 Poster: A snowHead
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Never skied PDS, was looking at piste map that came with passes, what's the freeride zone all about? How do I get there? Is it a boot pack or skin or even lift served? What the terrain like in that zone as well?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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It'll be tracked-out and pish. Freeride zones = marketing gimmick
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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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You mean at the top of Chamossiere skiers right? Used to be an off-piste un-named bowl ("Chamoissere 2nd bowl" always seemed to work amongst the brits). World-class powder bowl for about 30 mins after a dump if you hung around waiting for the old three-man to open. Now it's accessed by a fast six-man, plus has a trendy new name, so tracked-out in about 10 minutes these days... It is however high (for PDS), north-facing and sheltered, so can be good for crud-blasting long after the pow has gone.
But yes basically a gimmick, ski-patrol have to manage it anyway since it's lift serviced and very apparent, so they may as well name it something funky to appeal to the baggy-trouser brigade.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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shep, and disturbingly easy to mistake for the unfortunately avalanche prone first bowl which you have to traverse across...
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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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| stevomcd wrote: |
| Freeride zones = marketing gimmick |
Not at resort Z 
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under a new name good point (although I've always thought of the black piste as being the "first-bowl", with the sketchy face separating the two). The traverse is fine (once controlled), but getting below it is dodgy (ie the boarders the freeride zone is targeted at who can't/won't hold the traverse line), with the added excitement that an otherwise harmless slide can take you over some decent sized cliffs!
kitenski sounds like you're a fan and no doubt they work for some people some of the time. I would suggest these areas are being established for the benefit of the hordes of unprepared ill-equipped skiers/boarders abrogating the responsibility for their off-piste safety to ski-patrol, at the expense of dwindling un-partrolled side-country terrain previously enjoyed by the responsibly off-piste aware.
All very democratic an'all but it's like trying to deal with congestion by building more roads, it just generates more traffic. The appetite for fresh-tracks is bottomless, but this misguided approach just ruins it for everybody. It won't be long before the only access to virgin snow will require back-country touring, meanwhile the extra ski-patrolling costs go on the lift-pass, and the extra accident costs go on our insurance premiums.
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