to turn ones shoulders sideways to enter and read a notice which said "Entirely at your own risk, there is no way out and no rescue" It was a fabulous O/P run through trees rather like Le Lievre Blanc, steep about 35 degrees and narrowed to turn moguls in a couloir to gain your full attention. I went back to the resort to do the pitch again 10 years later, the resort manager denied its existence; I found the old start but now the post and rail fence was complete across, there were no tracks.
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You know it makes sense.
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I saw that film as well Cynic, did it have something about a hot tub in the title?
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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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I tend to be put off by colour and by what I hear about a slope - Mt Vallon - Red - in the 3V's for example, I looked long and hard last season and didn't do it, now I hear about it and I'm glad I didn't, but I know at the moment it is beating me - this means one day it will get done. Col - Red - in VT is another - I look at it from the top of moraine - it doesn't look far, but it is always shiny and mogulled and looks a hard ski - not for me yet. On the other hand I have done two really short black sections and got away with it, but they have been sections that I've been able to look long and hard at first and reason with myself that I can do. I think a colour marking does put me off particularly black and esp. if I haven't been able to have a good look at it first. I'd love to get good enough that I wouldn't have to worry any longer.
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Poster: A snowHead
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I don't bother much about the colour of a piste anymore - which is great cos I'm not looking at a map all the time to work out how to get from A to B avoiding blacks or whatever. Of course, I get caught out in off piste from time to time - but gradually getting more confident.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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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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I used to get put off by black runs, and often as not found that once I was on it, it wasn't as bad as I was expecting. The thing is, when you can't see where it goes, there's always that thought that you might come to some sh*t-your-pants steep section with moguls like VW Beetles, and there'll be no way out!
In the past year though I've had a GIANT leap in confidence and I now want to seek out blacks and see how well I do! I figure if it's a marked piste it can't be anything that bad or they wouldn't let people ski it. The only black I'm not sure I'd do is the Grand Coulour at Courchevel. I've also heard the Tunnel at ADH is a beast, but I think I'd give it a go.
There is no red I wouldn't ski.
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I get nervous on the blue ones, especialy the last 100 meterrs to the resort... where basically everybody let the guard down and start behaving like savages and ski like flipping neurotic mongoloid because one thinks all is under control, mix that with some over eager (and tired) beginners, the occasional lost pedestrian coming back from an afternoon stroll or the random dog and you have the right cocktail for trouble.
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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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It's the one downside of every single resort: everyone feels that they have to ski back to the base station, whether they have the ability or not.
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Gazzza, Why would you want to do this last run on your own in a white-out when you don't know if the run is blue, red or black and it matters?
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| Quote: |
| Piste colour is just a (crude) measure of gradient |
Exactly. And isn't it funny how all ski areas manage a nice mix of all colours of runs (ie to ensure that the piste map appeals to alll evels of would-be vistors)? At Val D'Isere, the green run above La Daille gets mogullled because it's so steep!
Anyway, it's all psychological. We once skied a red with a skier who was comgfortable on blue runs. They'd never done a red but didn't know the colour of the run in question - so they were skiing it very comfortably. However, when they found out that it was red, they went to pieces and froze completely. Amazing really.
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mountainaddict, I can vouch for the fact that this happens. I'd feel the same if it was suddenly revealed to me that I was on a black. I've skied the odd (v. occasional - I don't think I've done one since I last went to Switzerland!) reasonably steep short black section, but I'd looked at it, knew where it went, how long it was etc. I would feel out of my comfort zone entirely to suddenly find myself on one. I would far rather know it was coming and be able to psyche myself up for it.
Mind you I had a lesson last season in Flachau with an oder chap - I wasn't hugely impressed with the style he wanted me to ski in, but I could do it completely to his satisfaction so we went up top and down in Wagrain - I'd already done this on my own, but he swung tight right at the top of the lift and took a different route. I knew it was still a red, but we came to an edge and I looked down and defintely did a double take for the next 50 yards - steep!! F-ing steep!! I distinctly recall a solid full stop and 'oh sh 1 t' moment. That may have been the only point in the lesson when I couldn't ski the way he wanted me to. I blagged the whole slope in the finish and lost the height across a skied width and turn at each end. So at the moment I reckon I can probably ski most reds, but there are still reds that are the blacker side of red that cause me a second look. Is it the case that some reds are worse than some blacks. Certainly in VT I think Rhodos is an easier ski than Fond, yet Rhodos is red and Fond is blue.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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In Verbier before La Chaux Express was opened the only way to get to La Chaux (a nice and easy blue area) would be via red runs. Had to suck it up and just do it. The run from top is also red until you get to the blue cat track. I've never seen anyone downloading on a Funispas unless they were injured so it was like I had no option. Beginners improved quickly there. Not sure about now as La Chaux Express lets them ski rolling hills without even seeing a red.
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