Snowboarding Tips - Mountain Advice

You may find yourself at a resort which has:

• Defined trails specially cut through dense forest
• Alpine pastures with forests around and rocky peaks soaring above
• High and exposed (treeless) terrain that underneath the snow is essentially rocky
• Super-high, very exposed glaciers

Steepness

The steepness of the slopes can vary significantly. Some resorts are primarily made up of gentle slopes that can be tackled by someone who is just off the nursery slopes. Whilst others have terrain that only really appeals to advanced skiers.

Pistes /Trails

Pistes, or trails as they are called in America are the defined runs that most people spend all their time skiing on. They are usually defined by a name or number and are plotted on a map that is given away in the resort. Pistes are only open when safe and are patrolled at intervals. They can be reached by lifts.

Piste classifications

In order to make skiing and snowboarding easier for everyone pistes are classified in terms of difficulty. Unfortunately this doesn’t completely simplify things as there are different grading systems in different countries and classifications can vary between ski resorts. For example, a blue run in Val d’Isere may be a red run if it was in a different resort.

 

Similarly piste conditions can change hourly, a piste that could seem relatively easy sometimes could be treacherous, difficult and more like a red run in bad conditions and vice versa, a quite red run may be easier than a crowded blue run.

In Europe, the basic grading goes from blue (easy), red (intermediate), to black (difficult). France additionally adds green (really easy) which denotes a slope for learners and they tend to be gentle sloping areas at the base of the ski area.

In North America a colour-shaped rating system is used. The grading system goes from green circle (easiest), blue square (more difficult), black diamond (most difficult) to double black diamond (Expert). There are even on occasion triple black diamonds.

When going to a resort for the first time it is important that you treat the piste gradings with some scepticism. Different resorts will grade runs differently and like we said earlier the weather can determine the difficulty of a run as well.

In America a single black diamond run tends to be the equivalent of a red or a black in Europe, while a double diamond black run would be genuine black runs in Europe but also incorporate much steeper runs than you would find in a European resort. When it comes to using the piste gradings as a guide they are most likely to represent the steepness of the piste within the resort rather than difficultly in terms of conditions.

American resorts tend to grade their pistes more accurately in accordance to the steepness than European ones. A green run will be genuinely easy, where as in Europe it may be testing, even for an intermediate. Also any resort in Europe which was to look good will all have a black run or two even if they barely differ from a blue run.

There are some kinds of runs that are not quite pistes but also not quite off-piste.

Off-Piste

When going off-piste you should consider doing your research before you head off. Off-piste areas are not groomed or patrolled and for experienced skiers only. It is something that is becoming more popular and with good reason, you can get away from the crowds and make the first tracks in fresh powder among some high mountain scenery. It is important that you never go off-piste skiing alone – you go at your own risk and if you are outside the resort boundary they accept no responsibility for anything that happens.

Avalanches are a danger but so are unmarked obstacles, trees, crevasses and cliffs. If you want to do some serious off-piste skiing you should go with a local ski instructor or mountain guide who can assess the conditions and your ability.

Going off-piste requires equipment, skills, preparation and information that are not normally needed, and introduces extra risks. You need to make sure you are prepared and kitted out properly before going off-piste. You need to have a level of avalanche awareness and before heading off-piste you should check the local International Scale of Avalanche Hazard Rating so that you can assess potential dangers. Boarders are much more inclined to venture off-piste than skiers, for the simple reason that deep snow is much less problematic for them than for skiers.

On or off-piste

Some resorts, such as St Anton, Lech, Verbier and Zermatt have removed the piste status from their best and toughest runs. These are called ‘itinerary runs and they have different classifications such as ski routes or high touring routes. However the classification of these run’s tend to be inconsistent and therefore not very useful for their users. It also means that the resorts are washing their hands of some of their most popular runs because these runs are not groomed, hazards aren't usually marked either, and you can't count on them being patrolled. If you stay within the boundary, the resort accepts responsibility so you know exactly where you stand.