 Poster: A snowHead
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| phatcon wrote: |
I find side slipping an invaluable skill and it has got me out of real merde on a few occasions. Id advise everyone to learn.
Mixed conditions this year have made things tough and you can go from ice, to slush to salty powder in a few hundred yards currently.
Just come back from L2A. It was lovely one minute, but in the next minute quite a test. My legs are still feeling the extra strain. |
I made a comment on another thread about how poor skiing etiquette has become. Phones, speed, skiing over your competency and just being blind to others seemed worse than id seen before. In L2A it was awful.
Could have been exacerbated by bottom runs being in awful nick, and everyone being up the hill. But seriously, i was thinking of skiing with a cattle prod to keep people away.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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There are two types of people:
1. Those who choose to pick from a limited menu of large and popular French resorts, and then complain about how busy it is and the poor skiing etiquette.
2. Everyone else.
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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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@Origen, you're good at being disagreeable but don't put forward anything worthy of debate. Why do you think resorts make so little effort to police the slopes? Why so much helicopter rescue? Why aren't they restricting numbers to take into account the conditions? It's only natural to be cynical about this.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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@zikomo, yes, although lots of places seem to be over-crowded lately. All I hear from friends lately is "it was rammed", "it's bloody pricey", "loads of accidents"
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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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@Avabrunch, I wonder how many of your friends were in large, popular, well-known French resorts?
Yes it gets busy in some resorts in other countries, and there are idiots everywhere. But in general the skiing in more civilised in Italy and Switzerland. And even more so if you avoid the better-known resorts. There is absolutely no question in my mind that the issues are far, far worse in the French resorts popular with the Brits. I actually think the two things have a causal link to some extent. But my experience is the standard of skiing is lower/more dangerous, and the level of crowding much higher, in those resorts. And it is also my experience that there are plenty of lovely ski areas where it is possible to largely avoid idiots and crowding, even at half term.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| Avabrunch wrote: |
Why do you think resorts make so little effort to police the slopes? Why so much helicopter rescue? Why aren't they restricting numbers to take into account the conditions?
It's only natural to be cynical about this. |
It's only natural to be sceptical about conspiracy theories.
That sounds like an extraordinary claim, so I guess you must have extraordinary evidence for it, but you haven't shared it. Or is it the voices?
I don't have the stats for Europe, but the US stats are easily available, and suggest that the rates for fatalities and catastrophic incidents are pretty stable.
Maybe folk are just getting older and like to whine about it - that's what old folk did when I was a kid. They never stopped, banging on about how bad and dangerous everything we did was.
https://www.nsaa.org/NSAA/Media/Industry_Stats.aspx.
As someone said, if you want to ride without crowds..... go somewhere without crowds!
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@zikomo, one set of friends were in Bulgaria and said "never again", the others were mainly in France, yes.
There's a lot of love on this forum for the Dolomites and I find standards there on all fronts are better, especially snow management. Plus a fair few friendly Polizei skiing around.
Lesser known places in Austria and Italy suit me. Have car will travel.
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If people have a rubbish time/holiday then they will not come back.
By definition if a resort (France or otherwise) is popular logic would dictate that people like it and many will be repeat customers.
Any resort that is very quiet will not survive for very long.
Any resort where there are lots of accidents, is overcrowded (to the extent it's unacceptable to the customers), has poorly infrastructure, safety measures, poorly groomed slopes will soon find their income via customers falling.
Marketing is useful but can only do so much.
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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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| phil_w wrote: |
| Or is it the voices? |
Is that how it works here? Anyone saying anything you don't agree with must be mental. As described, I have first hand experience of the cavalier attitude towards safety of a certain resort and it is unfinished business.
| phil_w wrote: |
| I don't have the stats for Europe, but the US stats are easily available, and suggest that the rates for fatalities and catastrophic incidents are pretty stable. |
You don't have the stats for this winter and the subject matter is about this season. I don't know how it's going for the US but Europe seems to be having an injury fest.
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| Layne wrote: |
| Any resort where there are lots of accidents, is overcrowded (to the extent it's unacceptable to the customers), has poorly infrastructure, safety measures, poorly groomed slopes will soon find their income via customers falling. |
It's been going on for years in the big French resorts and they are still brimming with (un)happy customers. Lots of it driven by price and convenience and alleged snow-suredness (if that's a word)
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@Avabrunch, so you are saying I would be much happier if I went skiing somewhere more inconvenient, more expensive and lacking in snow?
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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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@Avabrunch, you suggested that resorts deliberately encourage injuries because they profit from them. Generally I'm quite happy to argue the toss when there's something to argue about. But I don't consider that proposal worth debating.
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| Quote: |
Europe seems to be having an injury fest.
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Data?
| Quote: |
I have first hand experience of the cavalier attitude towards safety
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An off the cuff comment is not evidence of a "cavalier attitude". A good friend is a senior secouriste at the Grands Montets and I can assure you that they take safety extremely seriously.
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You know it makes sense.
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SUVA (a big Swiss insurance company), have done a major survey of ski accidents. Findings in brief:
- people are skiing much faster than had been supposed, most people ski at over 50kph, and 100kph is not uncommon,
- Despite this, the number of accidents has not risen,
- However, the severity of injuries caused by those accidents has increased,
- 90% of accidents do not involve a 3rd party,
- But 9% of ski accidents do involve a collision, 4% for snowboarders.
You can read a newspaper article about the survey here:
https://www.srf.ch/news/schweiz/suva-studie-alles-faehrt-ski-und-immer-schneller
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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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Some interesting numbers there, @telford_mike, especially that 90% of those injured (96% for snowboarders) have only themselves to blame!
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Poster: A snowHead
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| Layne wrote: |
| @Avabrunch, so you are saying I would be much happier if I went skiing somewhere more inconvenient, more expensive and lacking in snow? |
I don’t think that is what was suggested. But I do think the vast majority of British skiers head for a fairly limited roster of French areas, because that is what they know/have heard about. Another lot head to popular and big areas in Austria. All are very, very busy in the British school holidays. It is not at all more inconvenient to go elsewhere. But it does take more imagination, knowledge and to some extent courage (to research beyond your ken).
I have little sympathy with the complainers about queues and skiing etiquette in general as a result.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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We all love a fast 6 or 8 person chair and the resorts like to publish their increased speeds and capacities of the lift systems. All very obvious in that the more efficient the lifts the more people that are arriving at the top per hour to make their way down....and in almost all cases the number of pistes is not increasing so we just have more skiers on the runs at any one time. And in Les Arcs, La Plagne etc, they are just building more and more apartments.
I would be interested if there are reliable statistics, I am sure there are, for the likes of L3V, Paradiski etc as to average daily numbers of skiers over the last 10-20 years.
But I won't complain about this because everyone has the same right to go and choose where they prefer to ski. (Budget depending of course)
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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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| Quote: |
But I do think the vast majority of British skiers head for a fairly limited roster of French areas, because that is what they know/have heard about.
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That's true, and then some of them feel well qualified to pontificate about "French skiing".
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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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| Quote: |
Some interesting numbers there, @telford_mike, especially that 90% of those injured (96% for snowboarders) have only themselves to blame!
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there's a difference between "no-one else involved" and "have only themselves to blame". Mrs NBT had a fall ending her season, but that was due to an obstacle in the snow that was not really visible in the flat light: she was not the only person to hit it and certainly not the only one to fall, but was the worst injured.
| Quote: |
I would be interested if there are reliable statistics, I am sure there are, for the likes of L3V, Paradiski etc as to average daily numbers of skiers over the last 10-20 years.
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I was talking to a chap recently (well, 2022 ish) when skiing in Ste Foy, and saying how busy we'd found it when we had days out to La Plagne, Les Arcs and Tignes when compared to Ste Foy. He pointed out that Paradiski was at that point (and probably still is) the busiest resort in the workd if you divide the number of lift tickets sold / used by the number of ski-able km of piste.
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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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@nbt, yes, didn't mean that a fall is "your own fault" - just that there was nobody else to blame! We've no doubt all had some big falls but mostly there's no harm beyond feeling foolish.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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@nbt Regarding Les Arcs, Pistes are still ok over 2000m, it was good all day yesterday using arpette and clocheret which are 2000-2400m lifts , need to avoid heading much lower in afternoons if you can help it. Froide fontaine was the best red and Dents du Peinge for blue, both fine until lifts closed. Was often on my own or maximum 2-3 others on froide fontaine and the lifts were reasonable with sometimes only 2-3 deep before gate.
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Didier Legeais, président Isère doctors union has warned skiers "don't have an accident this February, we're full"
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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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sounds like all of the incidents were falls/slides albeit two triggered by cornice collapses.
The first one sounds like a proper mountaineering fall. The climbers were roped and the route to the Durier hut is a proper climb not a hike or ski tour.
Details sketchy but it sounds like crampons (ski and boot) are needed at the moment.
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Does anyone know what happened with the British guy in Serre Chevalier on Monday?
Was it a collision on piste or something off piste? The reporting sounds like he was found by ski patrol, but it's light on detail and could be a translation issue.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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It's carnage.
Rain and wet snow about to dump on top of the ice this week.
Expect more chaos next week.
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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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| Whitegold wrote: |
Saw a queen bumblebee at lunch. |
skiing? Wow that’s an impressive bumble bee
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| Sonmi451 wrote: |
Does anyone know what happened with the British guy in Serre Chevalier on Monday?
Was it a collision on piste or something off piste? The reporting sounds like he was found by ski patrol, but it's light on detail and could be a translation issue. |
I have no idea about the accident but there has been a post mortem which shows some doubts about what happened. Maybe one of the locals knows something.
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You know it makes sense.
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| jirac18 wrote: |
| Whitegold wrote: |
Saw a queen bumblebee at lunch. |
skiing? Wow that’s an impressive bumble bee |
She was a beaut.
Big, fat, and buzzy.
Awoken ~2 months early from hibernation, due to the Alpine heatwave.
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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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Poster: A snowHead
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These signed were on several rus in Whistler-Blackcomb last week. The runs were open and it felt like a dare 
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FAQ
