Personal ski videos

[François Pugh]

There are sites like this one, https://jollyturns.com/resort/canada/mont-tremblant/maps/skirun/dynamite and you can take the arcsine of the drop over the length, but it's averaged over the whole length and who knows how accurate.

You can believe the hype.

You can take other people's word for it, but you don't know what their experience and standard for comparison is.

You really have to ski it to know what it's like.

For example I have skied all over Tremblant. If you have skied steep terrain out west, you will not be impressed by anything there, except maybe by how icy it is, if you didn't grow up skiing ice.

As to double black diamonds and grade inflation, the grading system is relative to other runs on the mountain, that includes the double black designation.

 

[Mike King]

Here is a new run in Austria -- 41 degrees.

New Steepest Piste in Europe Opens in Austria - The Whiteroom

What is claimed to be the steepest groomed ski run ever opened in the Alps with a pitch of nearly 88% (more than 41 degrees) has been unveiled this weekend at Austria’s Kaunertal Glacier. The Black Ibex piste pitches at up to 87.85%, which the resort’s operators are keen to stress is steeper...

www.snow-forecast.com

But this thread is personal ski videos -- might we get back on track???

 

[jimtransition]

Here is a new run in Austria -- 41 degrees.

New Steepest Piste in Europe Opens in Austria - The Whiteroom

What is claimed to be the steepest groomed ski run ever opened in the Alps with a pitch of nearly 88% (more than 41 degrees) has been unveiled this weekend at Austria’s Kaunertal Glacier. The Black Ibex piste pitches at up to 87.85%, which the resort’s operators are keen to stress is steeper...

www.snow-forecast.com

But this thread is personal ski videos -- might we get back on track???

Since the conversation was about steep lines, here's a few from Portillo. Really hope I get back this season.

 

[Mike King]

Since the conversation was about steep lines, here's a few from Portillo. Really hope I get back this season.

Nice! Have you skied the Super C Couloir?

 

[jimtransition]

Nice! Have you skied the Super Couloir?

Super C? Yes skied It a few times every season I have worked there, except for the last one (it didn't snow enough).

For those who haven't heard of it, super C is a couloir above Portillo that runs from around 4000m down to 2700m, it's steepest section is around 50 degrees

 

[4ster]

They max at over 55°, and run between 40° and 55°. Serious terrain. And, no, they don't get groomed.
Chute Info

I believe this was in Miller Time, one of the smaller entry-level runs. Or maybe Nightmare. It looks too wide to be Miller Time.
View attachment 132725

Great photo !

Since the conversation was about steep lines, here's a few from Portillo. Really hope I get back this season.

I bet that run was worth hitting the rock for. Great video, great run!!!

 

[jimtransition]

Great photo !



I bet that run was worth hitting the rock for. Great video, great run!!!

Thanks, it was a good one! Can't be precious about skis in Portillo, especially the last few seasons.

 

[François Pugh]

Thanks, it was a good one! Can't be precious about skis in Portillo, especially the last few seasons.

Do they rent good skis in Portillo? (asking for a friend)

 

[tball]

If you want that, you could use the lower body, use separation and counter and not start each turn with the shoulder in 3D snow that can do wonders to one's skiing, as any of the pros here can tell you. That's one of the big reasons you can't engage the ski early.

Glad you got a laugh out of my skiing. So, do you have any video of YOU skiing in 3D snow?

 

[Sanity]

Glad you got a laugh out of my skiing. So, do you have any video of YOU skiing in 3D snow?

If I was following the conversation right, Dreamcatcher on Google Earth is 27 degrees. Google Earth is terribly inaccurate for short pitches, so it doesn't catch one or two turns on a steep pitch, but will tell you the sustained pitch fairly accurately. To me on that run, it looks like some beautiful, beautiful, skiiing. Just a joy to watch. What I'd be incredibly curious to see, is what happens to that skiing once it's on the steepest groomed run in the world ~40 degrees, before we even begin to go to even steeper terrain with a variable surface and cruddy snow like we're seeing in your videos.

 

[razie]

Glad you got a laugh out of my skiing. So, do you have any video of YOU skiing in 3D snow?

No laughing here, tball - just thought you were asking if and how to carve that better. Just some of that free pro advice abundant here...

I don't have much video on 3D snow, they have a nasty habit of grooming the heck out of the occasional half an inch that we get every other week and turning it to ice suitable for the race gear we use all the time, plenty of groomers though, all available anytime by clicking on my signature, for the more inquisitive.

When we do get somewhere with this magic 3D white stuff though, the technique doesn't change. Your basic set of movements and approach doesn't change if that's what you're trying to evaluate, unless one's challenged beyond current limits and things degrade - and it turns out that I have been caught on the wrong side of the camera for a short section while evaluating some new skis, the orange jacket in starfish formation somewhere half way through the vid below, pretty bad technically but super fun (don't mind some advice if you have it) - nothing steep and 3D though - seems I end up carrying the camera on those


P.s. now... If I had that type of run and snow available daily, instead of 2 days every 3 years...

 

[Sanity]

I rest my case.

 

[TheApprentice]

I rest my case.

Could you please elaborate?

 

[François Pugh]

@TheApprentice
Far be it from me to put words in someone else's mouth, but what I'm hearing is that he's saying because there is no video of @razie skiing steep(ish) moguls, he has not done so (or at least did not do a good job of it), and therefore his advice has no credibility. Just like I've never skied a 53 degree slope, nor skied anything at all for that matter. If it's not on video it didn't happen.

This attitude (prove it with video or it's just talk) is becoming a popular belief amongst people who tend to ski with go-pro attached. It wasn't so much 30 years ago, but as video equipment becomes cheaper and better, I expect the trend to grow.

 

[tball]

No laughing here, tball - just thought you were asking if and how to carve that better. Just some of that free pro advice abundant here...

I don't have much video on 3D snow, they have a nasty habit of grooming the heck out of the occasional half an inch that we get every other week and turning it to ice suitable for the race gear we use all the time, plenty of groomers though, all available anytime by clicking on my signature, for the more inquisitive.

When we do get somewhere with this magic 3D white stuff though, the technique doesn't change. Your basic set of movements and approach doesn't change if that's what you're trying to evaluate, unless one's challenged beyond current limits and things degrade - and it turns out that I have been caught on the wrong side of the camera for a short section while evaluating some new skis, the orange jacket in starfish formation somewhere half way through the vid below, pretty bad technically but super fun (don't mind some advice if you have it) - nothing steep and 3D though - seems I end up carrying the camera on those


P.s. now... If I had that type of run and snow available daily, instead of 2 days every 3 years...

Thanks for posting that video. I also saw a video of you skiing bumps in your youtube account.

First, please don't use the roll-over-laughing emoticon when criticizing someone's skiing, as you did with mine.

Especially since you seem to be a coach/instructor/whatever, that's extremely unprofessional. Even more so since I had already received the same advice about my arm/shoulder movement from many other professionals from whom I'm thankful for their thoughtful suggestions. I acknowledged and accepted that advice. There was no need for you to chime in other than to pile on.

As for your skiing, it clearly shows you rarely have the opportunity to ski off-piste. My advice is if you want to be an effective all-mountain skier on a big mountain, you need to ski at a big mountain and often.

It takes mileage to become an effective skier at every facet of skiing: carving, bumps, trees, steeps, powder, crud, etc. Your videos show that being a very high-level skier at carving, which you are, doesn't translate to the other aspects of big mountain skiing. You have to put in the work in all aspects of skiing to be good at each of them, as you have with carving.

 

[SSSdave]

In this era, instead of arguing subjectively over how generally steep specific slopes are, people should just use websites that show gradients like the below plus a resort trail map. Generally many skiers have always tended to overestimate actual gradients of steeper slopes so usual blabbering without actual doing that basic homework is likely to be embarrassing. This shows Chute 75 and Westface (JR) at Squaw that average a bit less than 80% grade.

CalTopo - Backcountry Mapping Evolved

And here are the Slide chutes at Mt Rose:

CalTopo - Backcountry Mapping Evolved

The limitation is USGS elevation lines are usually every 40 feet of vertical so between those lines smaller features may be either more or less steeper. Additionally drifting snows at ridge lines and terrain knees may cornice on lee sides and fill in hollows which in any case tend to be smaller features. Note on caltopo given a paid account, one can also program any colors and assign gradients and I've played around some creating ski resort maps at 10% grade increments.

 

[geepers]

The limitation is USGS elevation lines are usually every 40 feet of vertical so between those lines smaller features may be either more or less steeper.

Good site. Thanks for posting that.

It does have option to show elevation lines on 10ft (also 5m). Are these accurate or just interpolations?

 

[mdf]

80% grade.

39 degrees. (I know you like to use grade. I have no intuition for it.)

 

[KingGrump]

Man, this is turning into a male anatomy size comparison thread.

Best bet is too go out and ski with others in the forum. All of a sudden, the BS vanishes like magic.

 

[razie]

@tball I wasn't laughing at your skiing, although I can see how the placement of that ROFL can give that impression, but I don't normally laugh at someone's skiing (except maybe in some funny context, like "look ma, I'm awesome") and generally hats off to those of us that do post their skiing. I was laughing at the implications in your post in the context. Here is your post again:

While we are on definitions, what's a stivot? Apparently using one on steep terrain is bad, so I want to avoid doing that.

<insert you skiing steeps>

Should I be carving to ski Hole in the Wall more effectively instead?

If you were a noob, those questions would be candid, but at over 3k posts here, they read otherwise...

I'll leave it at that. If I misread them questions in context, then... maybe mea culpa.

Anyways, like I said a few times, it's not a contest. Everyone has his or her current limits. What really matters is how much one's open and willing to improve and having the grit to carry on with the improvement.

cheers