 Poster: A snowHead
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Why does everyone feel that they HAVE to ski back down to the town, regardless of the piste gradient or abliity? Is it admitting failure to get the lift down?
There seems to be some collective machismo with skiing that you are some kind of massive wimp if you download. FYI, I subscribe to this, and refuse to get the lift down. I am actually a reasonable skier though.
Discuss.
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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'd never thought about it to be honest. I just ski back because I can, and it's the quickest and easiest way usually.
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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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haha - very true!
Getting the lift down is the skiing equivalent of the "walk of shame"
....plus, why did you go up it in the first place if you weren't planning on skiing down?
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I'm obviously 'some kind of massive wimp' then. If the conditions are crap and there are a gazillion people on the slope, I'll download with pleasure. Definitely better than getting injured on the last run of the day. (I've done that too - twice.)
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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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Pedantica, ...and I get massively fed up with my partner, who refuses to use the lift down, skis down barely-covered narrow pistes and then presents me with a pair of gouged and blunted skis with the interesting statement '...that'll be a lot of time prep'ing my skis tonight, then...' - dumb thing is, I do it.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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| Quote: |
There seems to be some collective machismo with skiing that you are some kind of massive wimp if you download.
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yes
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I just ski back because I can, and it's the quickest and easiest way usually.
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proven to be quickest
Also the most important fact (not mentioned yet) there are usually bars on the home runs!
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kioksor,
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Also the most important fact (not mentioned yet) there are usually bars on the home runs!
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Yes, I forgot, there are often a gazillion DRUNKEN people I'd rather avoid.
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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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Ski_AL, I never like to hear of a man doing a 'walk of shame'. I like to think of itin terms of a 'stride of pride'. Ski down. Unless you're p!ssed.
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I would happily download every time if I know the home run will be a busy carnage with ice or big moguls.
Once decided to ride down while rest of the group took gondola. This was a the end of a great day.
Was tired, did not turn properly on icy cat track, ended up hitting rocks on the side, luckily with my board rather than head. Quite hard. I had no control. And no helmet.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Rule #1
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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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Regular Easter skiing at L2A has made me immune to this. Depending on the snow potentially all that are open down are a long narrow winding green that gets very crowded or a very steep black with porridge moguls packed with people who shouldn't be on it. Download as often as not.
When the snow is good and the 2 blacks the other end of the resort are open it's a pleasure to ski down them at the end of the day.
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I've never downloaded unless there was no snow at all, but home run in Verbier is very decent, just keep going straight and it will bring you home. I read on interwebs people describing it as "carnage" but I think they are exaggerating. It's a blue and shouldn't pose any serious problems even for beginners. It can be icy in places but it's flat there so hitting icy patch just don't start maneuvering, braking etc. and you will clear it before you notice. And Pierre-a-Ric in Argentiere is simply beautiful to miss.
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You know it makes sense.
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Whitegold mode on
Downloading is for losers
Whitegold mode off
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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 have only recently started doing this occasionally - and that's the point. I assess the conditions of the snow, the other punters on the slope, my legs... and then occasionally down load. I think this is sensible (and I don't like to spend hours repairing my skis either). Must be getting old. 
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Poster: A snowHead
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| never summer wrote: |
| I've never downloaded unless there was no snow at all, but home run in Verbier is very decent, just keep going straight and it will bring you home. I read on interwebs people describing it as "carnage" but I think they are exaggerating. It's a blue and shouldn't pose any serious problems even for beginners. It can be icy in places but it's flat there so hitting icy patch just don't start maneuvering, braking etc. and you will clear it before you notice. And Pierre-a-Ric in Argentiere is simply beautiful to miss. |
It's carnage because for most the may down it's quite a narrow track and there are so many people on it at the end of the day; skiers, boarders, adults, kids, all abilities (and inabilities  )
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Interesting this. I think there is some machismo assoc with it and I ALWAYS used to ski down, but I think because I wanted that last ounce of skiing. Now though it would appear that I've gradually started to become a wimp as I seem to have slipped into the occasional download. And you know what? Lots of other instructors do the same. I guess I get more days on snow per year now, I enjoy most of the turns I do throughout the day now, I've got nothing to prove and it can be fun to watch the end of days (sic) carnage (and sometimes it IS carnage) from the bubble  Yeah, and sometimes I'm just skiing with people who want to download, and I'd always be, meh! see you at the bottom, but now I'll sometimes download with them and be quite chilled about 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?
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Depends entirely on the resort layout and snow conditions
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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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Agreed.
I suppose if it's Whistler, perhaps people like riding in the rain? I always assume that those people are ignorant of the weather and snow conditions: obviously if they knew what they were doing they'd ride the quality snow, not the schmoo. It's not that they're trying to "get the most" out of their limited time on snow - they'd not be riding down until very late in the day if that was the case. Even then, I'd rather catch the 1st and last lifts and use the single lines all day, than deliberately ride poor 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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My brother does, I never have. I suppose I quite like ice. The only time I would have done it if I could was when there were large blocks of frozen slush at the bottom in Soll. That was horrible.
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halfhand, Yes it's narrow, but you don't have to make turns so it's width is not that important if you are capable of going straight on two skis. Plus you can sit out the busiest time in 1936 and ski down when it's quieter. I loved it even as a 3rd day skier when I was first taken to the top. It made me feel like I wasn't a beginner - I mean it's hard to tell when everyone is just going straight:) Lifts and cat tracks are great equalisers. I saw few times someone falling but it was never really bad, definitely not a carnage evn at Christmas or half-terms. I fell myself last year too - I was talking to a friend on a phone and not paying attention, so I drifted too far to the right and skied into the wall of snow. Which was rather funny than anything else.
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Death before Download.
Umm I take the ride of shame quite often. It's particularly fun when you see people downhiking a dirt patch or sliding pitches on their harrises. Anyone who doesn't download in preference to taking that awful green into L2A needs their head examined. Take the black, offpiste or download everytime.
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Sometimes it's a basic choice: the gondola of shame vs the gondola of sense and it depends where you ski...the home runs in some resorts....les deux alpes is a great example as people have said, have such unbearable home runs that you feel much less bothered by it than in other resorts with good last runs......in La Rosiere last March, I considered it as the runs home were like porridge right at the bottom on warm days but they were great last run pistes so it would've been sacrilege to do so all the time they had something white on them. Alternatively go to Val Thorens and then you can experience going up to go home
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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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| fatbob wrote: |
Death before Download.
Umm I take the ride of shame quite often. It's particularly fun when you see people downhiking a dirt patch or sliding pitches on their harrises. Anyone who doesn't download in preference to taking that awful green into L2A needs their head examined. Take the black, offpiste or download everytime. |
I too have taken the ride of shame option.
Arinsal and Mayrhofen.
Oh, hang on, maybe that was the only option 
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I take this a stage further. If the run ends at a road and there is a little strip of snow along the edge of the road a foot wide, I have to ski along it - even sometimes continuing if patches are one-ski wide and I have to lift a foot. I have this idea that you should never walk if you can ski. The silly thing is though, I then have to wait while the others catch up on foot.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Chasseur, You can ski down to base level at Mayrhofen. You just don't end up in Mayrhofen  and so need to take the bus home.
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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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For me it's purely about getting absolutely the most possible skiing into the day. I only get to go for one week a year, every minute the lifts are open and I'm not skiing is a minute wasted
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You know it makes sense.
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Depends where you are. If you have a nice relaxing valley run like in St.Anton or Kitzbühel then I usually ski down. If it's a narrow icy piste full of drunken Swedes, like in Ischgl, then I take the download.
I'm there to have fun, not to prove something!
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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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| snowball wrote: |
| The great thing is though, I then have to wait in a bar while the others catch up on foot. |
FIFY
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Poster: A snowHead
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There are 2 things that will totally ruin any ski holiday:
1. having to waste 5-10 minutes of the many hours of the skiing day between finishing the last ski run and ending up in the apres bar. The same is true for the "I'm tired and need to put my feet up at 3:30pm with a nice cuppa tea and cake in the chalet" skiers.
2. being separated from ski pals for a whopping 3-4 minutes for the uplift time of a busy 6-man
and I mean totally ruin.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Presumably you went on holiday to ski so not skiing when you could seems a bit silly. I do love the home run pistes though particularly when they're polished cat tracks from all the traffic with deep gouges at all the hairpins, very zippy right up until you catch the herd up and then hilarity ensues as you try to ski down without being taken out at low speed.
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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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Downloading is for the old and weak.
Always ski to the very last strip of snow at end of trail or road.
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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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philwig,
You are Cynic, and I claim my £10.......
Personally I quite enjoy the ski-outs at Whistler. If it's raining , then I download.
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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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I know that if I ski with a certain person that I will not be allowed to take a lift down not matter how filthy the conditions look when I arrive at the top
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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I often download. In fact, I have never skied the home run down to Flachau where I have an apartment!
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| philwig wrote: |
| It's not that they're trying to "get the most" out of their limited time on snow - they'd not be riding down until very late in the day if that was the case. Even then, I'd rather catch the 1st and last lifts and use the single lines all day, than deliberately ride poor snow. |
Well obviously you catch the first and (especially) last lift. Its a matter of ride the lift or ski at the end. I enjoy waiting till the slopes are clear and skiing down in the pink end-of the-day light. Personally i like slush, and at Deux Alpes I ski down the last bit off-piste for preference.
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Surely it's down to the conditions of you, the snow, and how popular the run is? Some home runs are lovely - the blue down into San Cassiano is still perfectly nice to ski at the end of the day, so much so that is the lift was still going when we got to the bottom of it, we went back up and did it again! The red next to it was a mess though.
I have downloaded into Tignes Les Brevieres when I was tired, considering that this was a much better option than getting injured and not being able to ski at all. Aigle? above Peisey Vallandry resembled skiing through soft buckets of water when I went down that one afternoon. It wasn't worth the effort.
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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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| Colin B wrote: |
Regular Easter skiing at L2A has made me immune to this. Depending on the snow potentially all that are open down are a long narrow winding green that gets very crowded or a very steep black with porridge moguls packed with people who shouldn't be on it. Download as often as not.
When the snow is good and the 2 blacks the other end of the resort are open it's a pleasure to ski down them at the end of the day. |
That green is the one I did my calf muscle on, though we were going down it was with the intention of picking up up the bottom third or so of the Valentin black so Chloe could have a go at it.
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FAQ
