The STW Ski & Snowboard thread. The 2014-2015 season

Travis Whatshisname apparently:

Interesting indeed !

Snowboarders rule!

I heard someone on blades wearing a jesters hat did it first.

This probably means war. Being both a boarder and skier I’m going to adopt the Swiss position and sell wax to both sides.

#sprayskiers

#heeledgedownallthesteepstuffscrapingoffthesnow

Swix anyone?

Just kidding, it’s like this really (pretend one is a snowboarder):

#heeledgedownallthesteepstuffscrapingoffthesnow

Yeah, Travis Rice is about edge slipping. 😀

That line is full-on gnar and anyone who rides it has got big nuts/ovaries, mad skillz or both. I don’t know what the etiquette is about vid parts but it seems a bit off if Cody Thingy knew Travis Dodah had ridden/filmed it first to then go and release his clip first and steal the glory.

True, but it doesn’t really count if you do it on skis anyway 😉

Has anyone had any genuine beef with the ‘other’ discipline? I remember I had a slanging match with a French Ski Instructor, but that was mainly because he was French … 🙂

EDIT I really like skiing and really don’t see what the issue is. Apart from blades

Ski when you’re young. Then once your knees are shot and you have children you need 360 vision to keep track of, get a board.

I’m a (poor quality) snowboarder these days. As is my wife. Our sons aren’t allowed to ride a board until they can ski properly.

That video scares me. Even if I had the skill…

Edit: ah yes, blades. Something skiers and snowboarders agree on.

Having seen some very nasty crashes with skiers taken out by boarders I have to say I am very wary around them and make an effort to ski where they are not.

The main gripe most skiers have with “boarders” is the lack of piste etiquette: don’t stop in the middle of the piste, don’t stop just over a crest, please don’t stand on my skis, if you must falling leaf the snow off this piste, please do it at the edge, don’t cut up a ski school train, look up the hill before you set off, the person down the mountain has absolute and unquestionable priority…

I suspect this comes from a lack of training – when I was learning to ski we were taught all those things. Most people, myself included, self-teach boarding.

Skiers also need to learn that as a boarder you have limited visibility on your back side, so “normal” boarders can make better judgements at turning right than left.

Having seen some very nasty crashes with skiers taken out by boarders I have to say I am very wary around them and make an effort to ski where they are not.

The problem, IMO, is mostly confined to snowboarders who don’t ski and skiers who don’t snowboard (and idiots generally).

If you do both, it’s easier to anticipate the likely movements of the other.

Too many times I’ve seen people riding and a skier try to pass on his blind side right as he’s about to turn into it. Snowboarder doesn’t look and turns right into skier. Snowboarder at fault, but the skier could have probably avoided it. You might not want to (or feel that you should have to), but a bit like driving, i’d rather give way to an idiot than stand my ground and get injured.

Also, depending on conditions, it’s harder to have a “planned” turn on a snowboard, so turns can be more erratic. Again, a wider berth would be advisable.

My pet hate on skis is snowboarders changing direction without looking (it’s not that hard is it??), especially when they decide to cut right across the piste.

My pet hate on a snowboard is skiers getting too damn close (particularly on narrow cat tracks when you’re just sitting on an edge and need to get a turn in but there’s some goon coasting alongside you inches away)

I’ve been taken out by a skier on my board.

I was heading across the slope towards the edge of the piste. He obviously calculated that I’d turn soon, so there would be room between me and the piste edge for him to continue his assault on the Super G record in his head. What he didn’t realise was that I was actually heading off-piste and had no intention of turning…

Resulting collision knocked me a fair old distance down the slope. No real harm done though. We exchanged viewpoints via non-verbal means and continued on our bruised ways.

(In retrospect it was partly my fault. He hit me from behind, but I was making an unusual manoeuvre so I should have been more wary. A learning moment).

hot_fiat – Member
please don’t stand on my skis,

please don’t scratch my board with your goofy poles 😀

And with regard to peter’s point, I don’t ski but I regularly go on holidays with skiers and ride with them as a group.

your goofy poles crutches

😆

http://www.skiclub.co.uk/skiclub/infoandadvice/article.aspx?articleID=97#.VImmmTGDm-0

3. Choice of route
A ski­er or snow­board­er com­ing from be­hind must choose his or her route in such a way not to en­dan­ger skiers or snow­board­ers ahead

4. Overtaking
A ski­er or snow­board­er may over­take another ski­er or snow­board­er above or be­low and to the right or to the left pro­vid­ed that enough space is left for the over­tak­en ski­er or snow­board­er to make any vol­un­tary or in­vol­un­tary move­ment.I give everyone as wide a berth as I can. I’ve been knocked over on a couple of occasions now, so I am very wary of other users.

The main gripe most snowboarders have with skiers is the lack of piste etiquette: don’t stop in the middle of the piste, don’t stop just over a crest, please don’t stand on my board, if you must follow each other in a big long line on this piste, please do it at the edge, don’t cut up a snowboard lesson, look up the hill before you set off, the person down the mountain has absolute and unquestionable priority…

FTFY

There are idiots on both, I don’t think either ‘side’ is any more to blame. I do both and get equally frustrated with the behaviour of both. It’s not their board/skis that frustrate me, it’s their lack of awareness of what’s going on around them.

I Love sticking a pole between the skis of people trying to que skip. It’s usually those **** in lycra suits or little brats. Combined with a “f@#;ng try, I dare you” look, it gives me immense satisfaction.

I can snowboard and the wife is IMO an outstanding snowboarder, so we tend to discuss slope etiquette often. For example, until she explained the problems of cat trax, I was guilty of coasting alongside boarders. I then explained in great detail about how she needs to speed up putting her bindings on as it’s cold waiting about for her while she readjusts them everytime we get off a chair.

I Love sticking a pole between the skis of people trying to que skip

My advice is never go to Austria 😀

Ha! That’s where I learned the trick!

That must have kept you busy!

Personally I’m all for polite queuing but if I find myself in a resort full of Germans nationalities with differing social ideas about queues, then instead of fighting the tide I just get stuck in (whilst affecting an ‘Ello ‘Ello style accent).

The best part about the Euro scrum is that while you are busy getting stomped on and tutting in a British way, the six man chairlift you are waiting for is going up the hill with TWO PEOPLE ON IT!!!! FOR. ****. SAKES!!!!

It was a proper old mountain goat of a local that did it to some young park rats. The look he gave silenced them and sent me into a fit of giggles! I’ve used it ever since.

I love queuing in Canada though. Entertaining lifties, polite locals and the singlies entrance. Germans don’t get it but because they are very anti confrontational, give them a withering look and they stay in line. I’ll probably get knocked out one of these days but so far I’ve had a good run. 😀

I must say it’s great to see that the same old arguments/points are brought up. I’ve been boarding over 20 years (skiing 5 years before that) and exactly the same things were being said back then.
Plenty of asshats in both camps.

Both move around the slope in different ways, but surely we’ve been sharing the same slopes for long enough to work it out now.

Queue jumpers usually receive an ‘unexpected’ yawn stretch just as they are going past. Helps that I’m fairly big, and am great at the Paddington stare 😯
Same happens to RLJ’s that I repeatedly pass on the commute 😈

Cheers IGM – I’ll have a look for 360 too… out of holidays it’s looking like few run classes…. hoping to improve their technique – the 6 year old was bashing down a red faster than me after a week last year…. I had more style though, which is obviously what matter 🙂

igm – Member
99%chimp
We’ve used 360 in Les Gets and our elder one loved it. Out all over the hill on blues in the first year, easy reds the second and any reds the third. Parallel turns coming but not quite neat enough for them to be happy yet (weight too far back, turning on the inside ski – if as a broader I got that right). Our younger one did a couple of private lessons last year (he’s three) the second of which included disappearing off up a chair and coming down a (carefully chosen) blue – 1-2-1 close supervision by the instructor and daddy following at a discrete distance. He also loved it.

We also used ESF one year and that didn’t go well. The instructors were probably great technically but didn’t seem to be able to relate to the kids as well.

Not used LGS but they’ve been around for quite a bit.

I love queuing in Canada though.

I had to grab an Italian mate by the collar and pull her back when she insisted on pushing her way through the lift line in Whistler. Even after a week of being there she just couldn’t get to grips with the lack of pushing in.

It’s usually those **** in lycra suits or little brats. Combined with a “f@#;ng try, it gives me immense satisfaction

British boarder Gods bring etiquette and intimidation to foreign pistes. Immense satisfaction eh. 🙄

“cat trax” brings up results for boats so I’m none the wiser.

“cat trax” – generally a green run of very slight gradient. Wide enough for a pisten bully.

Most resorts around here (France) have a separate line for individuals to fill empty seats on chains. Look for those, the lines often look like they are reserved for clubs/racers because the lycra-clad kids are in there but anyone can use it.

edit: thanks, hot fiat.

“cat trax” brings up results for boats so I’m none the wiser.

A road with snow on it.

Narrow and flat, not good for control on a board.

I’m neither a boarder or a god but I’m immature enough to get my satisfaction from these little victories. 😆

😀

“cat trax” brings up results for boats so I’m none the wiser

The access tracks that link the main pistes together. Often about as wide as the tracks of a snowcat.

Generally marked as Green, which makes sense on skis, but on a snowboard they are actually fairly nasty because they are often icy, there is little or no space to turn, and you often have to go flat out to avoid the Walk Of Shame at the end.

What torso said. Tussling and grumbling, skis on boards, boots on skis, evil staring then get to the front and it’s “ooh no I must sit with my friends!”. Some folk are dumbasses regardless of their nationality or sliding persuasion.