Who is going skiing and where in 2016

[CAPP0]

Funnily enough I was in the 3V last week and I noticed that they have re-categorised Creux (above Courch 1850) to blue; it was red, albeit a very easy red, for as long as I can remember. Wonder what the rationale behind that is/was?

[numtumfutunch]

CAPP0 said:

Funnily enough I was in the 3V last week and I noticed that they have re-categorised Creux (above Courch 1850) to blue; it was red, albeit a very easy red, for as long as I can remember. Wonder what the rationale behind that is/was?

Spooky!!!
We had a major domestic last week skiing down this

We were on our way from Meribel to 1850 to meet mates and Cruex seemed a decent motorway down from the piste map

Missus and youngest massively hated it whilst me and Mini Me had a hoot
The top 1/2 was steeper than your average blue and fairly well chopped up

Just under half way down we rendezvous'd near an old sign post which still had it graded as a red
Which after the shouting, complaining and abuse Id shouldered on the way there wasnt helpful

Cheers

[Welshbeef]

Problem is it depends on the conditions sometimes reds can run like blues or blues like reds but a Red can certainly play like a black which some people me included simply don't want to do again.

I'm plenty happy enough on the blue runs and try the odd red. I think this year I might try a few more but doesn't matter if I do not.


For me Ice on a run makes it horrible especially if half the piste is in the shade so bad ice then the other not so could be nice powder. Last year my first run entered a reasonably steep start to a blue so I carried a nice bit of speed into the first corner (in the shade) turned and only then realised the ice... Lovely/wakes you up that's for sure.


One week to go yippee. Though after that it's then 52 weeks .

[tumble dryer]

numtumfutunch said:

Spooky!!!
We had a major domestic last week skiing down this

We were on our way from Meribel to 1850 to meet mates and Cruex seemed a decent motorway down from the piste map

Missus and youngest massively hated it whilst me and Mini Me had a hoot
The top 1/2 was steeper than your average blue and fairly well chopped up

Just under half way down we rendezvous'd near an old sign post which still had it graded as a red
Which after the shouting, complaining and abuse Id shouldered on the way there wasnt helpful

Cheers

Tell me about it.

I skied a blue at Val d’Isère last week - should've been a red BEFORE you added all the novice skiers. (No disrespect, we were all there once.) - And I was only going for a hop to the next chair. Carnage.

Funnels aren't funny when you've got bodies lying everywhere and most too scared to make a move on a couple of inches of powder over ice. And those that do, terror-focus on the next few feet ahead ... as the oncoming, totally out-of-control wannabe, realises his next turn is now not an option due to said blockage. As I said, carnage. Never a blue.

They shouldn’t do that. Grade them consistently, and if necessary, conservatively.

Worst run of a great week. A really great week.

[IainT]

CAPP0 said:

The trouble is, some people like/need/want to plan a route picking out the colours they can cope with; if you took that away you'd end up with people descending the Swiss Wall on their bonce with boring regularity!

My wife's got less faith in her ability than I do. Last week our planned route of some fairly challenging reds was diverted down a really tough black run as the two lifts that the red went to were closed. This despite having checked an hour before for closures! She panicked though because it was black - before we could see anything but the initial moderate pitch. We got down uneventfully after negotiating the moguls (it'd snowed the night before so the whole resort was unpisted) - me taking fairly cautious turns and her side-slipping. End result is she knows she can get down pretty much anything. It was the Berter run if anyone's familiar with it.

The Swiss definitions aren't comparable to most of the French, Italian or Austrian resorts we've experienced before with many reds having harder sections that a lot of black runs elsewhere. I've heard that Chamonix is similarly challenging.

[krallicious]

St Anton can be very interesting with regard to its grading policy but the hardest runs are the 4 back to Galzig at 4pm and the bottom half of the R1 at the end of the day. Lots of traffic, mogels (some times sheet ice) and full of people who either traval too fast or too slow. We always wait until the last possible minutes and ski back down when the patrols come through. Trying to keep up with them can be

[malks222]

I've had the arguements about the colour/steepness of slopes, but the funniest was when it was the other way round.

my gf is a very nervous skier, no confidence in her ability. so when we went to courchevel day one I said we would stick to greens and see how she gets on. off we went from 1650 taking petite bosse, mostly fine but suddenly a few little points where it gets super flat then she has to shuffle up a slope, then heading for praline/ belvedere...... worst decision we've ever made. belvedere basically turns into a cross country ski track, and we had to walk uphill for a good 500m +!!

girlfriend couldnt understand how they could make a ski slope that actually went up hill! she decided from then on she'd rather be crapping her pants on a slightly steeper slope than walking uphill!

[NRS]

malks222 said:

I've had the arguements about the colour/steepness of slopes, but the funniest was when it was the other way round.

my gf is a very nervous skier, no confidence in her ability. so when we went to courchevel day one I said we would stick to greens and see how she gets on. off we went from 1650 taking petite bosse, mostly fine but suddenly a few little points where it gets super flat then she has to shuffle up a slope, then heading for praline/ belvedere...... worst decision we've ever made. belvedere basically turns into a cross country ski track, and we had to walk uphill for a good 500m +!!

girlfriend couldnt understand how they could make a ski slope that actually went up hill! she decided from then on she'd rather be crapping her pants on a slightly steeper slope than walking uphill!

Rando boots make a huge difference when you come across this situation!

[Olf]

Another cracking week in Les Gets last week. Great place for a family - first venture up Mon Chery was well worth it - gorgeous...

[rog007]

Tons of snow in Garmisch. Temperatures rising for a couple of days of sunshine too before dropping with more snow on the way. About to head out for a beer before dinner and it's like a barmy summer evening!

[Welshbeef]

What binding settings do you have? Is anyone running 11+ or are most in the intermediate 6-9 range?

[Bill]

Welshbeef said:

What binding settings do you have? Is anyone running 11+ or are most in the intermediate 6-9 range?

Seriously? There are more variables involved than just how hard you ski.

[Welshbeef]

Bill said:

Seriously? There are more variables involved than just how hard you ski.

I've never changed it before my understanding as I had them set today on my new skis it's
Weight
Age?
Height
Ski type
Binding type
Boot
Ability novice intermediate expert (though when in resort it's a 1-7 or even 1-10 scale with pretty detailed descriptions so you can place yourself roughly in the right area).

Anyway they put me on an 8 based upon the data with a tolerance of 6.75-9.x, and I requested it to be scaled back to 7 due to the ability range being very limited to beginner intermediate and expert (phrase I read was "comfortable on all reds and able with most blacks". I didn't really understand that bit as what about those who are comfortable on blacks or even double black diamond blacks?)

[Bill]

Ah, I ought it was a really poor attempt at a Willy wave. I board, and last skied 15 years ago when my arm was in plaster so have no idea.

[feef]

Welshbeef said:

Bill said:

Seriously? There are more variables involved than just how hard you ski.

I've never changed it before my understanding as I had them set today on my new skis it's
Weight
Age?
Height
Ski type
Binding type
Boot
Ability novice intermediate expert (though when in resort it's a 1-7 or even 1-10 scale with pretty detailed descriptions so you can place yourself roughly in the right area).

Anyway they put me on an 8 based upon the data with a tolerance of 6.75-9.x, and I requested it to be scaled back to 7 due to the ability range being very limited to beginner intermediate and expert (phrase I read was "comfortable on all reds and able with most blacks". I didn't really understand that bit as what about those who are comfortable on blacks or even double black diamond blacks?)

I'm 5'8", weigh between 11 and 14 stone depending on how much cake I've had, and how little cycling I've done in the summer, and ski pretty hard in all conditions
I've competed in basic FWQ rounds, raced when I was at uni and I'm a ski instructor, and I haven't gone above 9 on my DIN setting

Someone taller and heavier might need a higher setting, but for the average recreational skier, I doubt anything higher than 10 would ever be required other than for bragging rights in the bar and to keep knee surgeons in business

[Marcellus]

feef said:

I doubt anything higher than 10 would ever be required other than for bragging rights in the bar and to keep knee surgeons in business

Love this comment, I think most of the very good skiers I know (residents, instructors, pisteurs, locals etc) tend to generally go on the "looser side" of DIN settings as they'd "rather lose the ski than a knee" plus as they're smooth when they ski they don't often get unscheduled releases.

However, if they decide to have some "serious fun" then they will notch the settings up!

[Welshbeef]

Marcellus said:

Love this comment, I think most of the very good skiers I know (residents, instructors, pisteurs, locals etc) tend to generally go on the "looser side" of DIN settings as they'd "rather lose the ski than a knee" plus as they're smooth when they ski they don't often get unscheduled releases.

However, if they decide to have some "serious fun" then they will notch the settings up!

Should I scale back 7 towards 6?

[GT03ROB]

Welshbeef said:

Marcellus said:

Love this comment, I think most of the very good skiers I know (residents, instructors, pisteurs, locals etc) tend to generally go on the "looser side" of DIN settings as they'd "rather lose the ski than a knee" plus as they're smooth when they ski they don't often get unscheduled releases.

However, if they decide to have some "serious fun" then they will notch the settings up!

Should I scale back 7 towards 6?

Far far better to have them lower, find the ski comes off to easily then tighten a little if need be, than have them high, bugger a knee & spend the rest of the holiday in the bar.

[Welshbeef]

GT03ROB said:

Far far better to have them lower, find the ski comes off to easily then tighten a little if need be, than have them high, bugger a knee & spend the rest of the holiday in the bar.

That said touch wood - I've only fallen once and skis popped in a decade of skiing. (Probably take it too easy than pushing hard)

[GT03ROB]

Welshbeef said:

GT03ROB said:

Far far better to have them lower, find the ski comes off to easily then tighten a little if need be, than have them high, bugger a knee & spend the rest of the holiday in the bar.

That said touch wood - I've only fallen once and skis popped in a decade of skiing. (Probably take it too easy than pushing hard)

Welsh I always suspected you were a tart. How the fk can you go skiing & not end up head first in a snowdrift with both ski's a hundred yards further down the slope or worse still hundred yards up the slope from time to time.....